87 
are divided among a number of dealers a competition in price 
will thus be accomplished, so that they will, therefore, receive 
a higher price than otherwise for their corn. As a matter of 
fact, this manner of marketing brings about exactly opposite 
effects. Each dealer, in determining the price which he can 
pay for corn, must first stop to consider whether some other 
dealer is not paying less and will therefore be in a position 
to undersell him to the trade. Competition is, therefore, down- 
ward, rather than upward, since the dealers naturally can not 
take a chance of paying more than some other dealer has paid. 
It is only too evident that many growers fail to recognize the 
fact that the dealer sells on a margin, and is, therefore, not 
so miuch concerned with the actual price which he must pay 
for his produce, provided all dealers have to pay the same 
price. So long, however, as one dealer is not in a position to 
know what another dealer has paid for a given product on a 
given day, he will naturally offer a price low enough in his 
opinion to meet the price of other dealers. This unsatisfactory 
condition could only be met by shipping all of the corn to 
one place and obtain, by auction or some other method of sale, 
a uniform price. Under those conditions dealers would glady 
pay more than they now do, for the reason that a margin on 
a higher price yields somewhat larger profits than the same 
margin on a lower price. 
Article III. 
An interview with a commission man who ships consider- 
able of our rice to the mainland disclosed the fact that the rice 
growers are losing a part of their profit on account of careless- 
ness in milling and grading their rice, and on account of the 
lack of organization, and, therefore, a lack of mutual under- 
standing as to standard qualities of rice required by the mar- 
ket. The commission man, in order to make a sale of rice to 
the mainland, must furnish small samples upon which he re- 
ceives quotations from prospective buyers. A shipment of 
rice made on such quotations must, obviously, correspond in 
quality to the samples, otherwise the agreed price will not be 
paid, and embarrassiiTent is experienced by all parties con- 
cerned. 
Complaints have frequentlv been made that too much crack- 
ed grain and imperfect kernels are allowed to remain in the 
milled rice. This lowers the value of the whole product and a 
corresponding loss is experienced by the producer. It is, un- 
fortunately, sometimes assumed by the producer that a small 
quantity of cracked grains left in the milled rice will not be 
noticed by the buyer, and that the producer will thus be so 
far ahead in the business deal. 
