A CALL TO ARMS 41, 



clean a pound of it at least; but so expert were many 

 of the elevator operators of those days that they had 

 no trouble at all in arriving at the dockage by a single 

 glance. Nor were they disconcerted by the fact that 

 the country was new and grain frequently came from 

 the thresher in a remarkably clean condition. 



With everything thus fallow for seeds of discord the 

 Big Trouble was not long in making itself manifest. 

 All over the country the Bumping of the Bumpkins 

 apparently became the favorite pastime of elevator 

 men. Certain persons with most of their calluses on 

 the inside cracked the whip and the three-ring circus 

 began. Excessive dockage, sliort weights, depressed 

 pcicee! The farmers grew more and more bitter as 

 time passed. To begin with, they resented being com- 

 pelled by the railway to deal with the elevators ; it was 

 a violation ^xf that liberty which they had a right to 

 enjoy as ^BritisK^jstizens. The grain was theirs to^ sell 

 where theyTiked, and when on top of the refusal to let 

 them do it came this bleeding of their crops, their indig- 

 nation was fanned to white heat. 



It was usfi]flF a f r thp farmers to buildelevators of 

 fhpjr QWJI ; for_these had to^conTorm^tpthe requiremenTsT 

 of the railway and, as already stated, i 

 to run them^3>rontably Wltnoutmakingiuyer's nrofit 

 in^dHttlonjCO tli^ cOhimissjon^for handling and stor- 

 age] The farmers were not buyers but sellers of grain 

 and with very few exceptions, where conditions were 

 specially favorable, the farmers' elevators that were 

 attempted were soon in difficulties. 



Leading farmers began to write strong letters to the 

 newspapers and it was not long before the agitation 

 became so widespread that it reached the floor of Par- 

 liament. Mr. James M. Douglas, member for East 



