Alfred Weber's Theory of the Location of Industries

In presenting this book to the public I am spared an embarrassment that many writers encounter ; I do not need to give an apology for the topic with which it deals. Alfred Weber's treatise is a pioneering venture. He attempts to master by theoreti- cal analysis a complete wilderness of facts which has grown up around us during the last two centuries concerning the location of our modern manufacturing industries. To be sure, others have ventured upon the task of describing and classifying the phenomena of geographical distribution; but, as Weber points out, previous writers did not get beyond a mere enumeration of various factors which played a part in determining the location of industries.