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

268 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK time as he may desire to sell,” and, “that the warehouse act facilitates the use of the warehouse receipt by holders in financing themselves while holding for favorable market conditions.” (p. 377-8.) “A large proportion of the cotton crop,” the Year Book states, “is annually marketed from September to January, inclusive. This heavy marketing ordinarily depresses the farm price which rises slowly as the marketing diminishes.” Above this state- ment is a diagram showing the movement of the farm price of cotton from 1910 to 1914. This shows that the extreme fluctua- tion over this period was less than two cents a pound. The lowest price, which occurred during November and December, the period of heavy marketing, was slightly more than ten cents and the highest price, that of July 1st, the time of light marketing, is slightly under twelve cents. (Ibid. p. 383). These figures speak for themselves. Many authorities have talked much about the so-called “autumnal dip” in prices and have assumed that it is primarily due to the too rapid marketing of the new crop. As a matter of fact when other factors do not counteract it, it is primarily due to the removal of the carrying charges which, of course, gradually attach themselves to the new crop. While this autumn depression may be of some significance to shrewd speculators, it is more than doubtful that it can be of any practical significance to the farmer, who, at any rate, is no wiser than the expert dealer, who hedges his purchases because, says the Department, “the pur- chase of cotton in quantity for any purpose without hedging would be considered such speculation that the banks would not finance the deal.” (Ibid., p. 387.) The much talked of congestion due to too rapid marketing of agricultural products is largely a myth in so far as the United States is concerned. This is prevented to a great extent by cer- tain factors which no man-made regulations can get around. First of all, in a country as large as ours there is a wide variation in the crop season; our wheat harvesting, for example, begins in the southern part of the territory as early as June, while in the northern sections it is in full swing in September. Furthermore, in regions in the same latitude winter wheat will be ready for harvesting earlier than the spring wheat, and in any region the threshing period must extend over a considerable length of time.

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