WHEAT IN WESTERN CANADA 119 



possible the financing of grain by the banks without in- 

 curring undue risks, and that in time developed the most 

 complete machinery for taking the grain from the pro- 

 ducer and putting it into the hands of the consumer at the 

 lowest possible cost.^" 



The machinery of the grain trade, created as it was by 

 commercial evolution in times of peace, is well adapted to 

 peace conditions but is liable to be thrown out of gear by 

 such a war as that now happily being brought to a con- 

 clusion. The effects of the war on this machinery at first 

 were not very marked, but they gradually increased in im- 

 portance until, in the end, the whole system of marketing 

 grain in iN'orth America was revolutionized to a degree 

 which in ante-bellum days would have been considered im- 

 possible and almost inconceivable. 



Soon after the war broke out, ocean tonnage for carry- 

 ing grain became scarcer owing to the demands made on 

 shipping for transporting troops and munitions. At the 

 same time, there was a stiffening in ocean freight rates 

 and marine insurance, and a considerable disturbance in 

 the international rates of exchange. Under these condi- 

 tions, the exporting of wheat from North America became 

 a most difficult matter. 



About the 28th of November, 1915, just before the close 

 of navigation on the Great Lakes, the Dominion Govern- 

 ment, through its Department of Trade and Commerce, 

 commandeered all the wheat at the head of the lakes. This 

 action, the first of its kind in the British Empire, came so 

 suddenly, so unexpectedly, and at such a critical time of 

 the year that it almost caused a panic among the grain 

 traders, and it was found necessary to close the Winnipeg 

 Grain Exchange for twenty-four hours. Owing to the 



50 J. C. Gage, The President's Address, Ninth Annual Report of 

 the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, Sept. 12, 1917, p. 35. 



