WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 67 



to boats. Let us suppose that a shipper of a large cargo 

 of wheat has received warehouse receipts showing that the 

 grain to be loaded is distributed in all these elevators. 

 If now it were necessary for him to send his boat first to 

 one elevator to receive a few thousand bushels, and then 

 to another elevator for a few more thousand bushels, and 

 so forth, much valuable time would be consumed and the 

 cost of loading would be considerably increased. More- 

 over, each small amount loaded would require to be treated 

 as a separate cargo, and the documents and records would 

 be greatly multiplied. 



To make it unnecessary for ships to be moved continu- 

 ally from one elevator to another, to save clerical work, 

 and thus to facilitate the dispatch of the grain from the 

 lake front, there has been formed a voluntary organiza- 

 tion known as the Lake Shippers' Clearance Association. 

 The shippers who are members of the Association exchange 

 warehouse receipts with one another, and thus each ship- 

 per concentrates his cargo which he desires to load, in 

 one or two elevators. If, for instance, a shipper had 

 warehouse receipts for 200,000 bushels of ISTo. 1 ISTorthern 

 of which 50,000 bushels were contained in each of four 

 elevators, he would notify the office of the Association, and 

 the manager would make an arrangement that the shipper 

 should load his boat with 200,000 bushels of '^o. 1 ^N'orth- 

 ern from one only of the four elevators. The shipper's 

 warehouse receipts for No. 1 Northern in three of the 

 elevators would be exchanged for warehouse receipts for 

 No. 1 Northern belonging to other shippers whose grain 

 was in the particular elevator from which it was ar- 

 ranged that the shipper should draw his whole cargo. 



It is evident that the Lake Shippers' Clearance Associa- 

 tion carries out its function in such a way as to save 



