Deep Furrows Part 15

Bonnar, K.C., gave them his opinion in writing. That opinion was very complete, very authoritative, and poked so many holes in the "const.i.tutional difficulties" that the farmers could see their way much more clearly than the Premiers, to whom they made dignified rejoinder.

They handed on the holes while they were at it in the hope that the heads of the three Provincial Governments could take a peek through the "difficulties" for themselves and see just how clear the way really was after all.

The Provincial Premiers, however, took the step which logically followed their reply to the farmers. Resolutions were introduced in the Alberta and Manitoba Legislatures that His Excellency the Governor-in-Council be memorialized in regard to the elevator question and asked to provide government owners.h.i.+p and operation or to have the necessary powers to deal with the matter conferred upon the provinces.

Thus things rode until December 14th, 1909, when the Committee on Agriculture in the Saskatchewan Legislative a.s.sembly recommended the appointment of a commission to make searching enquiry into the subject of government control and operation of the internal elevators as asked for by the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' a.s.sociation.

Two days later, at the annual convention of the Manitoba Grain Growers, Hon. George Coldwell announced for the Manitoba Government that they had accepted the principle of establis.h.i.+ng a line of internal elevators as a public utility, owned by the public and operated for the public.

So unexpectedly did this good news come that the farmers were amazed at their own success. They had fought for it long and earnestly and victory meant a very great deal; but it had seemed still beyond reach.

In the case of Manitoba it only remained now to get together and thresh out the details. A strong committee was appointed to conduct negotiations with the Government and there was prepared a memorandum of the plan which the farmers recommended the Government to follow. This was presented on January 5th, 1910.

The Government and the Grain Growers then each got ready a bill for consideration by the Legislature. Many conferences took place. The Government refused the farmers' bill and the farmers did not approve of the Government's proposals. While leaving full financial control in the hands of the Government, the Grain Growers demanded that the operation of the elevators be undertaken by an absolutely independent commission without any political affiliations whatsoever; it was provided also that no officer of the Grain Growers could act on this commission. The Government did not deem it wise to let control of the managing commission out of its hands. So negotiations were broken off.

The Manitoba Government now prepared a new bill, but did not remove the features to which the farmers were objecting. This bill was pa.s.sed and the Government voted $50,000 for initial expenses and $2,000,000 for acquiring elevators. Beyond a weak protest from the North-West Grain Dealers' a.s.sociation the elevator owners had not shown much excitement over the situation. While the Manitoba Grain Growers were not satisfied that the Government plan would work out successfully and therefore refused to a.s.sume responsibility in connection with it, they were ready nevertheless to lend their best co-operation to the Manitoba Elevator Commission when it got into action.

In the Province of Saskatchewan an altogether different plan was evolved in due course. The investigating commission, appointed February 28th, 1910, consisted of three well qualified men--George Langley, M.P.P.; F. W. Green, Secretary of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' a.s.sociation; Professor Robert Magill, of Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, the latter acting as chairman. The commission held sittings at many points in Saskatchewan, taking evidence from a large number of farmers, went to Winnipeg to meet representatives of elevator companies, the Exchange and Government officials, and also visited several American cities. Their final report, consisting of 188 typewritten pages, was handed to the Saskatchewan Government on October 31st, 1910.

In addition to the comprehensive scheme outlined by the Saskatchewan Grain Growers many different suggestions were considered by the commission, such as government owners.h.i.+p and operation, state aided Farmers' Elevators, munic.i.p.al elevators and various modifications of these plans. All, however, were discarded by the commission in favor of an experiment in co-operative owners.h.i.+p and management by the farmers themselves, a.s.sisted financially by the Provincial Government.

The scheme presented by the executive of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' a.s.sociation appeared to be unworkable because it overstepped mere public owners.h.i.+p and operation of initial elevators to include methods of sampling, grading before s.h.i.+pment, bank and government loans, features outside the power of a provincial legislature. The schemes of munic.i.p.al and district elevators, while appealing to local loyalty for patronage, did not secure the farmers' direct pecuniary interest to make the elevators successful in the face of compet.i.tion.

As to the Manitoba plan, the commission were unanimous in advising against it in view of the financial risk and the disadvantages of political influences which would tend to make themselves felt.

Instead, therefore, of a plan aiming at owners.h.i.+p of initial elevators by the State and management by the Government of the day, the commission recommended owners.h.i.+p and management by the growers of grain. Such a co-operative scheme would aim equally well at removing initial storage from the owners.h.i.+p of companies interested in grain trading--would recognize as promptly the feeling of injustice in the minds of many farmers--would seek just as fully to create marketing conditions which would give the farmer satisfaction and confidence.

While both the Manitoba scheme and the proposed co-operative scheme involved financial aid by the State, the commission saw reason to believe that with control and management in the hands of the farmers themselves many of the risks and limitations of other plans would be avoided.

It is to be noted that in reporting upon general conditions in the grain trade of Canada in 1910 the Saskatchewan Elevator Commission pointed out the great change which had taken place since 1900. One factor in this had been the construction of new transcontinental lines and thousands of miles of branch railway lines together with a great increase in car supply and a more efficient and cheaper system of transportation. Again, the use of loading-platforms had introduced real compet.i.tion with the elevators, almost fifteen million bushels of the 1908-09 crop in Western Canada having been s.h.i.+pped direct by the farmers. The development of co-operation among the farmers through the Grain Growers' a.s.sociations had led to much advantageous legislation, while Farmers' Elevators and Public Weigh Scales had had a salutary effect at many s.h.i.+pping points. The organization of the Grain Growers'

Grain Company as a farmers' own selling agency likewise had exerted a wide influence for good all over the West, enabling the farmers to obtain first-hand information about existing methods of dealing in grain. Finally, the protection afforded by the Manitoba Grain Act was not to be questioned; for while it was impossible to draft any Act which would prevent all the abuses alleged, it had been the means of providing many weapons of defence for the farmer and unfamiliarity with these provisions by individual farmers was scarcely to be blamed upon the Act itself.

The improvement in conditions, compared with earlier years, was recognized by most of the farmers appearing before the commission and many of them had no personal complaint to make in regard to weights, grades or prices. They were advocates of provincial owners.h.i.+p not so much on their own behalf as upon behalf of settlers in newer districts.

The commission, therefore, while not saying that there were no cases of sharp practice or no grounds for dissatisfaction, were impressed by the fact that however powerless farmers had been in earlier days they were now in a very different position. The strong feeling which many farmers had against the line elevator companies was based upon experiences of rank injustice and bitter recollections of the past; for this the elevator people could blame n.o.body but themselves. But the factors enumerated undoubtedly had improved the situation from the farmers' standpoint and it only remained to strengthen these factors to give the farmer complete control in the matter of initial storage.

The commission were unanimous in recommending co-operative organization of the farmers as the probable solution of the situation in Saskatchewan. They suggested the enactment of special legislation to provide for the financing of the undertaking by the farmers themselves, a.s.sisted by a government loan. That is, the farmers surrounding a point where an elevator was needed would subscribe the total amount of capital necessary to build it, paying fifteen per cent. in cash, the crop acreage of the shareholders at that point to total not less than 2,000 acres for each 10,000 bushels capacity of the proposed elevator; these conditions fulfilled, the government would advance the remaining eighty-five per cent. of the subscribed capital in the form of a loan, repayable in twenty equal annual instalments of princ.i.p.al and interest, first mortgage security. The commission also suggested that the responsibility of preliminary organization be thrown upon the farmers themselves by appointing the executive of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers' a.s.sociation as provisional directors of the new grain handling organization.

When the matter came before the Saskatchewan Legislature the annual convention of the Saskatchewan a.s.sociation was being held at Regina and the farmers declared themselves ready to a.s.sume responsibility and go ahead. A bill was introduced by the Government, embodying the recommendations of the Commission, and the Act incorporating The Saskatchewan Co-Operative Elevator Company, Limited, was a.s.sented to on March 14th, 1911.

Because of the unusual financial arrangements with the Provincial Government the capital stock was not set at a fixed amount but left subject to change from time to time by the Government. In order to protect the credit of the Province the Government thus was able to control the amount of stock the company could issue and thereby the amount of money the Government might be called upon to advance for the construction or purchase of elevators. Shares were placed at $50 each, available for farmers only, and a limit was set upon individual holdings.

It was provided that each local unit would have a local board of management and appoint delegates to an annual meeting where a Central Board of Management would be elected. The company was empowered not only to own and operate elevators and buy and sell grain, but to own and operate lumber yards, deal in coal and other commodities and "do all things incidental to the production, storing and marketing of grain."

By June 16th, 1911, the Provisional Directors[1] were able to call the first annual meeting of the new organization, having fulfilled the requirement of the Act that twenty-five "locals" be first organized, and by July 6th--the date of the general meeting at Moose Jaw--an additional twenty-one "locals" were ready. Thus they were able to start with forty-six units, representing $405,050 capitalization with 8,101 shares held by 2,580 shareholders.

The newly-elected directors[2] proceeded forthwith to let contracts for forty new elevators, standard type of thirty and forty thousand bushels capacity with cleaning machinery and special bins. Six existing elevators were purchased.

The Grain Growers' Grain Company agreed to act as selling agents for this new baby sister and wide-spread interest became manifest as the Grain Growers took another step into commercial circles.

[1] See Appendix--Par. 8.

[2] See Appendix--Par. 12.

[3] See Appendix--Par. 12.

CHAPTER XV

CONCERNING THE TERMINALS

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging the future but by the past.--_Patrick Henry_.

With the establishment of co-operative elevators for the storing of grain at interior points the farmers of Western Canada launched out upon the greatest experiment in co-operation this continent has seen.

The success of these elevators, owned and controlled by the farmers themselves, in all probability would evolve the final phase of internal storage in connection with the Canadian grain fields.

Co-incident with their agitation for government owners.h.i.+p of elevators at country points, the farmers were urging upon the federal authorities the desirability of government control and operation of terminal storage facilities. It was not enough that the Provincial Governments of the Prairie Provinces should protect the farmers within their boundaries; for the terminal storage of grain was a part of the system and the farmers contended that corporation control of the terminals by grain dealers was leading to abuses and manipulations of the grain that were not in the best interests of the country.

Grateful as they were, therefore, for the efforts to improve early conditions by legislation, it was the opinion of the Grain Growers that these contraventions of the Grain Act would be prevented only by acquisition of the terminals by the Dominion Government. Mere legislation and supervision by the Government would not provide an effective remedy.

At the head of the lakes the grain pa.s.sed out of the control of the transportation companies into the hands of the grain dealers; it was the only point in transit where it became subject to manipulation.

With the exception of those owned by the C. P. R., the terminal elevators were operated by dealers, largely controlled by United States concerns and managed by experts from across the line. It was frequently charged that terminal operators forgot that they ought to be warehous.e.m.e.n solely and sought profits outside those of legitimate elevation and storage charges, although these authorized charges paid ample return on capital investment. The farmers wanted this temptation of handling and mixing grain at the terminals removed so that terminal operators could not tamper with the grain while it was in their custody. The claims of the Grain Growers that mixing was going on at Fort William and Port Arthur were based upon the report of the Royal Grain Commission which had investigated the grain trade in 1906-7.

The first definite step taken to lay these matters before the Dominion Government was in the winter of 1908 after the formation of the Inter-Provincial Council of Grain Growers' and Farmers' a.s.sociations.

At a meeting of these representatives of all the organized farmers it was decided to send delegates to Ottawa. When these gentlemen reached their destination in May, 1909, they found themselves face to face with a large and active group of grain men, railway officials and bankers who had gathered to take a hand in the interview with Sir Richard Cartwright, then Minister of Trade and Commerce. Beyond some concessions regarding special binning of grain, nothing came of this trip apparently, although the Western farmers were supported strongly by the Dominion Millers' a.s.sociation.

A second memorandum was presented early in 1910 and the Grain Growers were granted a very respectful hearing by the Government; for, while the organized farmers represented but part of the farming const.i.tuency in the West, they had the sympathy of the entire farming community behind them in these requests. They went home, however, feeling the need of concentrating their energies on organization if they were to get actual action from politicians.

They had not much more than got home safely before something happened which proved their a.s.sertions that all was not as it should be down on the lake-front. Mr. C. C. Castle, Warehouse Commissioner, one day held in his hand some official reports from the Inspection Department concerning certain elevator concerns and compared the figures with the returns made to the authorities by these concerns themselves. He shook his head at the discrepancies and started an investigation. There were three companies involved and after full evidence was taken legally these three companies were prosecuted for returning untrue statements and in the Police Court at Winnipeg they were fined a total of $5,550 by the Magistrate.

The next thing was the drafting of a Grain Bill which aimed to improve certain matters. It was considered by the Senate and pa.s.sed. It reached the House of Commons and Hon. Frank Oliver took it by the halter and led it about. Before anything could happen to it, however, and the judges get a chance to study its good and bad points, July (1911) came along and Parliament dissolved like a lump of sugar dropped into a cup of tea and in the hub-bubbles of a general election everything was _in statu quo_, as they say. And when the race was over and the Party Nags back in their stalls, lo! new tenants were taking their turn at sliding around on the polished Treasury Benches and having a sun bath!

The new Minister of Trade and Commerce was Hon. George E. Foster. He looked over the Grain Bill, pa.s.sed his hand along its withers and patted it on the rump. Then he sat down and made a copy of it, idealizing it by injecting a few "betterments," then trotted it out for inspection with tail and mane plaited and bells on its patent-leather surcingle. He did not claim to be its real father--only its foster-father. He introduced it to the House with a very lucid review of the whole agitation for improvement in the Grain and Inspection Acts since "Johnny" Millar, of Indian Head, Saskatchewan, handed in the Royal Grain Commission report in 1907.

The new Government proposed to grant government control of terminal elevators only on a limited and experimental scale. They wanted to test out the principle by lease or construction of two or three terminals at the head of the lakes before undertaking the financial responsibility of handling the entire terminal system. Heretofore there had been government supervision merely; but now for an experiment there would be government operation as well while the management of the remaining terminals would have to be satisfactory to the Government.

"The demand of the West is that the grain should not be manipulated at the terminals," declared Mr. Foster. "It does not matter a pin as to how that is brought about so that the thing itself is accomplished."

The new bill provided for sample markets and the farmers did not like this unless the Government acquired the terminals as had been requested. Owing to the grain blockade, due to car shortage, feeling was running high in the West and the farmers eyed the new legislation closely. They came upon a clause which startled them and in the row that followed it looked at one time as if the new Bill would be led to the boneyard and killed.

One of the proposals of the Government was the formation of a Board of Grain Commissioners with wide discretionary powers. They would be made responsible for the proper conduct of the entire grain trade and deal with all matters pertaining thereto. They were to have the absolute say-so in regard to car distribution and there was one clause that threatened this protection for which the Western farmers had fought so hard in earlier days.

At once consternation spread among the Grain Growers, their apprehensions based upon bitter experience. They protested vehemently.

Letters, pet.i.tions and resolutions slid all over the official Government desks and delegations followed to Ottawa. Not the organized grain growers alone, but the whole Western farming element was up in arms.

Nevertheless, the new Grain Bill pa.s.sed the House of Commons and browsed over to the Senate.

It was the farmers' last chance to stop it. R. McKenzie and J. S.

Wood, of the Manitoba Grain Growers; J. A. Maharg and F. W. Green, of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers, and E. J. Fream, of the United Farmers of Alberta--these practical men figuratively took off their coats and waded in when they got in conference with Senate members. They preferred to see the whole bill killed unless the objectionable clause regarding car distribution were struck out; they saw the old-time elevator abuses again becoming possible and quite nullifying the many good features which the new legislation possessed.