THE DECLINE OF CHICAGO AS A GRAIN FUTURES MARKET.

The total volume of grain future trading is now but a fraction of what it has been. The principal cause of the low volume of trading has been the establishment by the Federal Government of a mechanism which removes much of the necessity for private interests to carry the risk of grain prices. At present this mechanism consists of price floors (parity prices) and until recently price ceilings were in effect. It does not seem likely that the policy of the Federal Government to control the price of grain will be permanently abandoned. The Chicago Board of Trade has been and is the dominant grain futures market even with a reduced total volume of trading. Had it not been for the attractiveness of rye contracts during the war, the total volume of trading would have declined to a greater extent than it did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]