179 



the value of the grain handled, which together with the 

 other entries permitted the payment of a'l iiie monthly 

 expenses, all the charges of interest on the capital-ad- 

 vanced at (5 per cent, interest and still left a total be- 

 nefit of approximately If) per cent, annual. 



It must he held in mind, however, that the enter- 

 prising owner of the above elevators is also a grain 

 merchant, and therefore able to influence business, and 

 increase the profits from direct buying and selling of 

 the cereals he handles. 



CANADIAN STATE-AIDED FARMERS' 

 CO-OPERATIVE ELEVATORS. 



If we turn to other countries we have the official 

 publications of the Saskatchewan Government, accord- 

 ing to which at the close of the first year following on 

 the enactment of a Farmers' Co-operative Elevator 

 Law there were 46 elevators in existence with 2590 

 shareholders; these handled 100,000 tons of grain with 

 a net profit to the shareholders of $52,461 gold. Two 

 years later there were 13,000 members and upwards of 

 300,000 tons of grain handled at the close of the harvest, 

 and a clear profit of $167,926 gold resulted. After the 

 payment of dividends to the shareholders of 8 per cent., 

 an amount representing three dollars per share re- 

 mained, which was applied to increase the paid up ca- 

 pital of all the shareholders. The balance-sheet showed 

 total assets of $1,709,000 gold of which $1,290,000 gold 

 represented the nominal value of the country elevators 

 the loans from the Saskatchewan Government accorded 

 to the Farmer 's Co-operative Elevator companies stood 

 at $1,206,000 gold. 



STATE ELEVATORS AS REMUNERATIVE 

 UNDERTAKINGS. 



In the extensive study presented by Dr. Ramos 

 Mexia, in 1912, in the project for a ''Ley do Graneros" 

 the erection of elevators by the State was advocated as 

 the sole solution. Nowhere else in the world has this 

 solution, the erection and monopoly of elevators by the 

 State, found practical acceptance. The only State which 

 has participated in the construction of elevators in the 

 New World, Canada, has adopted the system of ad- 

 vancing money on low terms of credit, to private or co- 

 operative bodies for their construction, and in the Old 

 World, Russia,' the advancing of unds from the 



