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CHAPTER YI.
THE COMPONENT PROCESSES OF PRODUCTION.
§ I-
Without dwelling on the economic applications of the mechanismjust described we hasten on to the description of a more complicatedmechanism.
Production usually consists of a number of successive processes.The last of these is retailing. Let us group all other processesunder the head of production. The price for production and con-sumption are no longer equal.
Hitherto we have had two sets of cisterns the production set and theconsumption set. Separate now, these sets far enough to introducea third set for exchange or retailing as in fig. 17.
The exchange set is a series of double cisterns each related to aparticular commodity, and a particular person. Consider the cisternIA for instance (the sub-letter for exchange or retailing). In thefront compartment is the quantity of A which I buys and sells ortransfers from producer to consumer. The back compartment con-tains the money pay for doing it.
These exchange cisterns are connected with each other and withthe production set by levers precisely as if they were so many newcommodities produced.