170 



rant constitutes a document of the "gory of 



tiable securities. 



Tn the United States such is the credit that these 

 Warrants enjoy, that in the crisis of lfH)7 they were the 

 only papers that did not lose their power of facile nego- 

 tiation for a single moment and which were quoted on a 

 par witli the State seeurii 



The warrant expresses that the Elevator company 

 holds in their deposits to the order of the holder of the 

 document, stipulates the quantity of urain. and responds 

 for its delivery exactly as stated: holding jt s clf respon- 

 sible for any deterioration or damage to the san 



Under such conditions the market acquires the great- 

 est elasticity and security. The constitution and dura- 

 tion of a monopoly for exporting grain such as domi- 

 nates the Argentine market becomes impossible. 



Tn the Argentine markets trade in cereals is left 

 without any defence against all the combinations of usury 

 and bad faith. 



There exist, it is admitted, the grades of quality 

 based on a very practical system, but the application of 

 these scales is left to the arbitrariness of the buyers in 

 the greater part of the cases, and in abnormal years such 

 as the present, the caprice of the buyers is the only rule. 

 Since deposits for the examination and classifica- 

 tion of grain do not exist throughout the whol > cereal re- 

 gion, the producer is left to the good faith of the buyer, 

 who receives or rejects at his will, availing himself of 

 his immense financial powers as well as the absolute 

 debility of the growers. 



With elevators established a^d exploited by powerful 

 enterprises, the responsibility of these serves as a shield 

 for the producers, since anyone can negotiate in cereals 

 if they have a fixed base. t 



Nowadays dealing in cereals presumes the purchase 

 of an article of commerce the quality of which is to be 

 determined on the spot, and in which determination bad 

 faith has every scope. The consequence manifests itself 

 most conclusively in the present situation of the market 

 for exportation, in reality concentrated in the hands of 

 a few firms who have succeeded in dislodging all their 

 competitors, so that the enormous trade in cereals offers 

 no inducement whatever for new competitors to dispute 

 the predominance of the monopoly. 



The existence and the prejudicial exploitation of the 

 monopoly or trust has been officially denounced by a 

 member of the preceeding Government in a plan for the 

 construction of elevators, and it is a notorious fact in alt 



