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LI B R.ARY OF THE UN IVERS ITY Of ILLI NOIS 332..Co<\ F >8 p * 1953 AGRlCtltTutC
FUTURES TRADING SEMINAR HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT Principal papers by: Henry H. Bakken Roger W. Gray Thomas A. Hieronymus Allen B. Paul First Edition Vol. I Mimir Publishers, Inc. Madison, Wisconsin 1960 [iii]
Copyright 1960 by the BOARD OF TRADE of the City of Chicago Chicago, Illinois Published by Mimir Publishers, Inc. Madison, Wisconsin Printed in the U. S. A. by Worzalla Publishing Company Stevens Point, Wisconsin [iv]
SEMINAR PARTICIPANTS GEORGE ABSHIER Agricultural Extension Service, Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma VICTOR D. BENDEL, Victor D. Bendel Co., Chicago, Illinois BRUCE L. BROOKS Agricultural Extension Service, Washington State College, Pullman, Washington ARDIN P. BUELL John G. McCarthy Co., Chicago, Illinois DALE BUTZ Illinois Farm Supply Company, 100 East Ohio Street, Chicago, Illinois BERNARD P. CAREY Second Vice Chairman, Chicago Board of Trade W. S. FARRIS Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana GERALD GOLD Commodity Research Bureau, Inc., 82 Beaver Street, New York 5, New York STANLEY JONES President, Winnipeg Grain Exchange, Winnipeg, Canada FRANK A. JOST, JR., Dean Witter & Co., Chicago, Illinois LEON T. KENDALL U. S. Savings & Loan League, 221 North La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois WARREN W. LEBECK Secretary, Chicago Board of Trade ROBERT C. LIEBENOW, President, Chicago Board of Trade [v]
WENDELL McKINSEY Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri FRED MAYWALD Manager, Grain Department, Farmers Grain Dealers Association, Des Moines, Iowa ROBERT MITCHELL College of Commerce, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois HOWARD RIES Oscar Mayer & Co., Madison, Wisconsin CLARENCE ROWLAND, JR. Chairman of the Board, Chicago Board of Trade ROBERT SCHMELZLEE Portland State College, Portland, Oregon C. P. SCHUMAIER Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois ORLO SORENSON Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas FRED TAYLOR Department of Agricultural Economics, North Dakota Agricultural College, Fargo, North Dakota SAMUEL G. WENNBERG Department of Economics 2c Business Administration, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri WILLIAM T. WESSON Agricultural Marketing Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. WALLACE O. YODER Department of Marketing, School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana [vi] 1960 Mimir Publishers, Inc.
FOREWORD Futures markets play a key role in marketing and pricing some of our more important agricultural commodities. This role is a changing one. Increasingly numerous and complex developments are affecting the services demanded of futures markets. Some changes are within agriculture, some without. To some extent commodity exchanges such as the Chicago Board of Trade may modify and help shape changes in our marketing facilities and techniques. Such institutions are also influenced by forces outside their control and, as a consequence, must seek new ways of providing more useful marketing services. The program at which the papers and discussions in this volume were presented was an attempt to assess the role and function of futures markets in our changing and developing agricultural economy. Specifically, the 1959 Futures Trading Seminar attempted to identify the important forces influencing futures markets and to help determine what might be done to enable futures markets to increase their contribution toward a more efficient and effective agricultural marketing system. The first presentation reviewed and analyzed the role and function of futures trading as these have developed historically. The next two sessions focused attention on two important functions of futures trading, risk shifting and pricing. The final session was designed to' evaluate the future of futures markets in our changing agricultural economy. In planning the program, the Educational Advisory Committee secured qualified and capable speakers, discussants, and seminar participants who had a particular interest in grain marketing. As a result, the committee feels the quality of the analyses was very high. Differences of opinion were [vii] 1960 Mimir Publishers, Inc.
inevitable. The subjects were discussed by competent and interested students of futures markets at levels where existing knowledge had not previously provided conclusive answers. The committee is confident that this book presents an important contribution to the literature on futures trading. It should appreciably extend the boundaries of knowledge; and perhaps, one of its main values will be that of defining some frontiers for future work. This volume should be particularly useful to educators, researchers, and trade people interested in an analytical discussion of futures markets. The Educational Advisory Committee carried major responsibility in planning and conducting the Seminar, and was particularly appreciative of the freedom it experienced in planning the program. The committee was aided by Chicago Board of Trade personnel in selecting the industry discussants, and wishes to thank Mr. Irwin B. Johnson, Director of Public Relations, and Miss Anne Holden, Editor of the Chicago Board of Trade News, for the excellent assistance and cooperation they gave with regard to arrangements and publicity for the Seminar. Finally, the Educational Advisory Committee especially wishes to express its gratitude to the Exchange, its Public Relations Committee, and to Mr. Robert C. Liebenow, President of the Chicago Board of Trade, for support and cooperation which made the event possible. Lafayette, Indiana April 15, 1960 Paul L. Farris, Chairman Educational Advisory Committee [viii]
EDUCATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CHICAGO BOARD OF TRADE 1959 Paul L. Farris, Chairman Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University James R. Enix Extension Wheat Marketing Specialist, Oklahoma State University T. A. Hieronymus Professor of Agricultural Marketing, University of Illinois Taylor W. Meloan Chairman, Department of Marketing, Transportation and Foreign Trade, University of Southern California Charles W. Miller Director, Department of Marketing, Marquette University Ross Milner Extension Economist, Grain Marketing, Ohio State University [ixj
CONTENTS 1960 Mimir Publishers, Inc. Foreword VII Part I. Historical Evaluation, Theory and Legal Status of Futures Trading in American Agricultural Commodities Speaker: Henry H. Bakken, 3 University of Wisconsin Discussants: James S. Schonberg, 29 Uhlmann Grain Company John W. Sharp. Ohio State University.. 39 John D. Black, Harvard University 43 Discussion 49 Part II. The Importance of Hedging in Futures Trading; and the Effectiveness of Futures Trading for Hedging Speaker: Roger W. Gray 61 Stanford University Discussants: James P. Reichmann, 83 Chicago Board of Trade C. Peairs Wilson, 87 Kansas State University Richard Phillips, 93 Iowa State University Discussion 99 txi]
Part III. Effects of Futures Trading on Prices Speaker: Thomas A. Hieronymus 121 University of Illinois Discussants: Richard M. Withrow, 163 Lamson Bros. & Company Reynold P. Dahl, 173 University of Minnesota Geoffrey S. Shepherd, 181 Iowa State University Discussion 192 Part IV. The Future of Futures Trading in Our Changing Agriculture Speaker: Allen B. Paul, 203 U. S. Department of Agriculture Discussants: Walter M. Goldschmidt, 245 Continental Grain Company Leonard W. Schruben, 253 Kansas State University Adlowe L. Larson, 257 Oklahoma State University Discussion 262 Bibliographical References Cited 273 Index 277 [xii]