CHAPTER 9 
VARYING ADVANTAGES ! 
IN the preceding chapters it has been assumed that there were 
but two commodities in the trade between the countries and 
one commodity exported from each. Any given country, how- 
ever, exports not one article, but a number. This circumstance 
in itself would not necessarily point to modifications of the 
reasoning. If the several articles were all produced under the same 
conditions of advantage or disadvantage, they could be treated as 
one. But itis not to be assumed that all are alike in this regard — 
that there is in each and every industry of a given country the same 
trend in the effectiveness of its labor compared to effectiveness in 
other countries. It is almost certain that a country will have a 
greater superiority in some directions than in others. Once more 
we are compelled to modify our reasoning and amplify our deduc- 
tions by introducing supplementary hypotheses; reshaping the 
conclusions reached on the simplest assumptions by introducing 
further assumptions such as to bring us closer to the realities. 
Suppose that there are not two commodities but three; and 
suppose further that we find not the same relations of comparative 
effectiveness between the trading countries, but a graded situation. 
Let the three commodities be wheat, woolen cloth, and linen. The 
following figures will serve for illustration and for analysis. 
In the U. S. 10 days’ labor produce 20 wheat 
a3 an 22 E81 1048) 2 » 20 cloth 
2 wT SY ) ” 20 linen 
” Germany 10 ” % ” 10 wheat 
” Germany 10 ” 2 ” 15 linen 
” Germany 10 ” ? Y 18 cloth 
1 For a compact and highly abstract analysis of the main trend of this chapter, 
see Appendix H of Marshall's Money, Credit, and Commerce, pp. 322-325. My own 
more elementary version had been made before Marshall's book appeared. 
Q