Economic essays

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1753623200

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-136107

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Economic essays

Place of publication:: New York

Publisher:: Macmillan

Year of publication:: 1927

Scope:: viii, 368 S.; Ill., graph. Darst.

Digitisation:: 2021

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: The holding movement in agriculture / Jesse E. Pope

Collection:: Economics Books

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,

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