24 W. G. Langworthy Taylor 



largely the question of the size of the market. Biologically, 

 the market is the test of the conjuncture, — it characterizes or 

 sums up the whole conjuncture. Inventions, speed of commu- 

 nication and production ; rapidity of accumulation of wealth, — 

 all indicate greater influence of will, greater proportionate share 

 of mind in whatever affects human life (both individually and 

 socially speaking) in comparison with that of matter. Alan has 

 advanced, but by his own efforts. The new local combinations 

 bring together or economise the preexisting materialistic but po- 

 tential environment. What items shall make up the new con- 

 juncture is a matter for experience, that is to say, experiment. 

 India has subsequently not advanced but rather fallen back as a 

 part of the conjuncture or market. Russia has advanced enor- 

 mously compared with her position in the early eighties. The 

 Argentine Republic has made the greatest advance of all. espe- 

 cially in the nineties. The United States actually fell back in 

 wheat area from 1882 to 1894; however, her yield was so large 

 as to more than compensate for decreased acreage. Her good 

 harvests thus defeated the object of the decrease of acreage, viz., 

 to accommodate herself to the competition of India, Russia, and 

 Argentina. Thus the environment, so far as it is composed of 

 wheat lands, has continually shifted. The potential environments 

 are always there, but what items (in this case geographical) shall 

 constitute them is a matter for experience and for tentative 

 activity. 



The availability of a given (e. g., geographical) item for the 

 conjuncture at a given moment is evidently determined by local 

 as well as by foreign conditions. It is the local psychic as well 

 as materialistic conjuncture that is decisive. The caste system of 

 India is unfavorable to industrial enterprise ; the tax system is 

 also unfavorable. These conditions inhere in the Indian type of 

 mind. _ Light yield, small holdings, hand labor, undeveloped 

 transportation — all conspire to make India a high-cost producer. 

 % Small holdings are not necessarily so uneconomical ; in France 

 small holdings offer some disadvantages, but these arc partlv 

 made up by rotation of crops, manures, intensive culture, and 

 cooperation for larger work, such as power threshing. Hence 



24 



