232 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



Such grain is often damaged by rains, and these conditions pre- 

 vail at the farm, at the railway station and at the seaport. 

 Sometimes the piles of sacks are covered, and this greatly re- 

 duces the damage. 



Transportation to the seaports is almost exclusively by rail. 

 Of the 26 Argentine railways in operation in 1903, 22 were 

 built mainly in order to transport wheat. The Parana is navi- 

 gable to Rosaria, the only large inland city. From this point 

 at least 5 railroads branch out into the wheat regions. The car 

 facilities are inadequate to ship the wheat, and the bags often 

 lie in the yards 2 months awaiting shipment. The grain is fre- 

 quently shipped in open flat cars covered with canvas, but it 

 sometimes gets wet before it is unloaded. The railways are all 

 English, and consequently most of the cars are of the old Eng- 

 lish type. They have a capacity of from 10 to 18 tons, but 

 the many new cars being built have a capacity of from 30 to 40 

 tons. The freight rates vary from 5 to 15 cents per bushel. 

 They fell about 3 cents per bushel from 1895 to 1902. There 

 are portions of Argentina where wheat cannot be raised for 

 export merely because transportation facilities are lacking. 



Although shipping facilities at the seaports are growing 

 rapidly they are still entirely inadequate. Ships wait for days 

 before they can be loaded. Then, berthed three deep in the port, 

 it takes several days more to load, especially when men carry 

 the bags of wheat, one at a time. Two other methods of load- 

 ing are also in use. Steam winches lift the bags, or an endless 

 belt carries them. Tramp steamers of 2,500 to 6,000 tons reg- 

 ister usually do the ocean transportation. The rate to Europe 

 in 1903 was from 6 to 12 cents per bushel. The grain exporters 

 keep branch establishments at the main points where wheat is 

 raised. They buy through an agent. A price is telegraphed to 

 him in the morning, and this he pays all day, as he rides from 

 farm to farm. He often buys from the machine, for the ex- 

 porter gets his wheat on board ship as soon as possible. Each 

 buyer does his own inspecting and grading. The agent is paid 

 1 per cent commission on all he buys. 



CANADA. In the marketing of wheat, as in nearly all other 

 phases of the wheat industry, the development in Canada has 

 been similar to that in the United States, only later. More 



