CHAPTER XV 



NOTHING touching the food question can be done so 

 mutually advantageous to both producers and consum- 

 ers as the enactment of a law creating and encourag- 

 ing grain elevators, analogous to the law for the 

 establishment, encouragement and supervision of 

 national banks. Not government-owned elevators, but 

 simply those authorized, licensed, encouraged and su- 

 pervised by the Government. These should be re- 

 quired to file reports, showing capital, assets and 

 liabilities, with the Food Administrator at Washing- 

 ton, and to publish these reports the same as the banks 

 now do at the call of the Comptroller of the Currency. 

 They should also be subject to inspection by Federal 

 examiners the same as the banks. These inspections 

 and reports would be much more effective, accurate 

 and valuable than those concerning the banks. Prac- 

 tically all that the reports to the Comptroller, made 

 either by the bank itself or by the National Examiner, 

 show is the face value of the paper held, not the intrin- 

 sic value of that paper. 



One-tenth the time required to examine a bank 

 would be required to examine an elevator of the same 

 amount of assets, and these reports would be absolute, 

 not only as to the amount, but as to the quality of each 

 cereal. These warehouse certificates would be the 

 best of collateral and everywhere accepted, and would 



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