188 DEEP FURROWS 



in Western Canada to meet emergencies. In a wet 

 season the drying plants at Fort William and Port 

 Arthur were far from adequate. Delayed inspection 

 returns and terminal outturns, due to the recurring car 

 shortage, prevented the farmers from financing and 

 widened the spread between street and track prices as 

 the close of navigation approached. 



Eeviewing all this, the Grain Commissioners came to 

 the conclusion that it was time to consider seriously 

 the erection of Government terminal facilities nearer 

 the grain fields. Especially in Alberta was the need 

 great for inspection and terminal storage to be nearer 

 the producer. It would relieve congestion, benefit the 

 whole grain trade and provide for the future possibility 

 of alternate shipping routes via Hudson Bay or the 

 Panama Canal. 



It was true that the Royal Grain Commission of 

 1906-7 had raised objections to interior terminals and 

 inspection, such as the extra expense of handling, the 

 extra loss to the grain in handling and re-handling, 

 the possibility of the railways solving the car shortage 

 problem, the difficulty of getting shippers to send their 

 grain to such elevators and so forth. But the Board 

 considered that, in view of other possible routes than 

 the Eastern, these objections were not strong enough 

 to balance the benefits. Accordingly they recom- 

 mended the Government to take action, the elevators 

 to be regarded as public terminals in which mixing of 

 grades would be forbidden. 



While the farmers in all three Prairie Provinces were 

 busy with these vital matters, the Grain Growers' Grain 

 Company meanwhile was wading along through all the 

 difficult seasons of car shortage, expanding its useful- 

 ness and trying its best to give the maximum of service 



