ed and there was no
reserve of storage capacity in Western Canada to meet emergencies. In
a wet season the drying plants at Fort William and Port Arthur were far
from adequate. Delayed inspection returns and terminal outturns, due
to the recurring car shortage, prevented the farmers from financing and
widened the spread between street and track prices as the close of
navigation approached.

Reviewing all this, the Grain Commissioners came to the conclusion that
it was time to consider seriously the erection of Government terminal
facilities nearer the grain fields. Especially in Alberta was the need
great for inspection and terminal storage to be nearer the producer.
It would relieve congestion, benefit the whole grain trade and provide
for the future possibility of alternate shipping routes via Hudson Bay
or the Panama Canal.

It was true that the Royal Grain Commission of 1906-7 had raised
objections to interior terminals and inspection, such as the extra
expense of handling, the extra loss to the grain in handling and
re-handling, the possibility of the railways solving the car shortage
problem, the difficulty of getting shippers to send their grain to such
elevators and so forth. But the Board considered that, in view of
other possible routes than the Eastern, these objections were not
strong enough to balance the benefits. Accordingly they recommended
the Government to take action, the elevators to be regarded as public
terminals in which mixing of grades would be forbidden.

While the farmers in all three Prairie Provinces were busy with these
vital matters, the Grain Growers' Grain Company meanwhile was wading
along through all the difficult seasons of car shortage, expanding its
usefulness and trying its best to give the maximum of service the while
it was reaching out into the export field in an experimental way.

Then, in 1911, a situation arose unexpectedly that caused turmoil among
the officers of the pioneer company and led to considerable anxiety
among the Grain Growers all over the West. For, through an excess of
zeal upon the part of an employee, the Grain Growers' Grain Company
suddenly found itself dragged into the maelstrom of "The Pit." It was
accused of trying to corner the oat market and was forced to fight for
very life.

So that at last it looked indeed as if Chance had delivered the farmers
into the hands of those who preferred to see them eliminated altogether
from the market.