Cooperation 123 



about forty per cent of the total amount shipped from 

 the sections where the farmers' elevators have been built. 



The Grain-distributing System 



The American grain business is stupendous in volume. 

 The average annual production for the last three years 

 had equaled about 117,000,000 tons, of which corn formed 

 about sixty-four per cent, wheat sixteen and six-tenths 

 per cent, and oats fourteen and two-tenths per cent, the 

 remainder being distributed over barley, rye, rice, flax- 

 seed, and buckwheat. According to data furnished by 

 the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Department 

 of Agriculture, twenty-two and eight-tenths per cent of 

 the corn crop is shipped out of the county where grown, 

 fifty-seven and seven-tenths per cent of the wheat, thirty 

 and eight-tenths per cent of the oats, and fifty-three and 

 one-tenth per cent of the barley. The distribution of 

 the grain crop is conducted somewhat along the following 

 lines : The grain is first brought from the farm to the 

 country elevators, where it is accumulated for shipment. 

 The elevators are owned by local grain dealers, by line- 

 elevator companies, or by the producers. The '"railways 

 may own or have an interest in the elevators. The grain 

 is shipped by these dealers to primary markets, such as 

 Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, 

 Detroit, Duluth, and to other railway centers, where it 

 is concentrated in enormous terminal elevators. After 

 being scoured and blended and prepared for shipment, it 

 is forwarded to further distributing points, such as Buffalo, 

 to the interior mills, to the seaboard, and to foreign coun- 

 tries. 



