although a considerable proportion of the last is sold for feed. A very much higher proportion of corn than of oats is shipped to feeders, presumably owing to the consumption of corn by the cattle and hog raising industries. TABLE 44.-Distribution of country elevator shipments of specified grains from specified States to feeders during the crop years 1912-13 to 1916-17. State. All grains. Total cars Total Total Total Per cent cars Total number Per number Per number Per number number Per cent cars cent cars cent cars cent shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped shipped to all to to all to to all to to all to to all to destina- feeders. destina- feeders. destina- feeders. destina- feeders. destina- feeders. tions. tions. tions. tions. tions. Section 14. Shipments to interior brokers and others by kind of grain. BROKERS.-The activities of the interior brokers are most important in the case of corn and oats. (Table 45.) Relatively their operations are most extensive in Ohio, Michigan, and Oklahoma. As previously indicated, these States are so located with reference to the generally eastward and southeasterly current of the grain movement that the terminal markets exercise little effect on the grain shipments from these States. (Ch. VI, secs. 4 and 7.) This fact affords the maximum opportunity for the operations of this class of dealers who are of comparatively little importance in the territory tributary to Chicago and Minneapolis (especially Minnesota and the Dakotas), where the attractive power of these two markets presumably affords small scope for their activities. In the area south and west of Iowa and Illinois and east of Illinois the influence of the smaller terminal markets is less and these brokers find a better opportunity for the conduct of their operations. The consumptive demands of the mills and the terminals for wheat and rye, together with the extent to which malting barley is sold by sample, probably explain why so much smaller proportions of wheat, and rye and barley combined, are sold to interior brokers as compared with either corn or oats, which are used largely for feed.. TABLE 45.-Distribution of country elevator shipments of specified grains from specified States to interior brokers during the crop years 1912–13 to 1916–17. All grains. Wheat. Corn. Oats. Rye and barley. State. shipped Total Per Total Per Total Per Total Per Total Per number cent number cent number cent number cent number cent cars shipped cars shipped cars shipped cars shipped cars shipped to in- shipped to in- shipped to in- shipped to in- shipped to interior to all terior to all terior to all terior to all terior bro- destina- bro- destina- bro- destina- bro- destina- brokers. tions. kers. tions. kers. tions. kers. tions. kers. MISCELLANEOUS SHIPMENTS.-The movement of grain to miscellaneous factors includes maltsters and other converters, private terminal elevators, retailers, etc. The high proportion of miscellaneous shipments reported for Nebraska is due to the existence of a number of private terminal elevators located at relatively small interior points which receive, in total, a considerable volume of grain. The only other State reporting a percentage of miscellaneous shipments greatly above the average is Wisconsin (Table 36), where the maltsters absorb large volumes of barley. Section 15. Consignment and direct selling. GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS.-As shown in the foregoing discussion, a trifle less than 70 per cent of the grain shipped by all country elevators and warehouses goes to the terminal markets and about 7 per cent to the smaller markets. (Table 40.) Of 775,100 cars of grain shipped to both of these destinations and for which the method of sale was reported, about 71 per cent was disposed of on consignment, i. e., shipped to some commission man or other agent to be disposed of by him for a commission upon its sale. The balance of this grain (about 29 per cent) is sold directly by the country elevator or warehouse to grain-buying concerns with headquarters in these terminal and smaller markets. (Appendix 2, inquiry 15.) In most cases these latter sales are on the basis of acceptances of bids sent out by wire or by mail under the terms of which the grain is to be shipped to or is "to-arrive" at the market within a specified period of days; perhaps most commonly 10, 20, or 30, though any period may be fixed by the contract covering the shipment, subject in the larger markets to the rules of the various exchanges governing such contracts. (Vols. II and III.) In other cases the direct sales made were on-track" in the country to the representatives of grain-buying concerns located in these markets. Table 46 presents the proportion of consignment 66 and direct sales to terminal and smaller markets made by country elevators and warehouses in the United States. TABLE 46.-Number and proportion of consignments and direct sales to terminal and smaller markets made by elevators and warehouses in specified States and grand divisions during the crop years 1912–13 to 1916–17. VARIATIONS BETWEEN GRAINS.-While nearly three-fourths of the total grain sold and shipped by country elevators and warehouses to the various terminal and smaller markets is reported as handled on consignment, the variations in the proportions of consignment and direct sales as between the different kinds of grain are considerable, as appears from the following table: TABLE 47.-Proportion of consignment and direct sales to terminal and smaller markets made by all country elevators and warehouses reporting during the crop years 1912-13 to 1916-17. Rye and barley are most extensively sold upon consignment, especially the latter. Oats, and especially corn, are handled to the least extent on consignment and to greatest extent on a direct basis. Wheat occupies an intermediate position between corn and oats on the one hand and rye and barley on the other. Section 16. Explanation of geographical variations in consignment and direct selling. VARIATIONS IN GRAINS BY STATES.-These variations are explainable primarily by the location of the grain-producing areas with reference to the method of transacting business within such areas. The following table presents the proportion of carloads of different kinds of grain sold to terminal and smaller markets on consignment by country elevators in the principal producing States during the crop years 1912-13 to 1916-17. Appendix Table 11 presents the figures in detail. TABLE 48.-Proportion of total cars of different kinds of grain sold to terminal and smaller markets by country elevators1 in specified States during the crop years 1912-13 to 1916-17. An examination of this table shows that the most important consigning States, both in total and, with a few exceptions, for each grain, are the four comprising the northwestern group together with Wisconsin and Missouri. The situation in this last State is not susceptible of explanation by any information or data obtained, and for that reason is not further considered. All six of the foregoing States, except Missouri, are tributary chiefly to the three markets of Duluth, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, the remainder of the 14 principal producing States to the various other primary markets. Thus, as shown by Table 37, Duluth and Minneapolis each obtain above 95 per cent of their country receipts from this area and Milwaukee about 65 per cent. Table 49 presents the reported receipts 12 for each of the five principal grains at 10 of the principal primary markets of the United 12 As published by the exchanges. States, in comparison with the proportion of consignment sales reported in these markets.18 TABLE 49.-Proportion of grain sold on consignment in specified markets in comparison with the receipts of specified kinds of grain, 1912–13 to 1916–17. • Disregarding receipts handled by main office of line elevator companies. A study of this table shows that, whether based upon country elevator reports or upon the returns of terminal market dealers, Minneapolis, Duluth, and Milwaukee are the three leading consignment markets of the United States, while in Chicago and the other markets to the south, and the States tributary thereto, the consignment business is relatively less and the direct business relatively more important. This fundamental fact, which in large measure is responsible for the variations in consignment and direct business between the different grains, is itself explained in very large measure by certain of the same factors as were referred to in accounting for the general grain movement from the country elevator in a preceding section of this chapter, i. e., financing by commission houses, the sale of barley by sample, and Minneapolis consumption. (Sec. 6.) EFFECT OF FINANCING ON CONSIGNMENTS.-In Wisconsin, and especially the four Northwestern States which are tributary to Duluth, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee, the proportion of financing by terminal market concerns is far more important than in any other area. Most of this financing is done by commission houses under the terms of which arrangements the elevators financed usually agree to consign The percentage of consignment sales is given on the basis of both the returns made by country elevators and by terminal market dealers. (Vol. IV.) It will be observed that the proportions of consignment business on the latter basis run considerably below the percentages reported by country elevators. The explanation of this is probably to be found largely in the fact that in the reports of the terminal dealers there are included a considerable proportion of cars bought directly in other terminal markets, whereas the reports of the country elevators relate only to grain shipped in from the country. The terminal market returns, however, are given for the purposes of comparison and also in order that it may be understood that reported consignments are on two bases in the Grain Trade Report (Vol. IV). |