32. How the current value of the exchange of merchandize is
established.
Meantime it happens that many individuals have wine to
dispose of to those who possess corn. If one is not willing to
give more than four pints for a bushel, the proprietor of the
corn will not exchange with him, when he shall know that another
will give six or eight pints for the same bushel. If the former
is determined to have the corn, he will be obliged to raise his
price equal to what is offered by others. The sellers of wine
profit on their side by the competition among the sellers of
corn. No one resolves part with his property, before he has
compared the different offers which are made to him, of the
commodity he stands in need of, and then he accepts of the best
offer. The value of the wine and corn is not fixed by the two
proprietors with respect to their own wants and reciprocal
abilities, but by a general balance of the wants of all the
sellers of corn, with those of all the sellers of wine. For those
who will willingly give eight pints of wine for a bushel of corn,
will give but four when they shall know that a proprietor of corn
is willing to give two bushels for eight pints. The medium price
between the different offers and the different demands, will
become the current price to which all the buyers and sellers will
conform in their exchanges; and it will be true if we say, that
six pints of wine will be to every one the equivalent for a
bushel of corn, that is, the medium price, until a diminution of
supply on one side, or of demand on the other, causes a
variation.
