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 automatically,
 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.