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2 I 2 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
notwithstanding the importance of the war in many
aspects, the burden of it is really small compared with
the immense resources of the United Kingdom, while
the burden on the South African communities, where
the disturbance of industry has been very great, is
mitigated in the various ways we have described. As
far as the United Kingdom is concerned, the injury
may be described as equivalent to what would be caused
by a big strike such as we have had in recent years in
the coal mining industry and in the engineering in-
dustry. In the coal mining strike several years ago,
about 200,000 to 300,000 people were engaged, and
the industry to that extent was suspended. In the
engineering strike, not quite 100,000 engineers struck
work, but the numbers really involved and put out of
employment directly were considerably greater. We
know, however, in how small a degree the product of
the general industry of the country was diminished by
these events when accounts came to be made up at the
end of the year. Similarly now the abstraction of
200,000 to 300,000 people from their usual occupations
into direct and indirect military service appears to be
lost in the general volume of the national activities.
The numbers, large as they are, are not big enough to
be missed, and the effect in proportion to the numbers
is, perhaps, less than it was in the case of the big
strikes referred to, because in these strikes, especially
the coal strike, other employments were almost im-
mediately affected through the deficient supply of raw
material to work with, whereas in the present case
workmen are taken in proportion from great varieties
of employments, and there is no stoppage in con-
sequence of the failure of some particular industry to
supply its quota of raw material for the others. Ap-
parently, also~ the abstraction of workers from active
industry is not equal in numerical amount to the
numbers of reservists and volunteers who have gone to
the front, because there are included in the latter con-
siderable numbers who were more or less unemployed,