grain fields lies four
hundred miles west of the twin harbors, the country between not being
adapted for farming, and to avoid the delay of mail transit and to
operate the trading effectively it was necessary to locate the exchange
at Winnipeg, the great metropolitan railway centre where the incoming
grain concentrated.

In Western Canada the grain is stored in bulk by grades, thereby
cheapening handling cost. Unlike most countries--which sell grain on
sample--Western Canadian grain has been sold by grade. The inspection
and grading of wheat, therefore, is a very important factor in the
grain trade of Canada and is in full charge of Dominion Government
officials. Upon their verdict depends the price per bushel which will
be paid for any shipment of grain, market quotations varying for
different grades; whether stored, sold at home or sold abroad their
certificate of grade brands that particular wheat throughout. The huge
river of grain flows in upon them unceasingly; at times the inspectors
have to work at top speed to avoid being engulfed. The variety of
Nature's response to the growing conditions in changing seasons must
not confuse them from year to year; but with sharpened senses and sound
judgment they must steer a sure course through the multiplicity of
grades and grade subdivisions.

The thoroughness of the system adopted by the Grain Inspection
Department is shown by description of the work done at Winnipeg.
Offices and staffs in charge of deputy inspectors are maintained in the
different railway yards. They work in shifts night and day; for during
the mad seventy-or-so days in which the Western crop stampedes for the
lakefront there is no let-up to the in-rolling wheat-bins which come
swaying and grinding in over the rails like beads on a string--the
endless rosary of harvest thanksgiving. Wheat samples must be obtained
from each car and no train can be moved until a placard has been placed
at the end of it, reading: "Grain Inspectors have finished this train."
A fifty-car train can be sampled in about an hour and a half, which is
comfortable time for a change of engines and crews.

The sampling gangs work with all the precision of gun crews--each man
with a particular thing to do. One goes down the train, opening car
doors and leaving an empty sample bag in each car. Running up a short
ladder, the sampler climbs over the top of the inner door, which
extends above the "load line"; the standard samp