WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 121 



meudous quantities of grain, and which consequently had 

 such a predominating place in the exchange markets. ^^ 



The representatives of the Wheat Export Company were 

 buying through the winter and spring months of 1916-17 

 for May and July delivery ; and, of course, they were not 

 the only buyers, as the Canadian mills were doing the 

 same. A situation then arose which, as the month of 

 May, 1917, approached, brought to a head the accumu- 

 lating effects of the war upon the grain business of Can- 

 ada. The gatherers of grain at country points had hedged 

 their holdings in the usual way. Much of the grain so 

 hedged did not come up to the contract grades ; and the 

 result was that, as the month of May approached, there was 

 heavy bidding for the contract grades, and prices went 

 skyrocketing. On Saturday, April 28, 1917, May wheat 

 opened on the Winnipeg Grain Exchange at $2.71. 

 Within two minutes, and at the first trade, the price was 

 $2.82 ; and in 23 minutes, and at the fifteenth trade, it was 

 $2.86.^^ The maximum closing price for May wheat, 

 namely, $3 per bushel, was attained on each of the two 

 days. May 11 and May 12.^^ Had the holders of May 

 and July wheat stood out for their pound of flesh, they 

 would have brought about a disaster to the Canadian grain 

 trade and, as it appeared later, to the grain trade of the 

 whole North American continent, unparalleled in com- 

 mercial history. To avoid this, the Winnipeg Grain Ex- 

 change took hold of the situation and the result was the 

 next profound effect of the war upon the grain trade. ^^ 



The rising prices of wheat, accompanied as they were by 

 parallel increases in the cost of flour, produced a clamor 

 amongst the consumers of the country, and, as usual, this 



53 lUd. 



54 Ninth Annual Report of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, p. 66. 



55 Ihid., p. 120. 



56 J. C. Gage, loc. cit., p. 37. 



