158 



would be eulogised as a prudent and enterprising busi- 

 ness man determined to make the best of his labours. 

 The same reasoning applies to the cereal farmer. 



As I have shown elsewhere, the temporary, with- 

 drawal from the market of but one half of the wheat 

 and other cereals will strengthen prices to the advan- 

 tage of the farmer. The normalising of transport, and 

 the disposal of the crop in a rational manner will act 

 favourably in securing for the sellers real fixed rates 

 on the markets, and the installation of cleaning machi- 

 nery with the elevators will free the farmer from the 

 present system of repeated discounts for "fallas". 

 The fact that the farmer gets little for his crop does 

 not mean that the price of bread is cheaper in this coun- 

 try than elsewhere; we all know that it is not. The dif- 

 ference in the price ruling for wheat at the beginning 

 of the season is at least 20 per cent, less than that at the- 

 end of the summer before the new crop is harvested, 

 yet the price of bread is not varied accordingly. Evi- 

 dently some one puts the difference into his pocket ; it 

 is certainly not the farmer and decidedly not the con- 

 sumer, and if we are to take the bakers into considera- 

 tion, we may say they least of all. 



The advantages, then, of elevators would extend 

 into the pockets of the general public, or consumers of 

 bread, to an appreciable extent, and I think, even sup- 

 posing the price of bread did not vary, at least we might 

 get a better quality article. Under these circumstances 

 1 am sure that very few would object to the farmer spe- 

 culating in place of the grain-brokers or millers. Many 

 are the advantages I could mention for the whole coun- 

 try; hardly any of them can be classed as speculative 

 efforts towards increasing prices. 



FARMERS AND SPECULATION. 



Even supposing the farmer is disposed to specu- 

 late, he has the continual drawback to his fervour for 

 speculation in the fact that his possible profits are 

 steadily being diminished by the interest he has to pay 

 for the advance on his warrant. 



Let him speculate, and if adverse experience does 

 not convince him of the inconveniences attending this 

 manner of making a fortune, when successful, then at 

 least we, the inhabitants of the land, have nothing to 

 complain of, for since we only consume one sixth of 

 what the farmer grows, we shall not be called upon to> 

 pay the piper. 



