This eleventh edition was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. Some of its articles were written by the best-known scholars of the time and it is considered to be a landmark encyclopaedia for scholarship and literary style.

Includes discussion of proposals to change basis of tariff rates from foreign valuation of commodities to American valuation of commodities.

"... During his nearly ten years of service with the Philippine government [the author] made a practice of preserving significant clippings and having copies made of the most important documents that reached his eye, and these, classified, annotated, and indexed, together with copious journals and correspondence, form much of the basis of this work ... the archives of the War Department have been made available, and the late Governor-General Leonard Wood authorized the collection of information from various bureaus and offices in Manila ..."--Foreword, p. v.