During the early years of this century, wheat was seen as the very lifeblood of Western Canada People on city streets watched the yieldsand the price of wheat in almost as much feeling as if they were growers. 1The marketing of wheat became an increasing favorite topic of 2conversation. 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 priceswere generally low in the autumn, so farmers could not wait for 3markets to improve. It had happened too often that they sold their wheatsoon shortly after harvest when farm debts were coming due, 4just to see prices rising and speculators getting rich. On various 5occasions, producer groups asked firmer control, but the government 6had no wish to become involving, at least not until wartime when 7wheat prices threatened to run wild. Anxious to check inflation and rising life costs, the federal 8government appointed a board of grain supervisors to deal with deliveries from the crops of 1917 and 1918. Grain Exchange tradingwas suspended, and farmers sold at prices fixed by the board. To handle 9with the crop of 1919, the government appointed the first CanadianWheat Board, with total authority to buy, sell, and set prices. 10