36 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



been operating. This was denied by the president of the National Live- 

 stock Producers' Association, but instead of quieting the fears of the rival 

 bodies, the denial caused them to strengthen their forces on those markets 

 to prove that they were functioning efficiently. It was not until it became 

 evident that there was room for both houses on the East St. Louis markets 

 and that both Equity and Farmers' Union territory were safe from in- 

 vasion that the Union groups quieted down. 



On May 15, 1922, a producers' house was organized in Indianapolis, and 

 on June 25 another agency began business in Peoria, Illinois. Since no 

 other farmers' organization was competing on these two markets, trou- 

 ble was avoided. On June 19, an agency was located in Chicago, the site 

 of a rival Farmers' Union house, but the size of the Chicago market pre- 

 vented any serious conflict from developing. On November i, two more 

 producers' agencies were opened in Buffalo and Forth Worth. By the 

 end of the first year, 1922, six producers' houses were functioning. 



During 1923, the second year of the producers' group's existence, ter- 

 minal commission associations were established in Kansas City, Sioux 

 Falls, Cleveland, Oklahoma City, Evansville, and Pittsburgh. On going 

 into the Kansas City market, they again entered Farmers' Union territory. 

 Here the Union accused the Farm Bureau of seeking to "rule or ruin." 

 The producers' association denied the charge, replying that the Farmers* 

 Union firm in Kansas City was inefficient and that the livestock market 

 there could be remedied only by establishing a producers' agency. Efforts 

 to reconcile these two groups failed. The producers' house, however, 

 failed to measure up to its expectations. Factional warfare, difficulties in 

 setting up an efficient organization in a highly competitive market, and 

 discrimination by the Kansas City Livestock Exchange impeded its prog- 

 ress. 



Further disputes between the Farmers' Union and the Farm Bureau 

 groups flared up in the Sioux Falls area, for the Farmers' Union, having 

 its agency in Sioux City, was well organized in this area; but a "temporary 

 amalgamation" between the two gave the producers' group a foothold, 

 and on March 15, 1924, the Sioux City Producers' Commission Association 

 started business. When the National Livestock Producers' Association, the 

 parent organization for the producers' group, merged with the National 

 Livestock Marketing Association, the national agency set up by the Fed- 



