320 CORN 



hand, to be shipped sixty or ninety days hence. He either receives the 

 cash wheat on the "future" when the contract matures, and grinds it 

 into flour to fill his sale, or he buys other wheat better suited to his 

 requirements and sells out the "future" as fast as he acquires the 

 necessary "spot" wheat. In the meantime, wheat prices may change 

 25 cents a bushel without disturbing the miller, who, when he pur- 

 chased the wheat "future" and sold the flour, had secured his margin 

 of profit. Ask any miller why he trades in "futures" and he will tell 

 you it is done to avoid speculating in his business. 



The grain dealers and exporters who carry stocks of grain or make 

 sales of grain to be shipped in the future, are in the same position as 

 the miller. You will find them constantly buying and selling "fu- 

 tures" in order to avoid speculation in their business. The packer 

 and provision merchant resort to contracts for future delivery for the 

 same purpose. 



All of these transactions in "futures" made by millers, grain deal- 

 ers, and packers are the same as the transactions ordinarily known as 

 "speculative transactions," and at the same time they are made in the 

 matter of their execution and settlement they are in every way iden- 

 tical. If a speculator desires to buy 5,000 bushels of wheat for May 

 delivery, he buys it at the same place and in the same manner as 

 does the miller who wants the wheat to grind. Both transactions are 

 subject to the same rules and customs. Both parties must be pre- 

 pared to receive and pay for the property at the maturity of the con- 

 tract and, in the eyes of the law, the contract of the speculator is as 

 legitimate as that of the miller. 



The trading in futures has been criticised by those ignorant of its 

 great aid to agriculture and commerce from the day when the increase 

 of yield of farm products in the West and South made it necessary to 

 buy and sell for delivery at a future time, in order to facilitate the 

 carrying and distributing of the farmers' surplus crops at a minimum 

 of cost and risk for the months intervening between harvests. 



Why and How Futures are Settled Without Delivery. The strong- 

 est weapon in the hands of those opposed to futures has been the 

 argument that every purchase and sale for future delivery is not 

 finally consummated or settled by the actual delivery of the property 

 on the contract at maturity. 



All contracts for future delivery on the Board are made in the 

 same manner and are exactly similar as to quantity or unit. Except 

 in wheat and flaxseed, where there is a small volume of trade in 

 t.ooo-bushel lots, the unit is 5,000 bushels. Thus, if the broker "A" 



