228 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



to sell wheat. What cannot be sold must be held, and future 

 sales upon the speculative markets can be made as an insurance 

 against loss from price fluctuations. 



The country banker sends the draft to his correspondent at 

 the market, where collection is made. As soon as the wheat 

 reaches the terminal warehouse, it is again available for a loan 

 close to its market value. If the terminal factor is an exporter, 

 he also attaches bills of lading to a draft drawn against the 

 shipment, and his banker accepts this draft as cash at current 

 exchange rates, which include interest on the money until the 

 draft is paid. Outside of the money used by the railroads, it 

 requires about $500,000,000 to move the grain crops. 1 If the 

 farmers do not wish to sell their wheat at once, they can place 

 it in the elevator and receive a receipt on which they can bor- 

 row 90 per cent of its value from the banks. 



The Marketing of Wheat in Foreign Countries. The charac- 

 teristic feature of the wheat movement in the United States 

 consists in concentrating the surplus for export. Only a few 

 of the larger exporting countries resemble the United States in 

 this respect. In the non-exporting and in the importing coun- 

 tries, the main problem is the distribution of the wheat among 

 the population. In this case the entire machinery of marketing 

 and transportation must be modified and adapted to the con- 

 ditions peculiar to each country. In exporting countries, the 

 wheat is bought by buyers who are either established at the 

 local centers, or who travel through the country purchasing 

 grain from farm to farm. It is only the larger grain centers 

 of Europe which employ the economical American system of 

 elevators in handling grain. 



RUSSIA. In Russia, as is usual in foreign wheat producing 

 countries, the machinery for buying, handling and transporting 

 wheat is very imperfect. Where transportation facilities are 

 adequate their use is expensive. On long distances railroad 

 rates have been higher than in the United States. They have 

 been estimated at 3 per cent of the cost of production. Russia 

 is well supplied with rivers, and a decade ago the larger pro- 

 portion of export grain was still moved by river and canal. The 

 railways have now become a more important means of transpor- 

 tation than the rivers and other water routes, and they will 

 1 Industrial Commission, 6:135-137; 11:10-11. 



