UNCONSCIOUS ASSUMPTIONS IN ECONOMICS. 537 



In fact, we must remember that the experience on which we rely in 

 regard to economic growth has been obtained, not by experiment in a 

 laboratory, but by observation in the world itself. The investigator 

 in a laboratory can note all the conditions under which an experiment 

 is conducted; he can be certain that under the same conditions the 

 same result can be secured over and over again. But in the world of 

 political and economic activities we never find the same conditions 

 repeating themselves; the fundamental inquiry must always be, How 

 far were the conditions of some growing community in the past similar 

 to those of some growing community to-day ? How far are they on all 

 fours, so that we can argue from one to another directly? Sometimes 

 we may get a very close analogy, and instructive comparisons may be 

 possible ; but even when the conditions are very different, when there is 

 hardly any close parallel, we may still get a suggestion as to a mode 

 of development that might prove fruitful or as to a danger which it 

 may be well to bear in mind. 



There is pleasure in completing, so far as the limits of time and 

 energy allow, an empirical economic investigation; but to those who 

 have any vigor of mind at all there is a keener delight in seeing new 

 fields of possible inquiry opened up. It is very enjoyable to renew 

 acquaintance with an old difficulty in a fresh form, or to find that some 

 question which seemed to be settled is forcing itself clamorously on our 

 attention for reconsideration; and hence we have, as economists, set 

 out for our too hurried visit here with eager anticipation. The condi- 

 tions of South Africa seem to be very different from those of any other 

 part of the world, and therefore every particular economic problem 

 presents itself in an unfamiliar aspect. There has not been such a 

 clear field for the working out of new ideas as was presented in the 

 great West, or even in Australasia ; and all questions as to the opening 

 up of the country and the economic aims and aspirations of the settler 

 are necessarily more complex. There may not be the sharply defined 

 conflict between the old and the new which renders British India such 

 a fascinating field for study, but the African problems are not simpli- 

 fied on that account. It is, rather, true to say that there is additional 

 complication with regard to all industrial activity in a land where the 

 natives have not been schooled to regular .habits of work by the dis- 

 cipline of a high traditional civilization. As passing tourists we can 

 obviously make little progress in understanding how these practical 

 difficulties are to be solved, but at least we hope to learn to know better 

 how the questions ought to be stated. We shall have our reward if we 

 carry back with us as a cherished possession a not wholly unintelligent 

 interest in the great economic problems which must be worked out in 

 South Africa. 



