It is, however, of the utmost importance to observe that excess of all
commodities, in the only sense in which it is possible, means only a
temporary fall in their value relatively to money. To suppose that the
markets for all commodities could, in any other sense than this, be
overstocked, involves the absurdity that commodities may fall in value
relatively to themselves; or that, of two commodities, each can fall
relatively to the other, A becoming equivalent to B-_x_, and B to A-_x_,
at the same time. And it is, perhaps, a sufficient reason for not using
phrases of this description, that they suggest the idea of excessive
production. A want of market for one article may arise from excessive
production of that article; but when commodities in general become
unsaleable, it is from a very different cause; there cannot be excessive
production of commodities in general.

The argument against the possibility of general over-production is quite
conclusive, so far as it applies to the doctrine that a country may
accumulate capital too fast; that produce in general may, by increasing
faster than the demand for it, reduce all producers to distress. This
proposition, strange to say, was almost a received doctrine as lately as
thirty years ago; and the merit of those who have exploded it is much
greater than might be inferred from the extreme obviousness of its
absurdity when it is stated in its native simplicity. It is true that if
all the wants of all the inhabitants of a country were fully satisfied,
no further capital could find useful employment; but, in that case, none
would be accumulated. So long as there remain any persons not possessed,
we do not say of subsistence, but of the most refined luxuries, and who
would work to possess them, there is employment for capital; and if the
commodities which these persons want are not produced and placed at
their disposal, it can only be because capital does not exist, disposable
for the purpose of employing, if not any other labourers, those very