COMMERCE IN MAIZE GRAIN 593 



-\ cent per day for the first ten days or part thereof. For grain CHAF. 

 damp or liable to early damage (as indicated by its inspection 

 when received) 2 cents per bushel (about 3-^d. per muid) for 

 the first ten days or part thereof, and \ cent per bushel (about 

 '87 of a penny per muid) for each additional five days or part 

 thereof. No grain will be received in store until it has been 

 inspected and graded by authorized inspectors {Bowman and 

 Crossley, 1). Operating expenses of terminal elevator ware- 

 houses in the States are usually covered by the sale of 

 screenings, and the storage charges pay interest on capital 

 expenditure as well as profit. The average running expense 

 of each elevator in the State of Iowa is reported to be equiva- 

 lent to 2\ cents per bushel of grain handled. 



548. Elevator Certificates. — At terminal points grain is 

 inspected and graded by State officials before being deposited 

 in the elevator warehouse. Immediately it has been stored 

 according to grade (and if necessary cleaned or dried) a ware- 

 house receipt is given to the owner. This receipt has to be 

 presented at the State Statistical Bureau for registration and 

 must be signed by the owner ; it is then as negotiable on the 

 money market as the grain itself. When it is desired to draw 

 the grain, the owner presents his certificate at the Bureau for 

 cancellation, and the grain is surrendered by the warehouse 

 authorities. The length of time the grain remains in the bins 

 depends upon circumstances, and it may so happen that the 

 receipt will be sold and bought several times before the grain 

 itself is moved. To deliver grain without scrupulously adher- 

 ing to the Government regulations is treated as a criminal 

 offence. 



In Chicago there are two types of grain warehouse, the 

 "regular" and "irregular," about an equal number of each 

 sort. The "regular" houses are licensed by the Chicago 

 Board of Trade ; the grain handled by them is subject to in- 

 spection by the State Grain Inspection Department. They 

 issue warehouse certificates which are negotiable, and which 

 are treated as collateral security by banks, which issue loans on 

 them at low rates of interest. "Irregular" warehouses are 

 not operated under the rules of the Board of Trade, but are 

 subject to inspection by the State Grain Inspection Depart- 

 ment {Bowman and Crossley, 1). 



3S 



