d be similar in the
two countries; but for China itself this acquiring of practical arts
would be dynamics acting on a vast scale. What is a static adjustment
for the world is a dynamic change for parts of the world, and all such
changes that can occur within the area of economic society proper and
within the period we can wisely include in our study we need to take
into account. Changes in population, wealth, method, and organization
must be studied, however they may originate.

CHAPTER XV

PERPETUAL CHANGE OF THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE

_Perpetual Change of the Social Structure._--We confine ourselves to
that economic society _par excellence_ which we have called the
industrial center of the world. In this region economic influences are
forever changing the very structure of the society itself. They move
labor from place to place in the system and they transfer capital to
and fro in the same way. If we think of our table of groups and
subgroups as representing the whole of this great industrial world, we
must think of labor and capital as in a perpetual flow from subgroup
to subgroup, making some industries larger and others smaller by
reason of every such movement. The great force of labor and the fund
of capital are like restless seas whose currents carry the water
composing them now hither and now yon as the direction and force of
the moving influences change.

_Movements of Labor within the Group System caused by Increasing
Population._--If the population were to increase while the amount of
capital and the mode of using it remained the same, the effect would
be a downward movement of both labor and capital in the series of
subgroups by which we represent industrial society. Labor and capital
would tend to desert the subgroups _A'''_, _B'''_, and _C'''_ in our
table and to move to _A_, _B_, and _C_:--

_A'''_ _B'''_ _C'''_
_A''_ _B''_ _C''_
_A'_ _B'_ _C'_
_A_ _B_ _C_

_Causes of Downward Flow of Labor in the Group System._--A larger
population means, of course, not merely an increase in the amount of
labor performed, but also an increase in the number of consumers. It
means more mouths to feed and more bodies to clothe. It entails also,
according to principles that we have already studied, a lower earning
power and a lower rate of pay for labor. This means that simple food,
cheap clothing, inexpensive houses, furnishings, etc., constitute a
larger element in