GEOGRAPHICAL PHASES OF FARM PRICES : CORN. 23 



URBAN MARKETS. 



Market receipts, shipments, and consumption. 



Urban markets liave a stabilizing effect upon price differences. 



The corn entering into trade channels has been seen to constitute 

 about 19.4 per cent of the total during 1911-1915. Like other ele- 

 ments in corn distribution, this percentage varies from year to year. 

 Practically all of such shipments move to urban markets, from which 

 in turn approximately 3 per cent is shipped back to farms. 



Demands for urban consumption constitute approximately 15 per 

 cent of the total production. Additional quantities, however, are 

 concentrated in the markets for reshipment to domestic and foreign 

 markets. Although urban markets draw only a fifth of the domestic 

 crop, they influence to a considerable degree the general level of farm 

 prices, for the prices obtaining ther^ represent market conditions 

 and the available returns for corn as a cash crop. 



Large markets, through their commercial organizations, credit 

 and elevating facilities, tend to stabilize the geographic differences 

 in farm prices. The comparative evenness of the price levels through- 

 out the corn belt, wherein most of the great markets are situated, 

 contrasts with the irregular price levels in areas where no points of 

 large concentration appear. The difference between the prices at any 

 two markets tends to be regulated in the long run by transportation 

 expenses. The prices at markets in areas of insufficient production 

 will generally be fixed by the prices at the nearest surplus point plus 

 transportation expenses. Hence, market prices in cities tend to con- 

 form to the general zones for producers' prices, as shown in Maps 1 

 and 3. 



In such farm products as wheat and meat products, which are for 

 human consumption, the relation of production to population domi- 

 nates the trend of price levels. But large centers of population do 

 not so directly dominate the direction of price increases in such 

 products as corn, which are not destined chiefly for human food but 

 more for consumption by live stock. 



Receipts, shipments, and apparent consumption of the largest mar- 

 kets are shown in Table 4. Half a dozen primary markets located 

 in the corn States receive the major part of the commercial corn; 

 i. e., " shipments out of counties where grown." Of these, Chicago 

 is by far the most important. Into the 14 cities listed as primary 

 markets are shipped 264 million out of the 500 million bushels enter- 

 ing into trade channels; the greater part of this comes from the 

 North Central States, in which these markets are located. Although 

 industrial uses, particularly important in such cities as Chicago, 

 Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Peoria (HI.) 7 absorb large quantities, 

 two-thirds of the total receipts in the primary markets are reshipped. 

 Farm prices are naturally higher in regions near these primary mar- 

 kets than in more remote regions. ( See Maps 2 and 3. ) 



