cance of Static Law in a Dynamic State._--An actual society is
undergoing constant disturbances. It is very far from being static;
and yet values of goods, on the one hand, and the earnings of labor
and capital, on the other, hover within a certain distance of the
standards which would be realized if the society became static. In
spite of active dynamic movements the general returns of labor and
capital can never range so far from these theoretical amounts that the
distance from them cannot in some way be measured and accounted for.
The sea, when gales are blowing and tides are rising and falling, is
anything but a static object, and yet it keeps a general level in
spite of storms and tides, and the surface of it as a whole is
surprisingly near to the ideal mathematical surface that would be
presented if all disturbances were to cease. In like manner there are
certain influences that are disturbing the economic equilibrium just
as storms and tidal waves disturb the equilibrium of the sea. We
cannot actually stop these influences any more than we can stay the
winds and the lunar attraction; but we can create an imaginary static
state for scientific purposes, just as a physicist by a process of
calculation can create a hypothetical static condition of the sea and
discover the level from which heights and depths should be measured.
No more than the economist can he actually bring the subject he is
dealing with to a motionless condition. The economic ocean will defy
any modern Canute who may try to stop its movements; but it is
necessary to know what shape and level it would take if this were
done.

_Influences that disturb the Static Equilibrium._--The influences that
disturb the economic equilibrium are, in general, five. The population
of the world increases, and this is one influence which prevents
values, wages, and interest from subsiding to perfectly "natural"
standards. Capital is increasing, and this influence also acts as a
disturbing factor. The methods of producing things change, and the
changes have a very powerful effect in preventing the attainment of a
static equilibrium. New modes of organizing different industries are
coming into vogue, and this causes a further disturbance of the
economic adjustment. The wants of men are by no means fixed; they
change, multiply, and act on the economic condition of society in a
way that affects the static adjustment. Even physical nature undergoes
change, and the perisha