COOPEEATm: GRAIX maeketi:n"g. 13 
vators located either at Port Arthur or Fort William, Ontario, from 
which grain may move eastward by rail or boat across the Great 
Lakes. By public terminal elevators is meant terminal elevators 
which have qualified as such under the Canada Grain Act and are 
duly licensed to conduct a public storage business under the rules and 
regulations prescribed by the Board of Grain Commissioners for 
Canada. 
A distinction should be noted here between public terminal ele- 
vators and private terminal elevators. The former are not allowed 
to mix grades nor to own any of the grain held in their custody as 
public warehousemen. Their business is to clean and store grain 
under such conditions and for such charges as the Board of Grain 
Commissioners for Canada may approve. They are subject to very 
close Government supervision, and warehouse receipts issued by 
them are deliverable on future contracts. The private or '* hospital " ^ 
elevators, while also under Government supervision, are allowed to 
mix certain grades, but are not allowed to conduct a public-storage 
business. They must buy all of the grain which they handle. They, 
of course, are able to earn a considerable amount at times through 
their mixing operations. For example, when low-grade grain is be- 
ing sold at heavy discounts they may buy a quantity of very high 
quality No. 2 Hard wheat, mix into it a quantity of low-grade wheat 
and still retain Xo. 2 grade. It may be noted that hospital elevators 
are prohibited from taking certain grades into their elevators and 
also that when it appears that grain shipped from any private ele- 
vator is being systematically reduced in quality below the general 
average quality of the grain of similar grades in the bins of the 
public terminal elevators, such grain may be required to pass inspec- 
tion at a lower designated grade. It will be seen therefore, that 
while the manufacturing of grades by mixing constitutes a consider- 
able part of the business of private elevators, even these operations 
are not without limitation. 
The benefits which may be secured to the farmers' companies from 
the operation of hospital elevators are evident. These elevators en- 
able them to condition their own grain and to take advantage of any 
profits to be made through mixing operations. In the operation of 
their public terminal elevators, however, the source of profit is some- 
what obscured by the fact that under the law they may not store any 
grain for themselves, but must depend for their profits upon storage 
patronage secured from others. 
The methods by which grain is sold on the Winnipeg Grain Ex- 
change is of interest in this connection. While sample markets have 
2 The Canada Grain Act defines a hospital elevator to include every elevator or ware- 
house which is used for cleaning or other special treatment of rejected grain which is 
equipped with special machinery for that purpose. 
