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