which is becoming quite general cannot operate fairly unless a proper system of grading is applied. Failure to do so imposes a penalty on the best class of producers.. The work of coöperative associations which do not operate pools is also promoted, in that grading makes it possible to distribute overhead expenses equitably.1 9. In general, also the inspection and grading services-together with the central markets, exchanges, central warehouse systems and, in case of grain and cotton, the future contract system-facilitate the establishment of a national or world market for the agricultural staples. The Inspection and Grading Organization.-The agricultural commodities are variously inspected and graded by different services or individuals: (1) In some cases, especially in case of the grain handled at some of the large primary grain markets, the commercial inspection and grading service is conducted by the states through inspection bureaus, classification boards, railroad and warehouse commissions or public utilities commissions. (2) In other cases it is performed by organized exchanges through bureaus, boards or committees, or under their auspices. (3) Dealers, jobbers, commissionmen or other trading and distributing agencies sometimes grade the commodities which they handle; and (4) in some instances, particularly in the fruit produce and leaf tobacco trades, the growers, individually or through coöperative associations, usually grade their crops before disposing of them. (5) The federal government is becoming of increasing importance in the grading and inspection of farm products. In the grain trades the government has enforced uniform grain standards which are applied by inspectors licensed by the government and subject to federal supervision. In the cotton trade federal cotton standards, which were at first recommended to the spot cotton trade and compulsory in case of future contracts, were later made obligatory in interstate and foreign commerce, and are applied by federal boards of examiners at several large cotton markets. Congress 1 U. S. Department of Agriculture, Weather, Crops and Markets, May 19, 1923, p. 493. has established standard grades applicable to the interstate trade in apples; in various other trades uniform federal standards have been recommended by the Department of Agriculture, and a number of additional products are being investigated with a view to standardization of grades. Federal inspection of various food products has been established at a number of the more important markets for such commodities. The inspection and grading organization and the methods pursued in the grain, cotton, live stock, wool and leaf tobacco trades will be described more fully in the remainder of this chapter. It is understood of course that the term inspection as here used refers to commercial inspection and not to public health inspection devoted to the detection of disease or the violation of the meat and livestock inspection or pure food statutes. Illinois Grain Inspection Service. The organization and methods of the state grain inspection service of Illinois may be accepted as a standard illustration of state grain inspection both because it was the first to be established in the United States and because it operates in Chicago, the largest grain market in the world. Prior to 1904 the so-called "track system" of inspection prevailed in Chicago as it also did in other central grain markets. Under this system the grain was inspected in the cars by individual inspectors who worked in the open freight yards. In that year, however, the much improved system of "room" or "office inspection" was adopted at Chicago, and later it was also established in Minneapolis, Duluth, Buffalo and in part at other markets. Office inspection is superior to track inspection in that it avoids the bad influence of adverse weather conditions upon the judgment of the inspectors and the condition of the grain, substitutes the combined judgment of several inspectors for the individual judgment of one, and 2 For fruit grading see Chap. XIII, p. 299; grading of dairy products, Chap. XIV, pp. 327, 338. 8 Established in 1871. J. C. Merrill, "Classification of Grain into Grades," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sept., 1911, has the advantage of laboratory aid in the determination of the percentage of moisture. The grading of grain is at best largely a matter of human judgment rather than one of scientific exactness, and this judgment is less subject to error under the favorable conditions of a well-heated or cooled and lighted inspection room than in the open freight yard which is subject to varying conditions of excessive cold or heat and of rain or snow. Under the office inspection plan as now conducted at Chicago, a corps of state samplers take samples from all the cars arriving at the freight yards. These samples consisting of two quart bags filled with grain drawn from different parts of each car are properly marked and together with the railroad notice of arrival are turned over to the inspectors at the inspection office, where they are emptied into receivers. These inspectors are licensed by the Secretary of Agriculture in accordance with the requirements of the Grain Standards Act. If the inspector in charge of a given lot has any doubt as to the proper grade "he calls upon the chief grain inspector or supervising inspector who is always present and their combined judgment determines the grade. Frequently all the 5 W. S. Cowen, "Grain Inspection in Illinois," The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sept., 1911, pp. 81-90. inspectors are called around the table holding some particularly difficult sample and each inspector is required to make a grade for it and give his reasons therefor." As soon as a sample is graded the grade is noted on a card such as is reproduced in Form No. 27, the sample and card are placed in the original bag, and are passed along to the official record writer, who enters the name of the delivering railroad, the car number, the grade, dockage and test weight of the grain, the reasons for the grade given, the names of the consignees and inspector who did the grading, and the number of the hook on which the sample is to be hung, on the official daily report, a copy of which is shown in Form No. 28. One half of each sample is placed in a paper bag together with the railroad notice and sent to the Board of Trade to be placed in charge of the firm handling the shipment, and the other is returned to the original bag and hung upon its proper hook in the sample room to be preserved for twenty-four hours and then emptied. The official grade is stated in a state inspection certificate, a copy of which is reproduced in Form No. 29. A different form of inspection certificate is issued in case of an "out inspection," and distinctive forms are also used in case of out inspections in bulk by steamers for wheat, corn and oats and for rye and barley. The grain standards act and regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture require each licensed inspector to make a summarized report once each month to the Secretary through the Office of Federal Grain Supervision for all grain delivered to and shipped from an elevator. Other inspection documents used in the Illinois state grain inspection service include a cargo service certificate based upon the original inspection certificate when it is surrendered to the Division of Grain Inspection upon shipment of grain in vessels; a request for special inspection; a deputy inspectors' original report covering grain received into public elevators from vessels; a distinctive "licensed inspectors report" covering in and out inspections at private elevators; and a standardized notice to railroad agents covering cars con6 Ibid., p. 83. |