10 THE COMMERCIAL GRADING OF CORN. 



This grade is usually, though not always, the one of which there is the 

 largest quantity handled at that market. Practically all deals made on 

 contract or for future delivery are on the basis of this contract grade, 

 and it is the price of this grade that is given in the market quotations. 

 The determination of what may or may not be delivered as contract 

 grade or any other grade is left to the inspection department, which 

 acts as arbiter, guided by the general rules or customs of the market. 



INSPECTION DEPARTMENTS. 



Inspection departments are in most cases managed by the trade 

 organization, independent of any outside control either on the part of 

 the consumer on the one hand or of the producer on the other. How- 

 ever, in five States the grain-inspection departments operating therein 

 are under the control of the State, either through a board of railway 

 and warehouse commissioners or through a special commission. 



The question as to how these inspection departments should be con- 

 trolled is a local one and of relatively small importance. As a rule 

 they are supported b} 7 fees for services rendered, and are presumably 

 composed of efficient and disinterested men. What these departments 

 need more than a change in or uniformity of control is a greater uni- 

 formity in methods of work and in results. To attain this they must 

 have more adequate equipment. They must have available such appa- 

 ratus as is necessary to educate the judgment of the inspectors for 

 general work and to determine accurately all cases of doubt or appeal. 



The cost of maintaining grain inspection is a small item when the 

 interests involved are considered. The charge varies in different mar- 

 kets from about 25 cents to 75 cents per carload or per 1,000 bushels, or 

 from less than one-quarter of a mill to three-quarters of a mill per 

 bushel. A slight error in judgment on the part of an inspector ma} T 

 make a difference of a grade in any cargo, which, under normal con- 

 ditions, means a difference of 2 or 3 cents a bushel, while at other 

 times, as in case of a ; ' corner,"' 1 the difference may be much greater. 

 Thus, while the inspection costs, say, 50 cents, a wrong grading might 

 mean a difference of $25 on a carload. Relatively, therefore, the cost 

 of grain inspection is an inconsiderable item. 



GRAIN GRADING. 



Reduced to its simplest terms, the inspection and grading of grain 

 consists in the examination of the various lots or cargoes to determine 

 the unif ormit} 7 of each and the assigning of them to the grades to which 

 they belong. This would obviously be simple enough were the elements 

 considered in grading all easily measured and defined, or were they 

 reasonably distinct; but they are neither. The variations on different 

 lots are frequently so slight that if a line is drawn which is to mark a 



