This book must be judged in the light of its limited objective. It is not the product of the study, either literally or metaphorically. It was written in the spare moments of a busy business life, and it deliberately avoids any abstruse discussion of economic and statistical problems. What Mr. Wallace attempted to do was to act as a liaison officer between the academic and the business worlds. He sought to describe in homely terms those complex theories relating to the trade cycle, upon which general trade forecasting is primarily based; and to show in as concrete a manner as possible how far existing knowledge on trade forecasting can be used by the business man in the practical conduct of his affairs.