The publication of this volume is due to the friendly counsel of the Hon. Andrew D. White, president of Cornell University; a gentleman tireless in his efforts to encourage young men, and alive to every opportunity to speak fitting words of hope and cheer. Like many of the younger scholars of our country, I am indebted to him more than I can say. The present work is based on lectures delivered in Baltimore before the students of the Johns Hopkins University, and in Ithaca before the students of Cornell University. Although these lectures have been thoroughly revised and, in fact, rewritten, traces of this origin will be found in a certain freedom of style and matter, which will, I trust, render the book neither less interesting nor less instructive.
My aim is to give a perfectly fair, impartial presentation of modern communism and socialism in their two strongholds, France and Germany. I believe that, in so doing, I am rendering a service to the friends of law and order.
Richard T. Ely.
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, August 3, 1883.