D 
INTERNATIONAL TRADE 
degree for both. For copper the ten days in the United States 
produce 30, in Germany 15; the difference is as 2 to 1. For linen 
the ten days produce in the United States 15, in Germany 10; the 
difference is as 3 to 2. The United States has a greater advantage 
in copper than in linen. She may be said to have a comparative 
advantage in a more special sense. 
In the chapters that follow we proceed to consider what are the 
possibilities of trade between the two countries in these three cases, 
and what the possible terms of trade. The situation will be ana- 
lyzed first as if the conditions were the very simplest. Suppose 
the trade to be one of barter, the direct exchange of copper for 
linen. The two countries may be supposed to get together in mass 
meeting, so to speak, and to consider whether anything can be 
gained by an exchange of goods; much as we should consider what 
might be done by two collectivist communities which had no com- 
mon medium of exchange.