AMEEICAN EXPOET CORN ( MAIZE ) IN EUROPE. 27 



senting the quality "of grain purchased and to assume all risks of 

 deterioration in transit. Therefore, the greater portion of the corn 

 exported is purchased as "No. 2 Corn" and "Mixed Corn," because 

 those grades are presumed to be of a quality that may be expected to 

 carry in transit with reasonable safety from deterioration. The louver 

 grades are very Httle dealt in, principally because of the presumably 

 greater risk from deterioration in transit. 



The sale of grain upon any of the other contracts than that of the 

 ' ' inspection certificate final " terms places the American exporter at a 

 disadvantage, because by their terms all differences are required 

 to be arbitrated in Europe. They also place the European importer 

 at a disadvantage because, first, he is necessarily obliged to pure-' ass 

 at a liigher price to cover the added risk assumed by the exporter and, 

 second, unless the purchase is made for his own use or consumption 

 it involves reselling in Europe at a relatively higher pr :e upon samples 

 or special representations as to the quality of the grain, a process 

 which makes the marketing of the grain cumbersome and undesirable 

 from the standpoint of grain-trade practices. 



THE EFFECT OF UNSATISFACTORY DELIVERIES OF AMERICAN GRAIN. 



European interest in the condition of grain, and especially the 

 condition of corn, in the United States, as well as in the cargoes of 

 such grain arriving in Europe, is very keen, and the means of dissemi- 

 nating information is good. Information to the effect that the corn 

 is in poor condition or that one or more cargoes have arrived in 

 Europe in a damaged condition has been known to cause a consider- 

 able apprehension among the importers, resulting in sufficiently 

 reduced bids to cover the presumably greater risk in purchasing and in 

 some cases the avoidance for long periods at a time by some importers 

 of purchases of corn from the United States, in favor of corn from 

 other countries in which the moisture content is generally not so 

 high, their risk in handling consequently not so great, and which may 

 generally be purchased upon European terms or upon a basis of 

 arbitration in Europe of any differences arising out of the transactions. 



AMERICAN CORN PREFERRED. 



Generally the American Dent corn, "Flat maize," as it is known in 

 Europe, is preferred to the corn from most of the other corn-exporting 

 countries, because better results are said to have been obtamed from 

 its use when it is received in good condition. This is especially true 

 with the distilling interests, which use large quantities of com and are 

 said frequently to pay large premiums for American corn when it is 

 not plentiful on the European markets. 



Prominent grain merchants of nearly all of the grain markets of 

 the grain-importing countries of Europe were questioned regarding 



ICir. .55] 



