Speculation would have moved both extremes closer to an average.

Frédéric Bastiat
Complete Works, Volume 7, pages 384 to 385 (in French)
June 3rd, 1850

In this letter, Frédéric Bastiat blames Horace Say for not having developed an idea that shows through a letter he sent to the Journal des Economistes.

Today’s quote refers to this blame, viz. for not having supported speculation in a didactic way. It seems that speculation here was on the price of corn but it is applicable in general. In the same way as intermediaries bring added value when they generate a profit through what some call a useless hoarding, speculators are useful. The latter are generally abhorred by John Smith because they are accused of being the cause of rising or falling prices and for the profit they generate while their activity appears to the untrained eye as improductive. However, speculators play an important role in the economy, which is to smooth pricing across time (or location) – if they are right, they help prices rise when they are “too” low and help prices fall when they are “too” high. This is what is revealed by today’s quote. It can also be noted that they do it at their own risk – if they are wrong, they suffer a loss instead of making a profit!

This mechanism is still very much misunderstood nowadays and most of the population does not accept it as legitimate (while politicians take advantage of such a mistaken opinion).