INTERNAL ELEVATORS 175 



discarded by the commission in favor of an experi- 

 ment in co-operative ownership and management by 

 the farmers themselves, assisted financially by the 

 Provincial Government. 



The scheme presented by the executive of the 

 Saskatchewan Grain Growers' Association appeared to 

 be unworkable because it overstepped mere public 

 ownership and operation of initial elevators to include 

 methods of sampling, grading before shipment, bank 

 and government loans, features outside the power of a 

 provincial legislature. The schemes of municipal and 

 district elevators, while appealing to local loyalty for 

 patronage, did not secure the farmers' direct pecuniary 

 interest to make the elevators successful in the face of 

 competition. As to the Manitoba plan, the commission 

 were unanimous in advising against it in view of the 

 financial risk and the disadvantages of political 

 influences which would tend to make themselves felt. 



Instead, therefore, of a plan aiming at ownership of 

 initial elevators by the State and management by the 

 Government of the day, the commission recommended 

 ownership and management by the growers of grain. 

 Such a co-operative scheme would aim equally well at 

 removing initial storage from the ownership of com- 

 panies interested in grain trading would recognize as 

 promptly the feeling of injustice in the minds of many 

 farmers would seek just as fully to create marketing 

 conditions which would give the farmer satisfaction 

 and confidence. While both the Manitoba scheme and 

 the proposed co-operative scheme involved financial aid 

 by the State, the commission saw reason to believe 

 that with control and management in the hands of the 

 farmers themselves many of the risks and limitations 

 of other plans would be avoided. 



