282 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK 
speculator. As a stabilizer of prices both on and off the organized 
exchanges, he is an important cog in the highly developed 
machinery of the modern market. Without him it is difficult to 
see how efficient distribution of our staple crops would be possible. 
The present marketing machinery, which works almost auto- 
matically, while by no means perfect in its operation, still keeps 
distribution well up to schedule. Just as, if our bodily activities 
—walking, balancing, etc., were the result of self conscious efforts, 
we should soon collapse with fatigue, so will our distribution 
system collapse if we substitute artificial regulation for 
automatism.