(^188) T H E M IN D O F THE B UY E R
a s possibl e. P e rhap s th e cl amo rou s cri es of
“ pro fiteer” no w ( (^1920) ) fil ling th e air tem
po raril y p reven t us from sen sin g this more
m erciful ten dency of th e sell e r. N everth el ess
i f we ca n di sregard o ur mom ent a ry i rri ta ti on
ove r th e high c os t Of living we m ust re c ogniz e
th e general imp rovem en t in c on ditions.
An obj ec to r migh t q uestion thi s sta te men t
o n th e gro un d th a t i t implie s ab rogation o r
s usp ension o f th e e c on omi c l aw of c omp e ti
tio n in which sel l er and b uye r struggl e fo r
a dva nta ge. I n rej oinde r, w e migh t reply
th a t th e re is a growing t en dency fo r th e selle r
t o iden tify hi s i nt erests wi th th os e o f th e
b uye r. H e is c oming to see th a t wh a te ve r
b enefits th e b uye r m ay in turn ben efit himsel f.
We sh all devel op this furth e r i n an oth er c on
nectio n. F o r th e presen t i t i s sufficient to
p oin t o ut th a t thi s l essen s ( th o ugh it doe s no t
e n ti rely elimina te ) th e a nt agoni sm b e tween
selle r and b uyer. S ec ond, it m ay b e th a t co m
p e tition is growing s tronger among th e
va ri ou s ven de rs o f a give n com modi ty ; a s
c omp e tit o rs b ecom e m ore nume rous ea ch o ne
i s obli ge d to sh ad e p ri ce s a s l ow a s possibl e
i n sh eer sel f-defense. Thi rd, th e selle r is
enable d to c arry out th e i deal st at ed above
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