any given time, is dependent upon
human arrangements, the idea that underlying all distributive action,
there is a tendency to approach a point of "normal equilibrium" must be
rejected. For human behavior is frequently directed to produce change,
not repetition. The better informed that human beings and communities
are of the consequences of their actions, the stronger the tendency
mutually to control and adjust them for defined purposes. Therefore, the
idea that the distributive situation at any given time is directed to a
point of rest or equilibrium is incorrect. Many diverse tendencies, some
of long standing, some of newer birth, act to produce future results
different from those of the present or past. The concept of normal
equilibrium is inadequate to account for the distributive situation at
any given time; it is misleading with regard to prospective policy.

9.--The preceding sections were devoted to an explanation of the manner
in which the relative plenty or scarcity of the various groups or agents
of production influenced the sharing out of the product of industry, and
of the interactions to which this factor was subject. It may now be
asked what governs the actual state of relative plenty or scarcity of
the various groups or agents of production. No answer could be returned
to that question, however, without undertaking a far-reaching
investigation of a great number of separate conditions and tendencies.
The task is far beyond our present opportunity. It is worth while,
however, for present purposes, to delimit the task sharply, and to
attempt a brief enumeration of the most important of the conditions
which determine, on the one hand, the need of the productive system for
labor, and, on the other hand, the supply of labor--that is, of the
relative plenty or scarcity of labor.

The conditions which govern the need of the productive system for labor
may be summarized as follows: Firstly, the consumption habits of the
community, by which is decided the direction in which the productive
powers are employed; secondly, the state of the productive arts, which
governs the manner in which the various agents of production are
combined for purposes of production; thirdly, the available supply of
the agents of production, other than labor. Each of these are in return
governed by a complex set of forces.

The conditions determining the supply of labor may be summed up under
two headings: Firstly, "the state of know