WAGES, PROFITS AND INTEREST 181 
or is not recoverable at short notice without 
loss. Here we have"examples of inconvenience, 
for which the investor requires compensation. 
A good example of the gross interest which 
includes substantial payment for work done 
is to be found in the charges made by pawn 
brokers, who are bound to give unremitting 
attention to the employment of a compara 
tively small capital since it is loaned in small 
sums for short periods. 
In connection with interest there is one 
inquiry which must not be shirked, and that 
is why in a wealthy community the rate of 
net interest never drops to zero. It would if 
there were so much capital that its marginal 
worth subsided to zero. Why should it 
not ? Why should the amount saved always 
fall short of the full requirements of the 
community ? Looking at the matter broadly, 
in a rich country like England, one might be 
inclined to expect the rate of interest to 
subside till it touched the boundary where 
plus and minus meet. 
Zero interest simply implies that the com 
munity regarded as a whole is employing the 
most productive methods—the methods which 
yield the highest net income. It means that 
the population is so distributed, winning coal 
and ore, smelting metal, making machines,