In offering this comparative study of the methods of colonial administration the author is fully aware that the time is not ripe for a complete and conclusive statement of the principles involved. Many of the experiments dealt with are of so recent an origin that their outcome is still entirely problematical; in fact, it may be said that the entire policy of governing distant and alien dependencies is still on trial. The purpose of this volume is to furnish a statement of the various problems confronting colonial governments; and to indicate the main lines of solution that have been attempted; selecting from the vast amount of available material the most striking illustrations. It intends to give a survey of the varied activities of colonial governments, the institutional framework of which has been outlined in an earlier book in this series.<br><br>A part of the first chapter of the book was read by the author at the International Congress of Arts and Sciences at St. Louis, and a part of the second chapter has been published in the American Journal of Sociology. The author desires to express his obligation to Mr. J. W. Gannaway, and to Mr. Horatio B.Hawkins, students at the University of Wisconsin, for valuable assistance in verification and proof reading.