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THE PRESENt" ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND OUTLOOK 421
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~ccess to .the re~t of the wor!d. The t}nited Kingdom
IS. mote lake a smgle huge city than a country of dis-
trIcts and towns separated by wide intervals. This is
no small advantage for local industry, as it places con-
sumers and producers side by side, just as if they were
in a small village with its own neighbourhood, complete
in itself.
The equipment of m~chinery and buildings for the
local industries to be carried on has likewise every
facility. There is, perhaps, a temptation to carelessness
in obtaining the newest and best equipment, as so much
can be done with less, owing to our favourable condi-
tions; but it is entirely our own fault if the best is not
always done. Hereditary skill and training are likewise
consequences of the past which we must long retain,
and along with this a perfection of subsidiary industries
which facilitates the great industries themselves, as
those who attempt to set up manufactures in new
countries will understand. There are many daily wants
of great manufactures which are supplied by subsidiary
industries in all our large manufacturing centres, and
these are not brought into existence in a day.
A fourth advantage we possess in following our own
home industries is the large importation of raw
materials to be used up in our export trade. This helps
to make a better market here for all similar materials
used in the home trade itself. The one market helps
the other, with the result that if there is abundance
and variety anywhere it is here. We always get the
first offer. ThiS applies, it should be understood, not
merely to the raw material we obtain for the manu-
factures for export so-called; but to the raw materials
we import in order to ca:ry on .such industri~s as c~al
mining, and those other mdustnes, such as shlpowmng
aIfd shipbuilding, which enable us to make invisible
exports. BecaUGe we have this enormous importation
we are in a better position to practise.to the fullest ad-
vantage all those industries where we work and ex-
change amongst ourselves.