The Washington herald., 1915-10-10

The ONCE Of the Lake Shippers Cleas.
ance Association 10 a. near the
hub Of the wheel a. you can get.
There are grain data of every descrip-
ton; there are shippers in Winnt
peg getting Fort William on the
associations private wire; there are rail-
road companies sending their representa-
tives to see about cargoes for their
steamers; there are bronzed and breezy
captains blowing in to know what about
more One Northern for that No. hold.
And there is an alert young manager
in the person of ]. A. Speers who seems
to know how to pacify both the shipper
and the road and get the captains cargo
with precision and dispatch.
But suppose we begin away back at
the ranch. The wheat. oats, barley and
fax have been sent to the local elevator.
Now it's up to the roads to get it east.
II the field Of the late owner of the
grain is beyond Calgary the shipment 10
inspected and graded by government eI-
perts In that city, although there has
been a sort of rough grading at the els-
vator.
There are eight straight grades Of
wheat. One -rd being the prize blonde
at the beauty show. Next comes One
Northern. then Two Northern, Three
Northern, Four Wheat. Five Wheat, Six
Wheat and Feed Wheat. Any of these
grades may be (a) tough. (b) damp.
(c) smutty, (d) rejected. And this 10
Just the commencement Of the graders
troubles. Oats. barley and fax are SIM
ilarly long on classifyings In the bad
year Of 1912, 42S grades of grain were
handled and, Of course, binned separate
ly, by the lake shippers at Fort William.
II the grain grew east of Calgary It
was inspected at Winnipeg. where. in the
fall Of 1918, It arrived at the rate Of
a car minute every day for two straight
months. And so great is the dispatch
observed by all parties concerned that .
car inspected today will leave for Fort
William. arrive. be unloaded and tomor-
row night will start on its way back
over the 420 miles to Peg.
Meantime the grain has been switched
to some one Of the twenty-five elevators
by the railroad company to which 1t was
consigned. unloaded by the terminal.
cleaned and binned with its own grade
after having been reinspected by the
government. warehouse receipt 10
then issued covering the quantity and
quality Of net grain. The receipt is reg
istered to protect everybody all round.
and the wheat is then ready to be bought
and sold on the grain exchange.
And now the great Canadian staple 10
about to begin the first water-stage Of.
its Journey In the busy season there
will be as MAJ as sixty boats. big and
little. in the harbor waiting to load up.
Here comes in the wheel-hub nature and
Importance Of the Lake Shippers Clear.
ance Association.
The c. P. r. steamer Keewatin may b
slated to carry $4,000 bushels Of grain.
consigned to her by six or seven different
shippers and stored in four or five diff
ferent elevators. Owing to the strict
government inspection, One Northern at
the grain growers elevator is just the
same as the same grade at the big
C. P. R. house, the largest of them all,
with its 1900, ,000-busheI capacity.
Bunching all the orders together, the
shippers can give the Keewatin a full
cargo at one call, or two. or three, in
stead Of fve. The shipper saves the in
terest on his money and SO does the
liner-and the time Of a big boat may
be worth anything up to $1,000 a day.
More important still. the whole stream
of trafiic Is cleared out and hustled along
by the quickness Of the transfer. The
record case Of loading is 100000
bushels in five days last year, followed
by 9,000.o00 in the next five days, or An
average Of 100000 bushels per- day.
Vessels of 200,000-bushel capacity and
sand for loading within twenty-four
hours. thirty cents within forty-eight
hours and so on. smaller boats getting
lower tariff. The average charge per
cargo loaded in 1913 was 1920.
Here again we've got mussed up in
figures II you're SO lucky as to be on
one Of the passenger boats or better.
big bulk freighter, when she's getting
her cargo. you'll understand by seeing il.
The ship draws up to the narrow
wharf from which towers the elevator.
ike collection of huge cement or terra
,otta organ pipes for the giants to play
N. The boat Is made fast, the gum
otinS soldiers stand by to see what hap
,ens, the government inspector once
lgain does his work. and then the big
eed pipes are slung out and the grain
,ascades into the hold as per orders. II
he cargo Is mixed, and part of 1t is -four.
'ou can watch the bags come up on the
,elt, nop into the chute. and go skitter.
M down into the vessel like hio S.e
heep.
And then. of goes the boat, bound
or Goderich, Montreal, Port McNicoli.
Port Colborne. or Buffalo. The wheat
consigned to lake ports is Of course Aft
rward transferred to cars that WIN