Strona 305 z 2651

The profits of stock vary with the price of the commodities in

which it is employed. As the price of any commodity rises above

the ordinary or average rate, the profits of at least some part

of the stock that is employed in bringing it to market, rise

above their proper level, and as it falls they sink below it. All

commodities are more or less liable to variations of price, but

some are much more so than others. In all commodities which are

produced by human industry, the quantity of industry annually

employed is necessarily regulated by the annual demand, in such a

manner that the average annual produce may, as nearly as

possible, be equal to the average annual consumption. In some

employments, it has already been observed, the same quantity of

industry will always produce the same, or very nearly the same

quantity of commodities. In the linen or woollen manufactures,

for example, the same number of hands will annually work up very

nearly the same quantity of linen and woollen cloth.