I04 ON TAXATION 



growing as much wheat as he can, selling all 

 he can for the best price he can get. Sometimes 

 a well-to-do farmer may hold on, hoping for 

 a better price, but he has a doubtful proposition. 



Others besides farmers are engaged in the 

 wheat trade ; but long study of the conditions 

 of that great trade leads to the conclusion that 

 such dealers cannot control nature. In a late 

 market review it is shown that the price of wheat 

 in Winnipeg suddenly rose zh cents the bushel, 

 because of French buying and a reported lower 

 estimate of the crop in Argentina. Such reports 

 are unreliable, crops often recovering unex- 

 pectedly. On the same page of the review it 

 is stated a fall in the price of wheat took place 

 last year (1910), because it was found the Western 

 Canadian crop was not as poor as had been 

 reported. 



A syndicate with great resources might raise 

 for a time or lower the price of wheat. The 

 greater the population of a country, the higher 

 its interest in keeping the price of wheat as 

 steady as possible. To the United States of 

 America, with ninety millions of people, to 

 Germany with sixty millions, to France and 

 Great Britain each with forty millions, the matter 

 is most important. It seems by no means im- 

 possible, if these nations were agreed, to legislate 

 so as to make "corners " in wheat illegal. 



If that were done, a sliding duty, with a low 

 maximum, on wheat imported into Great Britain 

 would not, it is thought, hurt the retailer; 

 because, with the duty at a maximum, the supply 



