MARKETING OF GRAIN 391 



elevators are required by law to receive grain for storage 

 at a uniform storage charge as long as available storage 

 room remains. The country dealer may keep his grain 

 in store as long as the storage charges are paid. When 

 he desires to sell, his representative on the floor sells on 

 the " in store " contract, and makes the delivery by 

 turning over to the purchaser the warehouse receipts. 

 Of the three kinds of contracts, the " to arrive " and 

 "on track" are most often used by the country dealer 

 in disposing of his grain. 



417. Systems of credit. — Farmers usually demand 

 cash payments from the country elevator at the time of 

 delivery. If the grain dealer must wait until he resells 

 the grain on the permanent market, a large working 

 capital is necessary, since it may be two weeks or even 

 longer before he is able to secure returns from it. At 

 harvest time, and at other times when much grain is 

 being received at the country elevator, the dealer may have 

 a large amount of money invested in grain on the way 

 to the market. In order to reduce the necessary working 

 capital of the country elevator man, there often exists 

 between the dealer and his representative at the terminal 

 market a system of credit in which the country dealer 

 takes the bill of lading to which is attached a draft drawn 

 against the commission man, to the local bank and re- 

 ceives credit for the amount of the draft. The amount 

 of the draft in relation to the value of the grain depends 

 upon the agreement established beforehand between the 

 commission man and his customer. In a steady market 

 sometimes he will allow the country dealer to draw upon him 

 for as much as 80 per cent of the value of the shipped grain. 

 Thus, if the country dealer has shipped grain valued at 

 a hundred thousand dollars, he may, by this system of 



