177 



simply by comparing the values of foreign trade per head of 

 the population, without taking the size of the countries and 

 the omitted factor of their internal trade into account. For 

 instance, Holland has a trade of £34 per head, or nearly 

 double the rate for England, and from this it does not follow 

 that its maritime greatness is twice that of England. India 

 in point of size is as big as Europe without Russia, and if 

 Europe minus Russia were treated as one country and its 

 foreign trade were alone considered, that is to say, if the 

 trade of Russia with other European countries and the trade 

 of European countries other than Russia with non-European 

 countries were alone taken into account, the value of trade 

 per head of the population would come out very small. The 

 Madras Presidency by itself is one-sixth larger in point of 

 size than the United Kingdom, and its external trade by sea 

 amounts to 18s. per head of the population. There is 

 besides a large land trade with other provinces, including 

 Native States. The distinction, in fact, between foreign and 

 domestic trade is itself an artificial and accidental one. For 

 instance, the trade of Tuticorin with Ceylon or Pondicherry 

 is foreign trade; its trade with Calcutta or Rangoon is 

 domestic trade ; and for commercial purposes, England itself 

 is, or at all events was until railways were constructed, more 

 accessible than the Punjab. This being so, it is the aggre- 

 gate of foreign and domestic trade, and not the foreign trade 

 considered by itself, that is important for the purpose for 

 which comparisons of this kind are instituted. Another fact 

 to bfe borne in mind in judging of the increase of prosperity 

 of a country from the increase in the money- value of trade is 

 the change in the purchasing power of money. So far as 

 India is concerned, the purchasing power of money has 

 fallen, and, therefore, the increase in the money-value of 

 trade does not represent a proportionate increase in the 

 volume of the commodities exchanged. Nevertheless, as 

 already pointed out, the producer in India now realizes for 

 his produce a larger value than he did in 1850 and obtains 

 his imported articles much cheaper, that is, by giving a 

 smaller quantity of his own articles in exchange, and conse- 

 quently his gain has probably not been less than what it 

 would have been if the volume had increased in proportion 

 to the money- value of trade, the purchasing power of money 

 itself remaining stationary. 



Secondly, as regards the total income of the country and 

 the share of it per head of the population : The total 

 income of the United Kingdom has been estimated at 1,247 



23 



