EXCESSIVE  FORMS  OF  CAPITAL  DO  EXIST  77

new-saved  capital,  when  the  self-interest  of  savers  will
naturally  lead  them  to  prefer  new  uses.  With  the  pure
theory  of  this  answer  I  have  no  quarrel.  If  all  the  “  saved”
incomes  do  in  fact  take  shape  in  fixed  forms  of  capital  which
supply  increased  consumption-goods  in  the  shape  of  new
public  or  private  comforts  and  conveniences  to  the  present  or
even  to  the  next  generation,  we  can  thoroughly  approve
this  saving  :  it  is  no  cause  of  diminished  employment.
Well,  it  may  be  said,  does  that  not  settle  the  matter?
Are  there  not  ample  opportunities  for  the  supply  of  new
or  improved  public  and  private  needs?  Are  our  towns
as  well-built,  commodious  and  beautiful  as  they  might
be  ?  Are  they  perfectly  supplied  with  water,  lighting,  transport, ­
  and  other  services  ?  Could  not  public  education
provide  a  good  field  of  investment  for  capital  and  labour
both  on  the  material  and  intellectual  planes?  Is  it  not
self-evident  that  without  passing  the  barrier  of  wholesome
personal  conveniences  a  vast  and  ever-growing  number
of  good  and  reasonable  wants  remain  unsatisfied  because
there  is  no  capital  and  labour  directed  to  their  satisfaction  ?
How  in  the  face  of  this  can  over-saving  be  possible  ?
Still  more  how  can  it  be  asserted  to  actually  exist?
The  answer  is  that  a  sufficient  portion  of  new  savings
does  not  in  fact  seek  these  new  avenues  of  socially  useful
investment,  that  a  large  proportion  of  it  does  flow  into
channels  which  are  admittedly  full,  and  that  when  this
congestion  is  made  manifest,  much  fresh  “saving”  instead
of  seeking  new  fields  of  investment  accumulates  in  the
hands  of  bankers  and  other  persons.  That  portion  of
new  savings  which  embodies  itself  in  forms  of  capital  that
satisfy  new  wants  is  both  morally  and  economically  justified ­
  :  that  portion  which  embodies  itself  in  the  socially