48 



these prices, minus the cost of freight, the exporter de- 

 pends for calculating the price he can offer to the pro- 

 ducers, and 1 the growers in turn calculate the current 

 value of the commodity they have for sale on the same 

 system. 



On the rise and fall of freights often depends the _.. 

 <rain of one and tte profit or loss of the other. 



No matter how high the prices on the consuming 

 market may be, if the cost of freight and transport are 

 high, the farmer is not benefited : he must content himself 

 with little for his grain, despite what it fetches in Europe 

 of elsewhere. This has been demonstrated again and 

 again during the last few years while the conflict raged 

 in Europe. Despite the extraordinary sums paid for 

 foodstuffs in the Old World, our farmers have benefited 

 comparatively little by the increased value of their pro- 

 ducts; practically all has been swallowed by the heavy 

 cost of transport. 



Heavy charges for transport act doubly unfavour- 

 ably, they increase the cost of production and decrease 

 the selling price; they tend to limit production and re- 

 duce consumption. . 



Deficiencies in transport have exercised a consider- 

 able influence on all things agricultural during the last 

 five years, and probably one of the most urgent problems 

 of the May for the farmer is embodied in the resump- 

 tion of normality in transportation. 



Previous to exporting, 'the cost of transport requires 

 careful calculation on the part of the shipper; to the ac- 

 tual cost of the article, there must be added the charges 

 by rail to the nearest port, those for expenses of loading, 

 storage, handling, etc., then those for ocean freight, the 

 harbour dues, insurance, etc.. and possibly the discharge 

 and carting to the markets where finally disposed of. 

 The longer the voyage the greater the difficulty of cal- 

 culating freights. Where cereals must be handled many 

 times, it increases the cost of transport ; each successive 

 handling raises the price to the consumer, or lowers it 

 to the producer. 



HIGH FREIGHTS LOW PROFITS. 



That which assists in reducing any of these charges 

 puts money into the pockets of the grain grower, and all 

 that tends to increase them acts inversely to his inter- 

 ests and reduces his gains. 



In the handling of her produce, tlie United States 

 has shown remarkable tenacity in overcoming natural 

 difficulties, and has established a record in demonstrat- 



