198 THE BOOK OF BUTTER 



made their desires known. After the bids are all in, the 

 reporter, W. C. Taber, a son of Clarkson Taber mentioned 

 above, makes note of these transactions. It should be 

 mentioned that at present The Butter and Egg Exchange, 

 Inc., meets in the afternoon and that the New York Mer- 

 cantile Exchange meets at 10.00 A.M. By eleven o'clock 

 or before Taber has the opportunity to go to the street 

 to learn of the sales there, after obtaining record of the 

 transactions on the two floors. At noon he reports exactly 

 what he has found in both exchanges and on the street. 



149. Prices from 1840 to 1916. It is interesting to 

 see what the prices have been for as many years as they 

 are obtainable. Table XXIII shows a list of the prices 

 of the grade now known as extras. In the earlier years 

 all the butter was made on the farms. At that time there 

 was practically no grading ; therefore, the figures are 

 not really comparable. Fig. 57 shows in a graphical 

 manner the ranges of the above prices from 1840 to 1916. 



INSPECTION 



Most of the trade organizations have inspectors. The 

 purpose of this officer is to settle disputes regarding the 

 grade of certain lots of butter. This has helped fully 

 as much as any one practice in the proper grading. It 

 has also been a source of information in not only placing 

 butter in its proper grade, but in actually putting a score 

 on it. The inspector is subject to the butter committee, 

 and, in case there is dissatisfaction with his decision, an 

 appeal can be made to the chairman. The committee 

 then inspects the goods. 



150. Branding inspected butter. To show that a 

 lot of butter has been inspected, the New York Mercan- 

 tile Exchange provides for the marketing in a definite 



