Bills of Lading

The bills of lading convey title to the goods described therein. It is a contract by a carrier for the delivery of the goods and a receipt by the carrier for the merchandise being shipped. The bills of lading should show the name of the shipper, the vessel or carrier transporting the goods, the type of grain being exported, the port of shipment, the destination, the consignee, and the party to be notified upon arrival of the grain.

Bills of lading can be issued in two forms: «straight» (non-nego-tiable) or «to order» (negotiable). Some countries prohibit the issue of a bill of lading «to order», in such cases the seller normally consigns the «straight» bill to an agent or a bank at the destination, with instructions to release the bills of lading to the buyer only upon payment. The shipping company should not release the bills of lading without the agreement of the agent or bank. If the straight bills are consigned to the buyer, the buyer can take possession of the goods upon identification without being required to present the bills of lading themselves.

Most bills of lading used in exporting grain are ocean bills of lading «to order». They are issued by the steamship company in two or three original sets, each of which is negotiable. Thus, any one set gives the holder title to the goods. The presentation of any properly endorsed original will allow a holder to pick up the merc­handise at the port of destination. The bills of lading may be endorsed in blank or endorsed to the buyer, his agent or some other third party.

The bills of lading must contain a dated «on board» endorsement initiated by the carrier or its agent indicating that the grain has been loaded. In very rare cases, bills of lading may be issued with a «Received for Shipment» endorsement, which indicates only that the grain has been received by the shipper and that space has been reserved on a particular vessel. Exhibit 3 in Appendix G shows a sample bill of lading.

Oils and fats

Hydrogenated fats. There are large quantities of solid and liquid fats which may be termed by-products of many indu­stries.

Mutton, lard, and suet are by-products of the meat packers. Cotton-seed oil is by-product of the cotton manufactures. The solid fats find a ready market. In the main they are sold for either margarine or soap, chiefly the latter. Oils do not make as good soap, and until recently their commercial value was low. From the point of view of economics, the difference bet­ween solid and liquid fat is great, while chemically speaking the main difference is only a molecule of hydrogen. After con­siderable experimental work, the proper conditions for hydrogenation of liquid were discovered. Solid fats in enormous amounts are now made from the less useful liquid fats. The hydrogenated fats on market are made from oleic and linoleic acids. In the manufacture, pure hydrogen (made by electrolysis of water), is passed through the purified oils which are kept at a suitable temperature in the presence of suitable catalyst (oxides of nickel and other metal). If all the unsaturated fats in an oil were completely hydrogenated, the resultant product would be extremely hard and, therefore, undesirable for shor­tening purposes.

Any fat too soft for use may be hardened by hydrogenation. Certain manufactures hydrogenate whale oil, which is then added to other fats to be made into a margarine. The removal of nickel from hydrogenated fat is never complete, but the amount left in the fat is insufficient to be harmful, as has been shown by a number of tests.

Fats hardened by hydrogenation have little tendency to become rancid by hydrolysis and may be heated to a high tem­perature without decomposition.

Their plasticity and degree of unsaturation flavour the preparation of well-shortened but flaky pastry.

Unlike butter and margarines, they have no flavour or odor and are, practically speaking, 100 per cent fat. When substitut­ed for butter or margarines, these differences must be taken into consideration. Because of their lack of flavour, they are often used as substitutes for lard or suet inspite of their greater cost. The digestibility of hydrogenated fats is practically ident­ical with that of butter.

Lard. Lard has excellent shortening power. When of high quality it decomposes at temperatures well above those required for deep-fat frying. Apart from cost, the chief difference in the lards marketed is in the acid content and the texture. The better quality lards are neutral, or nearly so, and are hard when cold but plastic at ordinary temperatures.

The cheaper grades are slightly acidic and, therefore, do not keep so well and decompose at a lower temperature. At ordi­nary temperatures they are usually softer than the better grades.