First published in 1957, this study traces the development of the national policy as it affected the growth of the Canadian trade and discusses the grain marketing problems of Western Canada in the decades that followed, with detailed attention to legislation and moves by various growers' groups in an attempt to meet these problems. This important study in political economy is organized into four main parts. In Part One the author traces the development of the national policy and its impact on the growth of the wheat empire in the years before 1900. In Part Two, he discusses the grain marketing problems of western Canada during the 1900-1920 period. Part Three is a masterful exposé of the history of the open market system and of the history and policies of the Canadian Wheat Pools, and Part Four examines the economic philosophy behind the development of the national policy.

This book traces in an accurate and objective manner the sequence of events during the last twenty years which have influenced the organization fo the Canadian grain trade. During these years problems arising out of the production and marketing of western grain have been under continuous review in Canada, leading at different times to royal commissions of inquiry. The production and sale of cereals have become such a vital part of the economic life of the three prairie provinces and, indeed, of Canada, that anything affecting this great industry becomes at once a subject of general interest. These twenty years have witnessed momentous changes. The period marks a shift from free trading on the open market to the compulsory marketing of Canadian wheat and other grains through the medium of a Federal board endowed with wide powers. Basically, this change stems from conditions arising out of the Great Depression and World War II. And in one form or another the Canadian Wheat Board will continue to be a significant factor in the marketing of Canadian wheat. Noteworth also have been the dramatic recovery of the Pools and the negotiation of international agreements; and, on the farm front, the establishment of a permit system to control deliveries of grain to country elevators, and the enactment of legislation to protect producers against losses arising from the hazards of nature.

"The eighteen essays selected for this volume of the History of the Prairie West Series all focus on the agricultural history of the Canadian Plains. They cover a detailed survey of First Nations agricultural practices, agriculture during the fur trade era, and the history of ranching and the evolution as fenced-in farm settlements supplanted the open range." -- from publisher.

The subjects inquired into by Canadian federal royal commissions have ranged over such a wide field that the reports and special studies prepared by the 400 commissions since Confederation have become an essential part of any research in Canadian studies. In many cases the special studies which are always prepared by the best experts available stand as the most important works ever to appear on a given subject. For example, the studies used by the Royal Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations (1937-1940) are still used as required reading in both graduate and undergraduate university courses almost thirty years later. In the author's work as Government Documents Librarian, he witnesses the daily use of royal commission material. The importance attached to royal commission documents and the considerable difficulty in locating many of the earlier reports let Henderson to undertake the compilation of this checklist four years ago.