124 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



people in the United Kingdom had more money to spend 

 than for some years previously. 



N^ext the war had affected profoundly the money situ- 

 ation, and, in so far as currency had been inflated or in- 

 creased in any of its forms, higher prices were inevitable. 



Lastly, it must be noted that the concentration of the 

 buying for the European allies had been only slowly carried 

 out and imperfectly at best. For example, in the Winni- 

 peg market there were some who bought wheat for the Bel- 

 gian Relief Commission ; there were others who bought 

 wheat for France ; others again who bought wheat for the 

 United Kingdom, and these were buying in open compe- 

 tition with one another. Further, these agencies were 

 buying not only in competition with one another, but also 

 in competition with Canadian millers and American mill- 

 ers, who themselves were buying wheat to fill flour sales 

 to the same Allied Governments. 



It was inevitable that a crisis should develop under such 

 conditions as these, and the only wonder is that it was not 

 worse. 



The action of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange in taking 

 away the facilities for future trading in wheat did not at 

 first commend itself to the other grain exchanges of North 

 America ; indeed, the tendency in the exchanges of the 

 United States was to question the wisdom of the steps 

 taken in Winnipeg. It soon appeared, however, that the 

 whole grain trade of this continent had been swept within 

 the area of trouble, and within a very few days the leading 

 exchanges of the United States were forced to take steps 

 almost identical with those taken at Winnipeg.^*^ 



The price of wheat soared upwards on the grain ex- 

 changes of the United States just as it did at Winnipeg. 

 At Chicago, the highest price for cash wheat, namely $3.43 



60 Ibid., p. 40. 



