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408 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDreS
,
with the prosperity of a given community are the in-
dustry of the community itself in all those callings
which are essentially local, and the means it has of
obtaining ab extra what it wants.
Applying these principles, then, to the case of the
United Kingdom, the main. practical question to be
considered is (I) the amount and proportion to the
whole industry of the communhy of the ab extra things
which the community requires; and (2) the facilities
and conditions under which these ab extra things are
obtained. If the proportion required is not unusually
large, and if it is well within the resources of the com-
munity, then the conditions for maintaining that com-
munity's independence and prosperity, given a climate
suitable for carrying on industry and for residence, are
also not unfavourable. Everything, as already stated,
practically depends on the mutual industry of the
people themselves. .
A th£rd point for inquiry will, of course, be the dis-
position and equipment of the community for carrying
on the home services and exchanges. I t may almost
be assumed, in the case of an old country, that in this
respect there can be no lack, a long-established com-
munity having necessarily brought much to perfection
which facilitates industry in every form and makes the
objects of civilised existence more easily attainable
than elsewhere. But the point nevertheless ought per-
haps to be formally dealt with.

We begin then by inquiring as to the amount of the
things required from abroad in the United Kingdom,
and the proportion to the whole income of the people,
from capital as well as labour, and from investments
abroad as well as at home. These requirements, ac-
cording to the last Annual Statement of Trade (fo,
19021), are valued in the gross as folklws:
1 There are lateJ;,f.gures for 1903, but it is more convenient to take
1902 as that to which the last Annual Statement relates. I should
th~~_ also 1902 is on the whole a better average year than 1903·