Excerpt from Descriptive Economics: An Introduction to Economic Science This work has been prepared on the theory: 1, That the subject of Economics does not necessarily involve all the abstract and deductive reasoning commonly attributed to it. 2, That it bears an exceedingly close relation to the practical affairs of every-day life in all stages of social and political development. 3, That this practical relation may be cogently and easily represented by reference to the actual movements of people in the various stages of economic development. 4, That delineation of economic activity, commencing with that connected with the lower economic stages and passing on to the higher, not only brings out the practical side of the subject, but also compels interest in it. 5, That the wants of the highest civilization are, after all, merely amplifications of and superadditions to the three original and necessary wants of savagery, viz: wants of food, clothing, and shelter. All modern wants are but differentiations of these. Their development, therefore, together with the development of the processes by which their satisfaction is secured, furnishes a proper and natural basis for study. The work is a wide departure from the ordinary plan of most elementary works on Political Economy, or, as it is preferably called. Economics. These works generally commence with an abstract discussion of wealth or value. In the following pages the terms wealth and value are nowhere used in a technical sense, and the same is true of most of the technical terms of Economics. At the same time, however, the theories to which these terms give rise, are indirectly discussed and all the well known propositions of Economics are clearly and fully set forth. If is hoped that the student and reader will find here the collection of economic phenomena, classified and arranged as required for the more abstract reasoning and generalizations relating to the higher branches of the subject. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.