ying on the "half difference" or
"full difference" basis, the buyer is entitled to payment for half the
difference or the full difference, respectively, for any undergrading,
or must pay the seller accordingly if there is any overgrading. When a
buyer specifies special features of description, in addition to type,
some sellers protect themselves against claims for difference on this
score by inserting in the contract a clause to the effect that the
description is given in good faith, but is not guaranteed by the seller.

[Illustration: TWO OF THE COFFEE EXCHANGE BLACKBOARDS

The one on the right is a record of transactions in the coffee pit. As
soon as a trade is made, it is noted in the proper column on the lower
part, the entry showing the time of the transaction, the number of
"250-pound bag lots," and the price. The left-hand board gives Santos
and Rio future quotations. For a detailed description of these and other
exchange quotation boards, see page 457]

_How the New York Exchange Functions_

When the New York Coffee Exchange was incorporated in 1881, its charter
stated its purposes to be "to provide, regulate and maintain a suitable
building, room or rooms for the purchase and sales of coffees and other
similar grocery articles in the city of New York, to adjust
controversies between members, to inculcate and establish just and
equitable principles in the trade, to establish and maintain uniformity
in its rules, regulations and usages, to adopt standards of
classification, to acquire, preserve and disseminate useful and valuable
business information, and generally to promote the above mentioned trade
in the city of New York, increase its amount, and augment the facilities
with which it may be conducted."

In the promotion of trade at New York the Exchange has been highly
successful. From time to time it has been criticized; and, more than
once, coffee traders in the East and in the West have raised a question
as to its value to non-speculating members. There are those who believe
it serves a useful purpose, and others who call it a huge pool room. To
say that, on the whole, it is not of benefit to the trade would be
untrue. As one of its champions pointed out in 1914, when it shut down
for a period of four months on account of the World War:

The ability to discount the future is a necessity, and demands the
facilities that a unit of centralization like the Exchange affords.
There is no di