THE PRICE OF WHEAT 185 
marketing of commodities previously not bought and sold. 
Now, if farmers consumed all their wheat on the farm, a 
market for wheat would not exist. When, however, 
division of labour springs up within the social unit, and 
the farmer confines himself to raising the food supplies 
from the soil, the smith to making the tools used in pro- 
duction, ete., a primitive stage in marketing is reached. 
But when wheat growing becomes confined to certain 
districts, that is, when in the social economy specialisation 
by product commences; and further, when the producer 
is distinct from the miller, the middleman, etc., that is, 
when specialisation by process arises, then a market is 
a necessity. 
What, then, is the exact economic significance of the 
word ‘‘market’’? Cournot says, ‘‘ Economists understand 
by the term market not any particular market place in 
which things are bought and sold, but the whole of 
any region in which buyers and sellers are in such free 
intercourse with one another that the prices of the 
same goods tend to equality easily and quickly.’’* The 
economic interpretation of the word ‘‘market’’ is that it 
refers not to any particular place, but to a commodity, 
or commodities and buyers and sellers of the same, 
who are in direct competition with one another. The 
primary elements of a market are:—A commodity, its 
owner and one or more persons who desire to become 
the owner of that commodity by exchanging for it a 
quantity of some other goods. It is important to notice 
that the buyers and sellers must be in direct competition 
with each other for the commodity. Around one 
commodity more than one market may exist. Thus we 
have the retail and wholesale markets for tea, or a great 
number of markets for cotton, commencing with that 
for the raw material and ending with the retail market 
for finished goods. 
*Quoted Marshall’s ‘‘Principles,’’ 6th Edition. Page 324. 
