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Elements of economics of industry, the first vol. of Elements of economics
Elements of economics of industry the first vol of Elements of economics Author:Alfred Marshall Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE GROWTH OP FREE INDUSTRY AND ENTERPRISE, CONTINUED. § 1. England's geographical position caused her to be peo- The character pled by the st... more »rongest members of the strongest of English- r J 8 . , i men. races of northern Europe; a process of natural selection brought to her shores those members of each successive migratory wave who were most daring and self-reliant. Her climate is better adapted to sustain energy than any other in the northern hemisphere. She is divided by no high hills, and no part of her territory is more than twenty miles from navigable water, and thus there was no material hindrance to freedom of intercourse between her different parts; while the strength and wise policy of the Norman and Plan- tagenet kings prevented artificial barriers from being raised by local magnates. As the part which Rome played in history is chiefly due to her having combined the military strength of a great empire with the enterprise and fixedness of purpose of an oligarchy residing in one city, so England owes her greatness to her combining, as Holland had done on a smaller scale before, much of the free temper of the mediaeval city with the strength and broad basis of a nation. The towns of England had been less distinguished than those of other lands; but she assimilated them more easily than any other country did, and so gained in the long run most from them. The custom of primogeniture inclined the younger sons of noble families to seek their own fortunes; and, having no special caste privileges, they mixed readily with the commonpeople. This fusion of different ranks tended to make politics business-like; while it warmed the veins of business adventure with the generous daring and romantic aspirations of noble blood. Resolute on the one hand i...« less