The Statesman's Year-Book. Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1956.

In the present, the 93rd, issue of The Stateman's Year-Book information has again been brought up to the latest available date. Major or minor improvements will, it is hoped, be found in virtually every section.
The motto on the back of the title-page, too, has undergone a change - its first since 1864. Inquiries about its source were made independently by members of the Canadian Air Transport Board and the Royal Air Force. At the editor's request, Professor L. W. Forster, of University College, London, has kindly restored the authentic wording from the original source and supplied the following English rendering:
It has been said that figures rule the world; may be. I am quite sure, though, that it is figures which show us whether it is being ruled well or badly.
Eekermann's Conversations with Goethe, 31 Jan., 1830.
Officials, government departments and members of the diplomatic services of almost every country as well as numerous international organizations and individual friends of the Year-Book all over the world have once more helped the editor in his task. To all of them he wishes to express his sincerest thanks for their generous co-operation.
S.H.S.