244 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



time that may be agreed upon. Having done so, he cannot lose 

 more than one-half cent per bushel, plus what he paid for the 

 "put." If the price advances, he sells at a profit, but if it 

 falls, he delivers or "puts" the wheat to the speculator. Sim- 

 ilarly, a "call" is the privilege of buying, wheat at a certain 

 price within a given time, and it is most frequently used in 

 protecting short sales. Grain exporters sometimes protect their 

 contracts with privileges. Dealings in privileges, however, have 

 not always been held in the highest repute, and they have even 

 been prohibited by the rules of some commercial exchanges. A 

 privilege has no value unless its maker can meet his engage- 

 ments. 



Deposits Securing Contracts for future delivery may be de- 

 manded. In this case, each party makes a money deposit large 

 enough to secure the other from loss in case of failure to fulfill 

 the contract. If one party thus "calls an original margin," he 

 himself must perforce deposit an amount equal to that for 

 which he calls. In New York, the maximum deposit that can 

 be called for wheat is 10 cents per bushel. Additional mar- 

 gins, equal to the fluctuations in price, may be called for, and 

 usually are, even if there was no original margin. 



Delivery. The rules of grain trading on the various specula- 

 tive exchanges contemplate the actual delivery on maturity of 

 contracts of all wheat sold. Each contract mentions the time 

 for which it is to run, and its maturity is on the last day of 

 this term, which is usually the current month. In the export- 

 ing and forwarding of wheat, the time is generally determined 

 by special contract, but in the general speculative markets the 

 current trading is in the deliveries for July, September, De- 

 cember and May. The price for immediate delivery is that 

 current for the next succeeding delivery, less the carrying 

 charge to the beginning of the period of the next delivery. 



The operator who sells 100,000 bushels of wheat in a specula- 

 tive deal has three ways in which he can settle the contract on 

 or before the date of maturity : He must either deliver the actual 

 wheat; buy the same quantity of wheat on the same exchange; 

 or lay himself liable to a damage suit for non-delivery. In 

 comparatively few instances does he deliver the actual wheat, 

 which he might possess, or which he might purchase in another 

 market. If he buys wheat on the same exchange, his operations 



