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62 ECONOMIC INQUIRIES AND STUDIES
so common as comparisons of the world's production
of wheat, for instance, in which this difference of quality
is ignored, and fine reasonings are indulged in where
this difference of quality might seriously affect the
result. What is true of grain is as true, if not more
true, of live stock. There are sheep and sheep, cattle
and cattle, horses and horses; in truth the agricultural
live stock of any two countries, instead of being sus-
ceptible of ready comparison, can hardly be compared
directly at all. The point is notoriously of gre.it im-
portance in historical investigations. In comparing
England of the present day with the England of pre-
vious centuries the difference of the average weight
and quality of the live stock called by the same names
has always to be considered. In nothing in recent
years, as I understand, have some continental countries
such as France made more remarkable improvement
than in the quality of their live stock, so that with no
increase in numbers, or little increase, there has been
an enormous advance in real production. But the point
is of equal importance in international comparisons. If
Australia is to reckon with competitors in wool pro-
duction, like the Argentine Republic, the average clip
per sheep in the respective countries is obviously a
necessary coefficient in the calculation, and it becomes
of great importance to study in what countries the
average is increasing or diminishing, and so on.
Officials at the head of the agricultural department in
France have been greatly impressed by considerations
like these, and have endeavoured to substitute a count
of cattle by weight for the mere count of heads, but
even a correction like this would by no means be suf-
ficient, as there might still be serious differences of
quality. The comparisons, then, of agricultural pro-
duction which one often sees, in which unlike units are
taken as equal without more ado, and reasoned upon
as if there were no qualifications, are most misleading.
Rectification to any exact degree might not in many
comparisons be possible but the consideration of the
f