26 BULLETIN 456, U. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



who are interested in the operation of the Elgin board and every 

 Saturday at noon they meet for the purpose of transacting a few 

 sales, which establish a quotation for the following week. The Elgin 

 board recognizes but one grade of butter, namely, an " extra," which 

 is required to score 93 points. The rules of the board do not provide 

 a penalty for the offering of butter on the board which is lower than 

 an " extra," and the buyer may reject his purchases if he finds the 

 butter to be of a lower grade. 



Throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and Ohio many 

 creameries base the selling* price of their butter upon the Elgin 

 quotation and to some extent also the buying price of butter fat. 

 Many distributors in Cleveland, Buffalo, Baltimore, and other cities, 

 particularly those of the South, which formerly obtained their sup- 

 plies from the Elgin district, prefer to have their purchases based on 

 the Elgin quotation. This quotation is infrequently used as a trading 

 basis by the large centralizing creameries. 



MARKET DISTRIBUTION OF CREAMERY BUTTER. 



There are various channels of trade through which butter may 

 pass from producer to consumer. The general custom of country 

 creameries in shipping butter to the larger markets is to consign it 

 to the receiver or to contract with the receiver for the sale of the 

 butter on the basis of the market quotation. Often the receivers 

 send out field representatives who go among the creameries and 

 solicit their output. 



It is a common practice among creameries to draw a sight or de- 

 mand draft against the consignee and to attach this to the bill of 

 lading which is passed to their local bank for collection. By so 

 doing, the creamery obtains an advance credit of $10 to $15 on each 

 63-pound tub of butter in the shipment. 



The jobbers in buying from the wholesale receivers inspect the 

 butter and buy such grades and quantities as they require for their 

 trade. Nearly all wholesale receivers also do a jobbing business 

 and supply retail stores. A considerable portion of a wholesale re- 

 ceiver's business consists of car-lot and less-than-car-lot sales to dis- 

 tribute in his own or in other large markets. 



The tendency among the larger creameries, and to some extent 

 also among the smaller, is to distribute directly to the retailer, by 

 establishing branch distributing offices or by contracting with dis- 

 tributing agents to handle their account in a certain territory. In 

 some cities delivery equipment is furnished the distributor by the 

 creamery to develop the business and facilitate the distribution of 

 the product. Some dealers have their salesmen take orders and the 

 delivery is made later. (See fig. 14.) Others who handle private 

 brands of print butter, also eggs and cheese, have their salesmen make 



