ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

HEN we regard the position of a family, living
Vv without regular or frequent communication with
the outside world, it is comparatively easy to comprehend
the conditions which determine whether its supplies of the
necessaries and comforts of life are abundant or meagre,
The extent of its resources, whether consisting in the
strength, intelligence, knowledge, endurance, industry, foresight,
 etc., of its members, and their willingness to co-operate
for purposes where associated effort is more effective than
individual effort; or in the equipment of tools and materials,
domestic animals, buildings, etc. ; or in the natural conditions
of the country where they live, its climate, richness of soil,
forests and streams, and the like—all these things can be
fairly comprehended and their general bearing on the life of
the family understood. The advantages which might accrue
from communications with other such family groups, and
exchange of goods with them, can also be readily conceived.
The sources of abundance and scarcity are plainly revealed.
The same general features occur in the case of a great
nation, but how different the detail. The mode of division
of the acquisitions of the family is fundamentally different
from that adopted as between the individuals of a numerous
and varied society. The former is either arbitrary, in greater
or less degree, or places all on a footing of equality. In the
society, an individual has to make good his claim to a share