Excerpt from The Cost of the World War to the American People The need for such an analysis, conceived and executed in the spirit of historical research, was increasingly obvious as the war developed, releasing complex forces of national life not only for the vast process of destruction, but also for the stimulation of new capacities for pro duction. This new economic activity, which under normal conditions of peace might have been a gain to society, and the surprising ca pacity exhibited by the belligerent nations for enduring long and in creasing loss - often while presenting the outward semblance of new prosperity - made necessary a reconsideration of the whole field of war economics. A double obligation was therefore placed upon the Division of Economics and History. It was obliged to concentrate its work upon the problem thus presented, and to study it as a whole; in other words, to apply to it the tests and disciplines of history. J ust as the war itself was a single event, though penetrating by seemingly unconnected ways to the remotest parts of the world, so the analysisof it must be developed according to a plan at once all embracing and yet adjustable to the practical limits of the available data. 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.