WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 69 



erating a country elevator, to take out an annual licence 

 and to furnish bonds for such an amount as the Board of 

 Grain Commissioners may demand ; and it further pro- 

 vides the machinery for the investigation of all complaints 

 made in writing under oath. The whole tendency of the 

 Act is to give the farmer as nearly as can be accom- 

 plished an absolute guarantee of fair dealing. 



XV. The Sample Market 



Many years ago, both in the United States and Canada, 

 wheat was sold by sample only; but, as the grain trade 

 grew in volume and complexity, this proved unsatisfac- 

 tory. It was then that the grading system was intro- 

 duced, first at Minneapolis and Duluth and, subsequently, 

 about 1884, at Winnipeg. The grading system permits 

 of wheat being sold and stored according to grades, the 

 grades being determined by government inspectors. 



For the last thirty years, the wheat of western Canada 

 has been sold almost entirely by grade, and sales by 

 sample have been relatively few and unimportant. How- 

 ever, a few years ago, a desire was expressed on the part 

 of a number of fanners that, while the sale of wheat by 

 grade should be continued, facilities should also be given 

 for selling by sample. As a result, by Order-in-Council 

 signed at Ottawa in August, 1917, sample trading was 

 approved. Sample rooms are now provided by the govern- 

 ment in the Grain Exchange at Winnipeg, and at Fort 

 William and Port Arthur. 



A farmer wishing to sell his grain by sample, marks 

 his shipping bill when shipping his grain, in care of the 

 sample market. On arrival of the consignment at Winni- 

 peg a sample is drawn from the car by the government 

 samplers and is inspected in the usual way. A part of 



