Book excerpt: 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.