Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1914-10-23


oeg purposes at cost Of AK
wv The entire department l. 80
Quoted in a high state Of effic,ena,.
ana while, like Wiunipeg. grades ~
very severe and dockage heavv ~,
department only follows the law ana
rules Laid down for its government
ana Is not being charged with onv
lnins except the faithful perform
ance OF duty provided by law ana
'pe rules that govern its actions
Chicago Inspection
Chicago is essentially coo..o
grain market. 1t is the center Of tho
great corn and oat belt and band,os
more of these grains than anv othor
market. During the year 1919 tboro
were received at Chicago S5.Ob6 cars
OF wheat, 93,422 cars of corn a.
100 cars of oats, 2O59 cars of rye
and 1875 cars of barley.
While the Chicago Board Of rroao
j
. the pest known of all boards of
Crade and wheat deals are mada
through it in all part of the unitad
states, the deals are nearly al, snoc.
ulaIlVe' as will be seen by the wheat
receipts at that market for 1914
Inc $4,000 car lots received during
mat term, plus the 3,733,OOO bushels
arriving by lake and canal, would
not fill but a very small per cent of
the sales made through the Chicago
Board of Trade for that year.
Interests Influence Laws
Two interests have had much to
DC with shaping the grain inspection
laws OF the state of Illinois. The
conflicting interests of the Chicago
Board of Trade, the bulls and bears
have met in conflicts not staged on
the floor pit. A few years ago No.
Red was the only grade accented
on deals made through the Board Of
Trade. This limited the available
supply of contract wheat and made
corners more easy to secure.
Northern Spring, better wheat
thar No. 2 Red, could be delivered
on contracts at a discount of five
cents bushel from contract price.
As the cash price for Northern
Spring usually ran higher than No.
Red, this rule did not keep the
DGlls out of a corner, but was en-
tirely for the interest of the bears.
However, the question has been so
aggressiyely agitated by the bulls
that at this time No. l Red, No. 2
Red, No. l Northern Spring, No. /
Hard Winter, No. Hard Winter and
NO Velvet Chaff can now be deliv-
cred on contracts, unless some spe-
ctfic kind is mentioned when con-
tract is made. This rule has made
it quite difficult to corner" the
market for the reason that millions
of bushels of wheat, representing the
grades named, are to be found in
store at the various wheat centers
and can be available for Chicago de-
livery on very short notice.
Banks Had Hand
The Chicago banks have had a
hand in cbonipor tho Iou,c ,,ovorn;,, r,
the action of public elevators located
in that city and through this influ-
ence a very efficient control is exer-
cised by the state. The banks are
called upon and loan vast sums of
money on grain in store. They nat
urally wanted to know their secur-
| ity would not be made away with be-
fore the loans were liquidated, and
| the present method of handling this
end of the grain business is very
complete. Nothing like the fraud
and scandal that occurred in San
Francisco few years ago is possible
in Chicago The same thing is also
true of Winnipeg and Minneapolis,
but their systems are hardly so COM
plete as that of the city by the lake.
The old method of track inspec-
ton formerly in vogue in Chicago
has been changed to office inspec-
ton, corresponding to the methods
used at Winnipeg and Minneapolis.
Samples. however, are not retained
longer than 4S hours, the same as
Minneapolis, which we think is a
serious error. Washington and
Canada departm ents are the only
ones that retain samples sufficient
length of time to enable the shipper
to get review of grades.
The fees are 35 cents car for lin
inspection" and 80 cents per 1000
bushels for tout inspection" The
earnings from these fees are not suf-
ficient to defray the expenses of the
work.
The weighing at Chicago is not
performed by the state, but is done
by the Board of Trade. The fees are
so cents a car and so cents per 1000
bushels for weighing out of elevator