It is easy to overlook the absence of appreciable advance in an industry. Inventions that are not made, like babies that are not born, are rarely missed. In the absence of new developments, old ones may seem very impressive for quite a long while. Until the combine appeared, the self-binder had been the mechanical marvel of the farm machinery industry for forty years. But if we were serious about increased output, we would be much more searching in these matters. Certainly we would regard the absence of investment in innovation in an industry as intolerable. But, in fact, large numbers of
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