ention has been called, a rate of
interest that begins at four per cent and falls very slowly to three
and a half presents to those who have this defective vision the same
incentive to saving as one that begins at four per cent and remains
steadily at that figure. What is true, however, is that a falling rate
is to be expected, that this fact acts as a stimulus for saving in the
case of the more far-sighted classes, and that the number of persons
in these classes is increasing.

In so far as the increase of capital is concerned society is secure
against the danger of reaching a stationary state. Progress in wealth
will not build a barrier against itself by stinting the resources on
which hereafter labor must rely. When we examine the sources from
which capital mainly comes, we shall further test the probability that
the instrumentalities which add productive power to human effort will
increase through the longest period that science needs to take account
of.[2]

[2] For a somewhat similar view of the effect of a fall
of interest on the accumulation of capital, see Webb's
"Industrial Democracy," Vol. II, pp. 610-632.

CHAPTER XXI

CONDITIONS INSURING PROGRESS IN METHOD AND ORGANIZATION

_The Possibility of a Law of Technical Progress._--It might seem that
inventions were not subject to any influence that can be described
under the head of a law. Genius certainly follows its own devices, and
inventive power that has in it any touch of genius may be supposed to
do the same. It is, however, a fact of experience that some
circumstances favor and increase the actual exercise of this faculty,
while other influences deter it. Moreover, what is important is not
merely the making of inventions, but the introduction of such of them
as are valuable into the productive operations of the world. Some
influences favor this and others oppose it, and it is entirely
possible to recognize the conditions in which economies of production
rapidly take place in the actual industry of different countries.

Technical progress has been particularly rapid in the United States,
though in this respect Germany has in recent years been a strong
rival, and ever since the introduction of steam engines and textile
machinery, England has continued to make a brilliant record. France,
Belgium, and a number of other countries of Europe have developed an
industry that is in a high degree dynamic, and Japan is now in the
lists and g