Food Facts No. 53 The disappearing trick

THE DISAPPEARING TRICK "Why is it", people ask with under- standable exasperation, "that as soon as the price of a commodity is controlled it disappears from the shops?" First of all, it is necessary to appreciate that controlling prices does not in- crease the supply. Instead, it brings the commodities so controlled within the purse-range of a vastly increased public. For example, few people could afford to buy tomatoes at 5/6d a pound. At the present price they come within reach of the majority and although the supply has greatly increased, the demand has grown still greater; therefore the shares are smaller.