252 SMALL INDUSTRIES AND 



comply with. As o the silk trade, it continues 

 to spread over Europe in its rural industry 

 shape ; while hundreds of new petty trades 

 appear every year, and when they find nobody 

 to carry them on in the villages as is the case 

 in this country they shelter themselves in the 

 suburbs of the great cities, as we have lately 

 learned from the inquiry into the " sweating 

 system." 



Now, the advantages offered by a large factory 

 in comparison with hand work are self-evident 

 as regards the economy of labour, and especially 

 this is the main point the facilities both for 

 sale and for having the raw produce at a lower 

 price. How can we then explain the persistence 

 of the petty trades ? Many causes, however, 

 most of which cannot be valued in shillings and 

 pence, are at work in favour of the petty trades, 

 and these causes will be best seen from the 

 following illustrations. I must say, however, 

 that even a brief sketch of the countless industries 

 which are carried on on a small scale in this 

 country, and on the Continent, would be far 

 beyond the scope of this chapter. When I began 

 to study the subject some thirty years ago, I 

 never guessed, from the little attention devoted 

 to it by the orthodox economists, what a wide, 

 complex, important, and interesting organisation 

 would appear at the end of a closer inquiry. So 



