_Profits in competition._—Profits are themselves a stimulant to competition, and competition in every pursuit tends to reduce the profits. If any circumstance apparently insures more than average profits in any undertaking, competition becomes excessive and profits vanish. The promise of a tariff on wool leads farmers to expect an advance in the profits of sheep raising. Competition begins in the purchase of flocks, by which the profits of those already in the business are greatly increased. Competition continues by multiplication in the flocks until sellers of sheep are more plenty than buyers. Thus, the stimulant to competition has operated to lessen profits in the end. A famous sheep raiser in New York, when asked to give a maxim for success in the business, answered, “Buy when your neighbors sell, and sell when your neighbors buy.” Similar experience has been noted in various pursuits. The tendency, however, with wider knowledge of others’ wants and efforts is toward a greater uniformity of profits. Modern methods of production and clearer perception of ways and means make it easier for competition to have its full effect between different kinds of business, as well as in the same business. The more we know of our neighbor’s work through the daily press and extensive travel, the fairer is the opportunity for competition to act. This tendency brings hardship to the weaker portion of managers engaged in any particular business. This makes the power of so-called trusts and great combinations apparently harmful. In the end, however, the result is more constant profits, though smaller, and the advantage of the whole community in a more stable business. It is even conceivable that the stimulant of fair profits may finally reach a larger proportion of the community through interest in the great establishments than in the past from the unequal and uncertain returns of independent managers. Even among professional men, whose fees for services have somewhat the nature of profits, the same law of competition, dependent upon supply and demand, holds sway. The compensation of an author for his publications, though protected by copyright, is dependent upon conditions limiting competition or stimulating it. It is customary for surgeons, physicians and dentists to make a fee proportional to the demand for their services. Thus the skilled dentist, who is wanted by ten times as many people as he can serve, raises his price till the demand is limited to meet his strength. This enables younger men at smaller prices to gain the opportunity to establish like reputations by doing equally good work.