WAGES,  PROFITS  AND  INTEREST  179

who,  with  their  existing  tastes,  cannot
reconcile  to  themselves  the  full  spending  of
their  incomes,  must  not  be  overlooked.
Evidently  there  would  be  a  certain  amount
of  capital  available  in  a  community  even  if  no
interest  were  paid,  since  some  saving  is
independent  of  the  incentive  of  gain.  Indeed
some  capital  would  exist  were  interest  negative ­
  ;  for  instance  if,  instead  of  interest  being
paid,  the  possession  of  capital  were  taxed.
This  would  be  so  because,  the  discouragement
to  providence  notwithstanding,  no  prudent
man  would  dream  of  instantly  spending  to  the
last  farthing  everything  as  he  earned  it.
Despite  these  considerations,  however,  it  is
pretty  certain  that  in  every  Western  community ­
  a  rise  in  the  rate  of  interest  swells  the
sums  annually  withheld  from  expenditure  on
consumers’  goods.  The  rate  of  saving  for
some  purposes  is  left  untouched  by  an  advance
in  the  rate  of  interest  ;  saving  for  other
purposes,  for  instance  the  procuring  of  a
fixed  income  to  retire  on,  is  checked  ;  but
saving  with  yet  other  objects  in  view  is
stimulated,  and  the  influence  determining  this
saving  would  almost  certainly  prove  much
stronger  than  the  influence  determining  the
second  class  of  saving.
So  capital,  we  may  declare,  has  a  supply