[56 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE

as it exerts itself in the organized and unorganized markets,
can be of practical value in reducing the harm which so universal,
 inevitable, and powerful an economic force as speculation
 occasionally works upon the individual.
In conclusion, one can at least take consolation in the fact
already stressed, that so far as prices are concerned speculation
swiftly readjusts and eliminates the results of its occasional
excesses. Leroy-Beaulieu not inaptly sums up the matter by
stating that “the evils which speculation prevents are much
greater than those it causes.” .But the best summary of a
difficult question has probably been made by the brilliant British
logician, philosopher, and economist, John Stuart Mill:
The operations of speculative dealers are useful to the public whenever
 profitable to themselves. The interests of the speculators as a
body coincide with the interests of the public, and as they can only
fail to serve the public interest in proportion as they miss their own,
the best way to promote the one is to leave them to pursue the other
in perfect freedom. Neither law or opinion shall prevent an operation,
beneficial to the public, from being attended with as much private
advantage as is compatible with full and free competition.