SUMMARY

cated may be the apparatus which intervenes betweenthe labor of picking and the enjoyment of eating.

Society may add to or subtract from its income streamat will at any period, present or future. But beyond a cer-tain point every addition at one period must be at thecost of a subtraction at some other period. If future in-come is added, the increment so added is a return on andat the cost of a decrement in less remote income. The rateof return over cost is thus a social phenomenon of greatsignificance. There are two and only two ways in whichsociety may effect the present cost and the future return.It may effect the present cost by exerting more presentlabor or by abstaining more from present consumption;and it may realize the future return over that cost eitherin the form of more future consumption or of less futuretoil.

Both the present and the future adjustments areeffected by changing the use made of capital instrumentsincluding land and human beings. That is, the labor, land,and other capital of society may be used in many op-tional ways and in particular may be invested for theearly or remote future.

If the capital instruments of the community are ofsuch a nature as to offer a wide range of choice, we haveseen that the rate of interest will tend to be steady. Ifthe range of choice is narrow, the rate of interest willtend to be variable. If the range of choice is relativelyrich in future income as compared with the more im-mediate income, the rate of interest will tend to be high.If the range of choice tends to favor immediate incomeas compared with more remote future income, the rate ofinterest will tend to be low.

Thus, for the United States during the last century,

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