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380 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIEfC;
mittee Ofl88I, of whose report I have made such large
use? On some points, for some purposes, minute in-
vestigations are hardly needed, because certain broad
figures are good enough for practical discussion, ~nd
there is no greater waste of time than the elaboration of
figures where elaboration is not really required. But a
more elaborate investigation than anything attempted
in 1881, much more elaboratf( than anything I have
now ventured on, would also supply the bases of many
useful comparisons. An investigation in detail, for
jnstance, of the "cost of distribution" among different
classes of the community for different commodities
would yield some interesting and instructive results.
The investigations might be carried further, and com-
parisons made with other countries, so as to exhibit how
variously the problems of living are solved. At the
same time the difficulties are endless, as expenditure
for one purpose overlaps that of another, and there are
curious puzzles as to what are "independent" incomes
and what are not, and in what way the direct use of
commodities and services by the producer, without being
the subject of exchange, is to be treated. Some of our
you!lger statisticians and economists, it may be hoped,
will be induced to have a "look in " on this topic.