se a very slight collusion between the buyers may
destroy the market. This is frequently illustrated in the sale of real
estate after foreclosure of mortgages. The unnatural conditions of auction
at any price are so evident as to make common the secret employment of
sham bidders, shrewd enough to push actual buyers as far as they will go
without preventing the sale. Somewhat similar conditions may exist in a
great cattle market, in which immense quantities of cattle are delivered
by owners, while the number of buyers is few. The great packing houses
have the advantage of being almost the sole bidders for what must be sold
at their price. These conditions, however, are not made by the packing
houses, but by the large supply subject to immediate sale. Such conditions
are much more noticeable in the market for ripe berries, when a slight
excess of supply makes these perishable products of trifling value.

Conditions on the other extreme, from scarcity of supply and anxiety of
buyers, may also interfere with a free market. Any scarcity in food
products leads to an anxiety on the part of consumers to buy and an equal
disposition on the part of owners to hold for higher prices. In this case,
while the law of supply and demand is still active, the effects are quite
out of the ordinary course. Thus, for a long time it has been estimated
that a scarcity of one-tenth in the natural supply of wheat raises the
price three-tenths, scarcity of two-tenths raises the price eight-tenths,
scarcity of three-tenths raises the price one and six-tenths, scarcity of
four-tenths raises the price two and eight-tenths, and scarcity of
one-half makes the price of the half-crop four and a half times greater. A
decrease in the supply of less essential foods evidently cannot have equal
effect. Thus, a scarcity of sugar, causing increased price, will directly
reduce consumption of sugar, so that the limit may be easily reached. The
same conditions may exist with reference to meats, since a high price
diminishes the demand from the disposition of people to eat less meat.
Indeed it has passed into almost a proverb that dear bread makes cheap
meat, for the reason that few will diminish the supply of daily bread, but
the mass are willing to lessen the meat diet to save expense.

Similar conditions, affecting every market for any commodity, may easily
be discovered. Yet in spite of all these extreme fluctuations, no better
test of value has been suggested