HIS LIFE AND WORK 



circle of co-operation when the wheat begins to 

 move from barn to bakery. He insures the 

 wheat in the elevators, on the cars, or in the 

 steamships. He may even insure it against hail 

 and tornadoes while it is growing. It is so 

 precious, this brown seed, that we watch over 

 every step of its progress. 



It is the bankers' busy season, too, when the 

 wheat begins to move. The marketing of the 

 grain ties up more money than any other yearly 

 event. "It threatens us with disaster every 

 fall," said one of the Secretaries of the Treasury, 

 when making a plea for a more elastic currency. 

 "We ship half a million dollars a day during 

 harvest," said the president of a Chicago bank. 

 "We drew more than five millions of currency 

 from the East and sent thirty-eight millions to 

 the country during September and October of 

 last year," said a third financier, who spoke for 

 Chicago as a whole. In short, the movement of 

 the wheat means a matter of five hundred mil- 

 lions to American bankers; and it is the most 

 important occurrence of the year to the bankers 

 of Russia, Canada, Argentina, and Australia. 



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