But is it not almost equally true to say that “price” makes the “supply and demand”? Is it not possible to set a price which, as can be demonstrated mathematically, is out of line with the present supply and demand, and thru this price to create new and unexpected supply-and-demand conditions? It is conceivable, for example, that oleomargarine might be sold for several years at a price below that warranted by supply and demand and equally below a price warranted by cost of production. It is conceivable that the abnormally low price, without reducing the supply, would increase the demand and result in the formation of the oleomargarine habit among millions of people. And it is equally conceivable that later on the price of oleomargarine might be increased more nearly to a parity with butter, and that the oleomargarine eating public might continue the oleomargarine, even tho it was underselling butter by only 10 cents a pound, instead of the 15 cents a pound differential which was existing when the habit was formed. A low price may be used to create a demand, which will continue even after the low price no longer exists. In like manner, a low price may be used to curtail the supply of the competing article. In the illustration, an artificially low price for oleomargarine might reduce the demand for butter, thereby reducing the supply, and increase the demand for oleomargarine, and this situation of a reduced supply of butter and an increased supply of oleomargarine might continue, even tho the price of oleomargarine were later raised to its customary relationship with butter. Price may act as a cause and “supply and demand” may be a result. In open, competitive markets, “supply and demand” generally comes first and price follows after. Before the war, for instance, the dominating factor in the corn market was the supply of corn, and during the months of July and August, when the new corn crop was being made, the price of corn varied with almost mathematical accuracy with the rainfall and temperature which were making the new corn crop. The demand for corn was a fairly constant factor. The supply of corn was the price-making force.