AND THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE BY JAMES E. BOYLE, Pí. D. " EXTENSION PROFESSOR OF RURAL ECONOMY, COLLEGE New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1920 All rights reserved INTRODUCTORY Speculation in grain and future trading on the organized exchanges are fundamental market problems which interest every citizen. Unfortunately these questions are usually treated in a controversial manner, the discussions generally producing more heat than light. And so it happens that while the literature in this field is abundant, yet most of it is very one-sided and partisan. There are very few disinterested reports explaining the important terminal market problems of the grain trade. This book is really a "report" on the Chicago Board of Trade, and particularly on the two big problems involved there, namely, future trading and speculation. I have endeavored to relate these two practices to the larger problem of marketing the grain crop, in order to show the true setting and the actual significance of future trading and speculation. In this way only can the economic functions of these two practices be rightly understood. It is hardly necessary to add that I have tried to make this report fair and candid. I have written this book for those open-minded readers who are looking for a disinterested treatment of the subject. The reader who already "knows it all" or whose mind is finally made up on all these controverted points, is asked to close the book at this point and read no further. In deference to the tacit demands of my readers to know what my credentials are for writing this report, I will add a brief word of explanation. The first twenty years of my 434297 |