WHAT HAPPENED IN ALBERTA 237 



funds to finance the purchase of grain at that point 

 from their own resources, at the same time providing 

 for the handling of other business than grain. 



Under the Act the Provincial Government made cash 

 advance of eighty-five per cent, of the cost of eacn 

 elevator built or bought by the Company, but had no 

 say whatever as to whether any particular elevator 

 should be bought or built at any particular place, what 

 it should cost or what its capacity or equipment 

 should be. In security for the loan the Government 

 took a first mortgage on the elevator and other property 

 of the Company at the given point. The loans on 

 elevators were repayable in twenty equal annual 

 instalments. 



The Company started off with the organization of 

 forty-six Locals instead of the twenty which the Act 

 called for and the construction of forty-two elevators 

 was rushed. Ten additional elevators were bought. 

 Although construction was not completed in time to 

 catch the full season's business the number of bushels 

 handled was 3,775,000, the Grain Growers' Grain Com- 

 pany acting as selling agent. By the end of the second 

 year twenty-six more elevators had been built and the 

 volume of grain handled had expanded to 5,040,000 

 bushels. 



Now, this progress had been achieved in the face of 

 continuous difficulties of one kind and another. Chief 

 of these was the attempt to finance such a large amount 

 of grain upon a small paid-up capital. The Company 

 found that after finishing construction of the elevators 

 they had no money with which to buy grain nor any 

 assets available for bank borrowings. It was impossible 

 to obtain credit upon the unpaid capital stock. The 

 Provincial Government was approached for a guarantee 



