In treating a prosy subject of this kind, the mind has a natural craving to get away now and then from the dry detail of statistics and political economy, and to escape, if only for occasional moments, into an atmosphere of lightness and laughter. So far as English readers are concerned, it is to be regretted that Richter did not see fit to arrange his matter in a less dry and ponderous way, and to introduce an element of fun and ridicule into his treatment of the subject. The English are firmly persuaded that the Germans quite lack all sense of humour. It need hence occasion no surprise that this nation, with that stolidity conventionally ascribed to it by the English, have, nevertheless, read this little book with avidity in editions of hundreds of thousands.
The Translator.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ploezensee is a house of correction in Berlin.
[2] “Falsities of Socialism,” by Eugene Richter. Berlin, 1890.
THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
Transcriber’s Notes:
Footnotes have been moved to the end of the text and relabeled consecutively through the document.
Punctuation has been made consistent.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation were retained as they appear in the original publication, except that obvious typographical errors have been corrected.