_The Method._ Nevertheless, the main theme of this book is American government. No matter what the topic under discussion, the authors have tried to link it up with the drift and purposes of governmental action and policy. This intimate and continuous connection between public problems and public policy is the central concept of the book; it is the thread which holds the various chapters together. There are many winding roads in the broad domain of the social sciences, but sooner or later they all lead through the realm of government. The authors have not tried to discuss every possible phase of their subject. Questions of outstanding importance have been given the right of way; minor matters have been relegated to the footnotes or omitted altogether. Those who desire enlightenment upon the odds and ends of government or economics can get it from an encyclopedia. The primary aim has been to get the facts hitched up to principles, and to set the principles in their right perspective. For this reason considerable space has been given to problems which, although international in their scope, are of profound importance to the people of the United States. _The Arrangement._ No two textbook writers seem able to agree as to the proper order in which material should be arranged. But the sequence of the chapters is not, after all, a matter of much importance. No one feels under any obligation to finish the Book of Deuteronomy before beginning to read the Acts of the Apostles. The teacher who prefers to start with the civic activities rather than with the organization of government should have no hesitation in doing so. In this book, at any rate, each of the larger divisions of the subject is treated independently, and does not depend upon the others. Some schools devote a half year to civics, and a half year to economics. Material adapted to such an arrangement can be obtained by a slight transposition of the chapters.[1]