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iniquity, was the place where the important but little-under- 

 stood spread between cash and future prices automatically 

 regulated the flow of grain to the consumer. 



Consumption Wisely Guided by Price 



The housewife with the market basket on her arm chooses 

 foods on the basis of price. Whether one should buy ham- 

 burger, rump roast, or T-bone steak is largely determined by 

 their prices. Whether a person should buy peas, peaches, and 

 pineapple by the case during the autumn sales, or whether to 

 buy from hand to mouth is largely determined by price. If 

 the case-lot prices are sufficiently low, the frugal consumer 

 "hoards" during the fall. 



Consumers decrease the consumption of high-priced ar- 

 ticles and increase the consumption of low-priced articles. 



We should all like to eat porterhouse steaks and fresh 

 strawberries, ride in Cadillac cars, and live in modern ten- 

 room houses, but these products require so much human 

 effort that it is not possible to produce enough for all. High 

 prices eliminate from the market those buyers who want 

 them least or are least able to pay for them, and the scarce 

 supply is rationed by price to the remaining buyers. 



Hens lay more eggs in the spring than at any other time. 

 The price falls, thereby encouraging those who would not 

 otherwise buy eggs to enter the market and take up the large 

 supply. 



In years of short crops prices of wheat are high. These 

 high prices tend to limit consumption in the early part of the 

 crop year so that enough wheat will be saved to last until 

 the next harvest. When pork is scarce, high prices of pork 

 cause the consumer to shift to other types of food so that the 

 diminishing supplies are not exhausted before production 

 can be increased. 



During a famine in India the government set prices of 



