MARKETING HAY THROUGH TERMINAL MARKETS. 23 
tice more than any other has probably caused buyers to demand 
destination terms. Another unfair practice is the shipment of hay 
of a lower grade than that specified in the terms of sale. When the 
demand is urgent it is thought that the buyer will be compelled to 
accept the lower grade because he can get no other before his stock 
is exhausted. Another is the delaying of shipments sold for deferred 
delivery beyond the time specified. This is done in order to obtain 
more money by shipping to some other market. Other hay is shipped 
on the former sale when prices have declined to- the level at which 
the sale was consummated. In such instances shippers claim that 
producers have not delivered the hay or that they are unable to get 
cars for shipment. This practice can not be carried on except when 
demand is urgent and shipments are moving slowly. 
In the matter of weights, shippers are sometimes guilty of adding 
a little, often as much as 1,000 pounds, to the actual weights when 
making their invoices. This is usually done to overcome any loss 
by handling, etc. If a buyer weighs the hay and makes a claim for 
the difference in weight or refuses to pay for an amount which his 
weights indicate was not in the car, the shipper, after a formal re- 
quest for unloading weights, etc., usually pays or allows the claim. 
If the buyer does not weigh the hay the shipper is just that much 
ahead. 
An instance has recently been reported to the Bureau of Markets 
where the members of a large hay firm doing a track business ad- 
mitted that they always added 1,000 pounds to the weights furnished 
by the country shipper when invoicing the hay to their customers. 
They maintained that this was done to protect them against any 
mistake that the shipper might have made in weighing. They also 
maintained that as the weights were guaranteed to within 2 per cent, 
it was the duty of the buyer to weigh the hay, and if any error was 
found to make a claim against them for the amount of the shortage. 
There are also several practices on the part of buyers which are 
considered unfair by the trade generally. In the matter of weights 
complaints are made that bales are broken in unloading and then not 
weighed ; that drafts are frequently missed when the hay is weighed 
one or more bales at a time; and that many cars are weighed in- 
correctly. 
The most serious charge against the buyers, however, is that of 
refusing to accept shipments when the market has declined. When 
shipments are rejected it is usually maintained that the hay is not 
of the grade bought. Judging from the information at hand the 
percentage of rejections by buyers does not seem to be any larger than 
the percentage of cars containing damaged and inferior hay for- 
warded by shippers. Various dealers estimate that the percentage in 
