I12 THE WORK OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE
can also be clearly detected in the accompanying chart (Fig-
ure 6).
The Floating Supply of Commodities.— This necessity of
gaining distribution by the intermediate aid of a speculatively
held floating supply is nowise peculiar to securities. Few com-
modities or articles in the world today can normally be sold
by producer to consumer as fast as production takes place.
Whether in the wholesale cereal or textile commodities, or in
manufactured products like automobiles and shoes, distribution
inevitably involves a carrying process between the time when
production is completed and the time when the final sale to the
consumer is made. Since in this interval demand may slacken
and prices fall, this carrying process which attends the sale of
practically all classes of goods necessarily involves a speculative
risk, and an accompanying chance for speculative profit.
{n some cases goods are carried by several different types of
speculative dealers, such as wholesalers, jobbers, and retailers,
and reach the consumer only through the last class. All such
dealers, since they attempt to make a profit by purchasing cheap
and selling dear, are essentially speculators. Neither are they
mere parasites. Without the stocks ready for sale which such
dealers constantly carry at their own risk, most modern con-
sumers could not even obtain food, clothing, and shelter for
themselves, let alone any of those articles demanded by the
refinements of modern civilization. Thus, the stock speculator
who buys 100 Steel on margin trusting that its price will
increase, is performing much the same service to society as the
grocer who buys his canned goods on credit and in hopes of
disposing of them at a profit. The higher degree of organi-
zation which characterizes securities markets, however, permits
the stock dealer to enter into or conclude his transaction more
easily.
Slowness of Security Distribution.—For several reasons
the distributing process occurring in securities on the stock
