Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1899 American Edition.djvu/15

 PREFACE

English editions of "The Statesman's Year-Book" have contained about forty pages relating to the United States. The American publishers conceived the idea that the public would welcome an edition containing more extended data, and to that end there have been prepared from the latest official and from original sources the facts contained in this chapter. The aim of the editor has been to present the information most desired by legislators, publicists, authors, professional and business men, not expecting, however, to meet all demands, but the wants of the greatest number of those who will use the annual. The difficulty has been to keep the work within necessarily prescribed limits. It would have been an easier task to have compiled a whole volume on the United States.

I wish to extend my heartiest thanks to the municipal, state, and federal officers who have assisted me in securing data, and to Mr. Charles W. Morris, jr., for his valuable personal assistance.

, March 31, 1899. Rh