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362 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUD~ES
Enough has been said, however, it may be hoped, to
justify this mode of looking at statistics and the ideas
suggested by them.
May I once more then express the hope, as I -have
done on former occasions, that, as time goes on, more
and more attention will be given to these common
statistics and the ideas derived from them. The domi-
nation of the ideas suggested by these common figures
of population statistics, in international politics and in
social and economic relations is obvious; and although
the decline in the rate of growth of population in recent
years, the last of the topics now touched on, suggests
a great many points which the statistics themselves are
as yet unfit to solve-what can be done with a great
country like the United States, absolutely devoid of
bare records of births, marriages, and deaths ?-still
the facts of the decline as far as recorded throw a great
deal of light on the social and economic history of the
past century, prepare the way for discussing the further
topics which require a more elaborate treatment, and
enforce the necessi ty for more and better records. We
may emphasise the appeal, then, for the better statist-
ical and economic education of our public men, and for
the more careful study by all concerned of such familiar
publications as the" Statistical Abstracts," the" States-
man's Yearbook," and the like. The material trans-
formations which are going on throughout the world
can be substantially followed without any difficulty in
such publications by those who have eyes to see; and
to follow such transformations, so as to be ready for
the practical questions constantly raised, is at least one
of the main uses of statistical knowledge.