Inspection of United States Wheat Exported Through Canadian Ports

Excerpts from the report: The United States Grain Standards Act was passed by the Congress in 1916. Under this legislation the United States Department of Agriculture has promulgated grain standards and has developed an inspection service which have materially facilitated the domestic and foreign commerce in grain. The official grain standards and the inspection service of the United States have become widely known and understood in the export trade, and they have enjoyed a high degree of confidence among European importers and millers. In fact, the official grain standards and the Federal supervision of grain inspection have functioned in an important way since 1916 in upholding for the grain industry of the United States the desirable commercial practice of selling export wheat on the basis of "certificate final" at United States seaboard. The final inspection, however, of a material part of the grain exports of the United States which has moved to Europe through the seaports of eastern Canada during the past 17 years has not been under the jurisdiction of the United States Government and has been a source of dissatisfaction to the grain producers and merchants of the United States, to the grain producers of Canada, to the European grain distributors and millers, and to the Government of the United States. This report is a condensed discussion of the phase of the grain-export business of the United States through Canadian ports. It is hoped that it may prove useful in a final solution of this important problem.