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8 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
particular topic of urgent interest, I may perhaps be
able to say something useful, by pointing out some of
the uses to society of the more common figures of
statistics, especially those figures which assist in modify-
ing or directing the political thought of the time, or in
presenting problems for politicians and philosophers
to consider, even if they do not much assist in the
solution. The greater successes of statistics, and their
main uses, though not so well known as they sQould
be, are nevertheless fairly understood. The construc-
tion of life insurance tables, for instance; the means of
comparing rates of mortality in different places, and
between the same places at different times; the con-
stant utility of statistics in political discussion, and their
equal utility in daily business-are all matters tolerably
well known and admitted. But what seems not to be
so well understood is our indebtedness to the common
figures of statistics for many wide and far-reaching
political ideas, which influence and guide political
thought and action and philosophic speculation insens-
ibly. With the systematic collection of statistics con-
tinued for many years, there has come to be published
a whole library of statistical annuals-whether they are
official statistical abstracts or annuaires, such as many
'countries now publish, or unofficial publications like
the" Annuaire d' Economie politique," or the" States-
man's Year Book," or M. Neumann-Spallart's "Annual
Review of the World's Industry." These books, it
seems to me, besides having many practical uses, supply
a necessity of political thought at the present time, and
are constantly and insensibly guiding political and
philosophical speculation. What I propose to discuss
to-night, then, are some of the more common figures
which lie on the surface of the most accessible books.
As with other good and common things, we have be-
come so used to such books that we hardly know what
we should miss if they were blotted out,-if public men
and writers were without them, as in fact they were
without them until about half a century ago. If we