Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-10-01
TODAY'S MARKETING
Plan EXPLAINED TO
AUDIENCE AT 0. H. S.
ELEVATOR MEN EXPLAIN sYS-
TEN TO LARGE CROWD ASSEM-.
BLED AT MASS MEETING TO
HEAR TIMELY TOPIC DIS.
cUssEp. ,.4.

Tho present marketing system OF
the grain grown in the United States
was praised highly last night by Les
lie +. Gates of Chicago former press
dent OF the Chicago board Of trade
The meeting which had been called
to explain the present marketing sys'
tenn and the workings OF the board
Of trade, was called by approximately
$50 people, most OF them farm own
ers who are interested In disposing
OF the large crops OF grain they grow
on their La Sale county farms.
The session was presided over BY
II. A. Bonges. local elevator man Mr.
Bonges explained that when the NEE
ing was arranged they hoped to have
the present marketing system dis
cussed and to have representative
OF the United States Grain Growers,
Inc, explain the contract they are
asking people to sign, and their plans
for q future marketing system The
local committee OF the United States
Grain Growers, Inc, wrote a communi-
cation to the men who we're arranging
the meeting, refusing to take part in
the session unless II was conducted
along the lines of debate, each side
being given one and one-half hours
to speak. and other requirements
were fulfilled.
A reply from the local committee
was read stating that they We're not
challenging the Grain Growers, Inc,
to q debate, but wished them to send
q speaker to reveal purposes OF their
contract and future marketing plans.
Mr., Gates proved to be an interest
ing speaker and gave clear and com.
prehensive statement OF the workings
OF the board of trade He said that
the subject would have to be talked
over for two weeks before it was fully
gone into. There was an absence of
0ratorical effort about his address, and
he went at his subject in clear and
straightforward method that won
favor with the audience.
He explained that the question of
the board of trade and the marketing
Of grain was question OF national
Importance at the present day. and
stated that two years ago it would
have been impossible to secure an au-
dience as large as the one that turn
ed out last nigh to hear the same ad-
dress.
He spoke of the Russian fields,
which, he claimed, are just as fertile
as the fields in the corn belt of Hi
nois These fields, he said, were
A EH,trn
pean marketsTthan the United States,
and impressed upon his hearers the
necessity of this country remaining
the grain market of Europe.
Mr. Gates explained that the farmer
lost interest in his grain as soon as
he sold It, Production of grain i'm
poses ownership. Ownership imposes
risk" he stated After you have sold
your grain your risk has been termi-
mated" He went on to tell how, as
long as the farmer had his grain in
his possession. he experienced the
risk of mice, fire, shrinkage and many
other worries, which are turned over
to the other men as quickly as the
grain IS disposed Of" Any man who
holds his grain for higher prices is
his talk said that he believed there
was no difference between the man
who held his grain for higher prices
and the man who speculated on the
board Of trade.
He traced the marketing of grain,
telling how it was sold to the elevator
man by the farmer and shipped by
the former to Chicago Outside the
city he said, the car Of grain was
opened by an inspector of the state
OF Illinois and a sample taken. A rep
resentative of the weights and meas.
ures department Of the Chicago board
OF trade. he said, took record of the
car seals, to see that it had not been
opened, and saw that there was no
leakage.
The sample OF the grain, he said
was taken to the Office of the United
States grain Inspector, where its grade
was determined, and half of the
sample was kept in the office, while
. the other half was sent to the board
OF trade rooms, where 1t was placed
with. other samples on long line of
tables and exhibited to the buyers and
sellers.
III The car, was then, he stated, taken
I. 10 an elevator, where the grain was
emptied while two representatives OF
the board of trade watched to see
that 1t was all taken out
Much Of the grain is sold to big
companies, such as the Quaker Oats
company, and other cereal firms, be
fore 1t ever reaches Chicago.
The grain, he explained, that Is
placed in the elevator is evidenced by
a warehouse receipt, which can BIZ
taken to bank and from so to sc
per cent of money borrowed on its
face value
A few farmers, he stated knowing
how to use the market, sold their
grain last summer at the market price
for December delivery.
He went into details of the board
Of trade, explaining that it was a
body of 1000 men, working under q
charter secured from the state of Hi
nois. The quotations sent out by thu
board, he said, were records of the
prices at which the buyer and seller
had been able to get together. The
buying and selling are most intensive
ly compelling, he said and no othe,
line of business is conducted undf
such keen competition. That, he said
is why the present marketing system
and the board of trade have come sc
: nearly reaching perfection, because