78 CEREALS 



avoid the necessity for throwing the bulk of the export 

 grain upon the market within a short time, and would 

 enable a merchant to hold grain in security or to borrow 

 on good terms on a rising market. 



Another factor that has stimulated interest in elevators 

 has been railway congestion. India has had a succes- 

 sion of most prosperous years. The congestion on the 

 railways has at times been very great indeed, and it has 

 been greatest in the season for the movement of wheat 

 and seeds. It has been injurious not only to the trade 

 in these articles, but to every trade that had goods to be 

 moved; and the proposal for the adoption of grain 

 elevators has found many converts among the general 

 merchants, whose business is disorganized by the spate 

 of wheat and seeds. Now that they understand the 

 matter these merchants are beginning to resent having 

 their trade injured, because in India, as in Argentina, 

 the vested interest in the wheat export trade deprecates 

 the adoption of a system which they fear might at once 

 make the seller somewhat independent and facilitate the 

 entry of competitors into a close preserve. 



Among the converts are also many railway men. 

 Formerly they feared that elevators might put an end 

 to the export trade by facilitating retention of the grain 

 in the country, and might so deprive the northern rail- 

 ways of a great deal of traffic. But the conviction has 

 gained ground that the present system of recurring 

 congestion, with redoubled clamour for more rolling 

 stock and track and crossing stations, is not business, 

 .and that working will be much more profitable if the 

 grain should go forward as it is wanted in consumption. 

 The admission is also now made that when the large new 

 irrigation tracts in the wheat regions are ready wheat 

 will probably not be grown on them, and the railways 

 will have no additional wheat to carry from them, unless 

 such arrangements be made as will enable the cultivator 

 to hold his produce in safety till it can be carried and 

 until he can command a price that covers cost. If these 

 conditions can be secured, it seems probable that an 

 additional 2,900,000 acres may be put under wheat, and 

 .an additional 1,283,000 tons of that grain will be avail- 



