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During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood
of Western Canada. People on city streets watched the yields and the price of wheat
in almost as much feeling as if they were growers. The marketing of wheat __1__
became an increasing favorite topic of conversation. __2__
War set the stage for the most dramatic events in marketing the western crop.
For years, farmers mistrusted speculative grain selling as carried on through
the Winnipeg Grain Exchange. Wheat prices were generally low in the autumn,
so farmers could not wait for markets to improve. It had happened too often that __3__
they sold their wheat soon shortly after harvest when farm debts were coming due, __4__
just to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various occasions, producers __5__
groups asked firmer control, but the government had no wish to become __6__
involving, at least not until wartime when wheat prices threatened to run wild. __7__
Anxious to check inflation and rising life costs, the federal government appointed __8__
a board of grain supervisors to deal with deliveries from the crops of 1917
and 1918. Grain Exchange trading was suspended, and farmers sold at prices
fixed by the board. To handle with the crop of 1919, the government appointed __9__
the first Canadian Wheat Board, with total authority to buy, sell, and set prices. __10__
