To the trader, manufacturer, or exporter, the act of transferring the risk of price fluctuations to other persons who are willing to assume it, has the effect of an insurance. It enables him to use all of his time and capital in the management of his own business instead of devoting some part of them to contingencies arising from unforeseen crop conditions. ALTERNATIVE CONTRACTS In order to eliminate the risk of a shortage of specific grades of the merchandise thus traded in, contracts generally permit the delivery of alternative grades, within certain limits, at differential prices; and if the grade to be delivered be not suitable for the ultimate needs of the purchaser, it can under ordinary circumstances be exchanged for the grade needed, by the payment of the differential. It is true that in this exchange of grades there is sometimes a loss or a profit, owing to some unexpected diminution or excess of supply of the particular grade wanted, due to the weather or other natural causes. Deposits of cash margins may be required mutually by members at the time of making contracts, and subsequent additional ones if market fluctuations justify. Dealings for outsiders are usually upon a 10 per cent. margin; obviously, if this margin were increased generally, say to 20 per cent., a considerable part of the criticism due to losses in speculation, particularly as to the Cotton Exchange, would be eliminated. The major part of the transactions are adjusted by clearing systems, the method most prevalent being “ring settlements,” by which groups of members having buying and selling contracts for identical quantities, offset them against each other, canceling them upon the payment of the differences in prices. THE PRODUCE EXCHANGE The New York Produce Exchange was chartered by the Legislature in 1862, under the style of the “New York Commercial Association.” The charter has been amended several times; in 1907 dealing in securities, as well as in produce, was authorized. There are over 2000 members, but a larger number are inactive. Some members are also connected with the Stock and Cotton Exchanges. The business includes dealing in all grains, cottonseed oil, and a dozen or more other products; wheat is, however, the chief subject of trading, and part thereof consists of hedging by and for millers, exporters, and importers, both here and abroad. The quantity of wheat received in New York in the five years 1904–1908 averaged 21,000,000 bushels annually. No record of “cash” sales is kept. The reported sales of “futures” show in five years an annual average of 480,000,000 bushels, the year 1907 showing 610,000,000. Although some of these sales were virtually bets on price differences, all of them were contracts enforceable at law. CLEARING SYSTEM