Notes

We are now speaking of a change of price without reference to money, without reference to the question whether there be much money or Iittle, or whether the currency be gold or paper. Changes in price due to changes in the standard of value may be very large, but such changes affect all commodities simultaneously, and this does not explain the differences in price as between one commodity and another. For example, the great extension of paper currency has enormously inflated prices in all countries. But this universal dearness does not explain why one commodity should be dearer than another.

We are talking in the text of pre-war days. Thanks to the destructive effects of the war, at present buyers are running after sellers instead of sellers after buyers.