36 A .MEM CAN EXPORT CORN ( MAIZE ) [M EUROPE. 
for the fluctuations and variations in European prices as indicated by 
the prices quoted for corn on the London market. However this may 
be, there can be no doubt that one of the important factors that has 
influenced the fluctuations in the prices of American corn and that 
originated and has fostered the strong prejudice found existing 
ftgainst that grain, both among importers and consumers in Europe, 
was the poor and unsatisfactory condition in which many American 
corn cargoes have been delivered in Europe during the past several 
years. 
A MARKET FOR BETTER QUALITIES' OF GRAIN. 
There seems to be every evidence that there is in Europe, and more 
especially in Great Britain and Germany, a market for the better 
classes and varieties of American grain in good condition at higher 
prices. There can be no doubt that the wide range and great varia- 
tions in the condition and quality of the recognized best export 
grades of corn and wheat of the Atlantic and Gulf ports, of which 
under the present grain-trade practices there is practically but one 
grade for each kind or class of grain and into which the greater bulk of 
the grain exported from those ports has been included, have to a large 
extent precluded the possibility of discrimination by the buyer in 
favor of the better classes and qualities of grain, because of the fact 
that practically all of. the grain exported is sold and purchased upon 
certificates of grade, issued at the time of loading at the American 
port and upon which final settlement is usually made before the cargo 
reaches Europe. This method of doing business is undoubtedly very 
desirable from the grain-trade standpoint, as it simplifies and facili- 
tates the handling of a business of considerable proportions, but it is 
also desirable that the grades of grain upon which trades are based 
have a less wide range in quality and condition for the reason that 
the grading as at present practiced tends to reduce values to a basis 
of the lowest common level for each kind or class of grain. 
With the exception of a comparatively few of the best-posted im- 
porters, the European trade, and especialty the consuming trade, is 
inclined to look at American grain from a common standpoint and to 
condemn all American grain for iniquities that may be practiced in 
the grading of grain at any one point. It is, therefore, also desirable 
that the grades of grain for export, at least in their essential funda- 
mental requirements, such as the limits of moisture, the soundness, 
and the natural development of the grain, should be alike at all 
points. Considered as a whole, the European trade desires this in 
order to facilitate business, and there seems to be no sound economic 
reason why it should not be so. 
[Cir. .").") | 
