THE HOLDING MOVEMENT IN AGRICULTURE 247 
plenty and the later unduly high prices due to a scarcity of 
supplies. 
The truth or falsity of the contention should not be difficult to 
discover. 
Agricultural products fall into two groups, those which are 
bought and sold speculatively on the organized exchanges and 
those which, owing to their perishable nature or their incapacity 
to be standardized, are not so bought and sold.* I shall consider 
in succession several products of the first class, namely, wheat, 
corn, oats and cotton, seeking in each case an answer to the ques- 
tion—will it be more profitable for the farmer to sell his crop 
when it is ready for the market, or to store it and hold it for 
better prices? 
Crops cannot be held by the farmer without expense. The 
elements of this carrying cost vary among crops and among 
farmers, and there is likely to be a difference of opinion among 
students of the problem as to its amount. As a rule, the farmer 
can market his products cheapest as soon as they are ready for 
the market, when, for instance, his grain can, in many cases, be 
delivered to the elevator from the machine, so that handling and 
storage charges are minimized and waste is avoided; and in the 
case of certain products the loss from deterioration and shrinkage 
during storage is thus prevented. To the elements of the carry- 
ing cost indicated, insurance and interest must be added. Owing 
to wide variation in some of these elements, it has been thought 
best, in order to give the holding farmer the benefit of the doubt, 
to leave them out of account. For example, no charge is made 
for insurance, for extra handling, or for extra cost of hauling to 
market due to bad roads or to the hauling having to be done 
at the time when the farmer is busy in the field. In the case of 
grain, it is assumed that the farmer stores it himself, and as he 
must have the bins whether he holds the crop or not, no charge 
is made for storage. In the case of cotton, however, conditions 
are different and the usual warehouse charges, amounting to fifty 
cents per bale for the first month and after that to twenty-five 
cents per month, are made. In the case of oats and wheat, shrink- 
age is not heavy, and this item, together with waste in handling, 
oe ns do es ay fo fia Bel ins of nay 
enced by Speculation, Eggs, apples, lean cattle, wool, and dairy products 
may be mentioned as examples,