PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF THE GRAIN TRADE 341 



Kansas, important stock feeding centers. Or a private wire house 

 in Chicago (that is, a large grain concern having its own leased 

 telegraph lines) may want to buy the corn for a customer operating 

 a feed mill in Montpelier, Vermont. Or a Sioux City grain broker 

 may bid for it for a South Dakota customer. Or a broker at Fort 

 Worth or a Terminal Elevator in Kansas City may bid on it for 

 the purpose of shipping to Galveston to complete a cargo. Or a 

 member of the Denver Grain Exchange may have a telegram from 

 a customer in Petaluma, California (a dealer in poultry feeds), 

 asking for corn, and this Denver dealer orders the Iowa corn 

 shipped to the California customer. This is a fair picture of what 

 actually happens, in the course of time, in the corn belt. The 

 actual flow of grain fluctuates greatly from year to year, depending 

 largely on local crop yields. One thing is constant, however, 

 namely, the competition for the farmer's grain, competition among 

 the various markets, and competition among the different indus- 

 tries that use grain. Thus; one manufacturer of corn products in 

 Chicago uses annually 30,000,000 bushels of corn, and there are 

 several manufacturers of corn products on this market. The 

 manufacturers of rolled oats in its various forms use an increasing 

 amount of oats for human food. So also with the various wheat 

 products breakfast foods. The mills, the industries, the exporters, 

 are all after a supply of grain, and are willing to bid the price which 

 will keep their plants busy and their orders filled. And the extent 

 of their orders depends in turn upon the volume the consumer is 

 willing to take and pay for. It is apparent to everyone studying 

 the grain market that the underlying forces of demand and supply 

 are ever present, and finally determine the flow of the grain. The 

 quickness and the sensitiveness with which prices constantly 

 respond to the ever-changing pressure of supply and demand 

 explain the price fluctuations. And our country has learned, as 

 Argentina and other foreign countries have learned, that a big 

 supply in our country must depress prices in competing countries. 

 Present Organization of the Grain Trade. The present organ- 

 ization of the grain trade is a product of slow evolution a growth, 

 many critics say, from old abuses toward highest standards of 

 commercial honor. The farmer hauls his grain to the country 

 elevator (Fig. 69), and this local elevator is an institution of one 

 of three classes: (1) Farmers' Elevators. In all the grain growing 

 States the farmers have formed corporations at the local shipping 

 points to own and operate grain elevators. These are generally 

 called "cooperative elevators," although as yet fewer than half 



