8 BULLETIN 696, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, 



only about a fifth of the corn produced enters into trade channels. 

 It is customary to say that the domestic corn is " marketed on the 

 hoof," that the price of the United States corn crop affects the meat 

 markets of the world, rather than the international prices of grain. 

 The total consumption for human food, industrial uses and the feed- 

 ing of work animals represents only a small share of the crop. For- 

 eign harvests and prices do not enter as a regulating factor in years of 

 domestic shortage since only relatively small foreign supplies are 

 available. A surplus in adjoining countries would ordinarily have 

 an effect upon domestic prices, as in the case of Canadian wheat and 

 oats, but Canada and Mexico import corn from the United States. 



DOMESTIC DEMAND AND CONSUMPTION VARIABLE. 



The high degree of elasticity in the quantities of corn consumed 

 is a notable feature of its use. The annual variation in the United 

 States consumption for the six years 1911 to 1916 ranged, roughly, 

 from 200,000,000 to 700,000,000 bushels. This fact is suggestive 

 when considered in connection with the comparatively stable de- 

 mand for other farm products, such as wheat or cotton, under nor- 

 mal conditions. Market prices, not only of corn but of live stock 

 and live-stock products, govern the extent to which corn is fed to 

 live stock, is used for human consumption within the United States, 

 or is exported. The prices of other feeds enter also herein. The 

 quantity fed to live stock (about three-fourths of the total produc- 

 tion) varies greatly according to market conditions affecting each 

 class of stock, and the quality of the crop. Especially is this true 

 with regard to swine, whose yearly consumption averages about 

 7,000,000 bushels, and the number of which varies from year to year. 

 High prices or a poor quality of corn result, in their first effect, in an 

 unloading of hogs upon the market. The quantity used for in- 

 dustrial purposes is relatively stable, but represents a small fraction 

 of the production. 



The relative consumption in one section compared with another 

 also varies greatly. By States, the per capita production varies 

 from less than 1 bushel to 159 bushels. The per capita consump- 

 tion for all purposes varies almost as widely. An average of 

 nearly one and one-quarter billion bushels, or a little less than 

 half the total production, is consumed in the North Central States 

 for feeding purposes alone. Comparatively trifling quantities are 

 consiimed west of the corn belt. In general, outside of the corn States, 

 a much smaller proportion is devoted to feeding purposes, because of 

 deficierivt supply and relatively high price. 



