110 NATURE OF CAPITAL AND INCOME [Cmar. VII 
Another but very similar attempt to escape the difficulties 
of double counting and of confusing capital and income is 
to specify, not that income must in a vague way be “regu- 
lar,” but that it must be such as to leave unimpaired the 
capital which yields it." Such a definition has the merit 
of connecting income with capital as its source, but it merely 
shifts the pretended attribute of uniformity from the 
income itself to its parent capital. In actual fact it 
is seldom true either that income flows uniformly or that 
capital remains at a constant level. To stipulate such uni- 
formity as a necessary limitation of income is to define, not 
the actual irregular income which exists in fact, but an 
ideal standard which we set up for reference. It cannot 
be denied that the term ‘income’ is sometimes used in the 
sense of such an ideal instead of in the sense of actual in- 
come; and we shall follow this usage so far as to call such 
an ideal by the name of “standard income.” What we 
insist on is that such standard income is not, and must not 
be confused with, the actual income which a man receives 
from his capital. It is simply the income which he would 
receive if he chose to keep his capital unimpaired and un- 
increased. If a man has his capital invested in the form of 
a house which yields him rent, this actual rent, less any 
actual expenses for repairs, taxes, etc., is his income 
from that house, even though the house may be depreciat- 
ing in value. The ideal or standard income whi h the house 
might yield without depreciation will be somewhat lower 
than this actual income, the difference being what is called 
amortization. 
This is not the place to discuss amortization and the rela- 
tions subsisting between standard and real income. These 
topics will be fully discussed in Chapter XIV. We are at 
present concerned with actual, not ideal, income; so 
! This specification is characteristic of Hermann, Schmoller, and 
many others. See Kleinwichter, Das Einkommen und seine Verteilung, 
pp. 22-23.