they give for it must reduce the price of the
whole. The market price will sink more or
less below the natural price, according as the
greatness of the excess increases more or less
the competition of the sellers, or according as
it happens to be more or less important to
them to get immediately rid of the commodity.
The same excess in the importation of
perishable, will occasion a much greater competition
than in that of durable commodities;
in the importation of oranges, for example,
than in that of old iron.
When the quantity brought to market is
just sufficient to supply the effectual demand,
and no more, the market price naturally
comes to be either exactly, or as nearly as
can be judged of, the same with the natural
price. The whole quantity upon hand can
be disposed of for this price, and cannot be
disposed of for more. The competition of
the different dealers obliges them all to accept
of this price, but does not oblige them
to accept of less.
The quantity of every commodity brought
to market naturally suits itself to the effectual
demand. It is the interest of all those who
employ their land, labour, or stock, in bringing
any commodity to market, that the quantity
never should exceed the effectual demand;
and it is the interest of all other people that
it never should fall short of that demand.
If at any time it exceeds the effectual demand,
some of the component parts of its
price must be paid below their natural rate.
If it is rent, the interest of the landlords will
immediately prompt them to withdraw a part
of their land; and if it is wages or profit,
the interest of the labourers in the one case,
and of their employers in the other, will
prompt them to withdraw a part of their labour
or stock, from this employment. The
quantity brought to market will soon be no
more than sufficient to supply the effectual
demand. All the different parts of its price
will rise to their natural rate, and the whole
price to its natural price.
If, on the contrary, the quantity brought to
market should at any time fall short of the effectual
demand, some of the component parts
of its price must rise above their natural rate.
If it is rent, the interest of all other landlords
will naturally prompt them to prepare more
land for the raising of this commodity; if it
is wages or profit, the interest of all other labourers
and dealers will soon prompt them to
employ more labour and stock in preparing
and bringing it to market. The quantity
brought thither will soon be sufficient to supply
the effectual demand. All the different
parts of its price will soon sink to their natural
rate, and the whole price to its natural
price.
The natural price, therefore, is, as it were,
the central price, to which the prices of all
commodities are continually gravitating. Different
accidents may sometimes keep them
suspended a good deal above it, and sometimes
force them down even somewhat below
it. But whatever may be the obstacles which
hinder them from settling in this centre of repose
and continuance, they are constantly
tending towards it.
The whole quantity of industry annually
employed in order to bring any commodity to
market, naturally suits itself in this manner to
the effectual demand. It naturally aims at
bringing always that precise quantity thither
which may be sufficient to supply, and no
more than supply, that demand.
But, in some employments, the same quantity
of industry will, in different years, produce
very different quantities of commodities;
while, in others, it will produce always the
same, or very nearly the same. The same
number of labourers in husbandry will, in
different years, produce very different quantities
of corn, wine, oil, hops, &c. But the
same number of spinners or weavers will every
year produce the same, or very nearly the
same, quantity of linen and woollen cloth. It
is only the average produce of the one species
of industry which can be suited, in any respect,
to the effectual demand; and as its actual
produce is frequently much greater, and
frequently much less, than its average produce,
the quantity of the commodities brought
to market will sometimes exceed a good deal,
and sometimes fall short a good deal, of the
effectual demand. Even though that demand,
therefore, should continue always the same,
their market price will be liable to great fluctuations,
will sometimes fall a good deal below,
and sometimes rise a good deal above,
their natural price. In the other species of
industry, the produce of equal quantities of
labour being always the same, or very nearly
the same, it can be more exactly suited to the
effectual demand. While that demand continues
the same, therefore, the market price of
the commodities is likely to do so too, and to
be either altogether, or as nearly as can be
judged of, the same with the natural price.
That the price of linen and woollen cloth is
liable neither to such frequent, nor to such
great variations, as the price of corn, every
man's experience will inform him. The price
of the one species of commodities varies only
with the variations in the demand; that of
the other varies not only with the variations
in the demand, but with the much greater,
and more frequent, variations in the quantity
of what is brought to market, in order to supply
that demand.
The occasional and temporary fluctuations
in the market price of any commodity fall
chiefly upon those parts of its price which resolve
themselves into wages and profit. That
part which resolves itself into rent is less affected
by them. A rent certain in money is
not in the least affected by them, either in its