held valid for which somewhere or somehow, positive illustration drawn from practice cannot be found. Such an ideal is, indeed, difficult to attain; but it may be stated as a cardinal principle to be always kept in mind. And it ought to excuse an author from the charge of over-elaboration of detail in illustration. The only crimes for which no verbal atonement will suffice are that the chosen illustration does not fit the principle, or else that the facts have been distorted to serve a preconceived idea. References throughout this work to a second volume will be noted. This will deal primarily with matters of finance and corporate relations. The general subject of railroad combination was necessarily relegated to another set of covers. This, however, is quite fitting, inasmuch as the connection between matters of finance and organization is at all times so intimate and necessary. The development of inter-railway relationships has been, perhaps, next to the establishment of government regulation, the most striking phenomenon of the last decade. It is absolutely essential to a comprehension of present day financial problems, to understand the nature and extent of the consolidation of interests which obtains. This second volume, now nearly completed, will, it is hoped, appear early in 1913. This volume is also frequently linked by means of cross references to a set of reprints of notable interstate commerce cases or special articles which was published some years ago as "Railway Problems." (Ginn & Co.) Much new material having accumulated since its original appearance in 1907, it is the intention to prepare a new and revised edition, particularly designed as an accompaniment to this treatise. But the same chapter numbers will be preserved for all material taken over from the first edition.