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98 DEEP FURROWS 



He had treated E. A. Partridge with more considera- 

 tion as the " Farmers 7 Representative " than most of 

 the other grain men and there was a possibility that he 

 might be persuaded to take the offer seriously. But on 

 approaching him, Mr. Coulter did not become excited 

 over the prospect of managing a farmers' company in 

 the grain business ; even he was not inclined to take too 

 ^eriously the effort of the farmers to do their own trad- 

 I ing. How long would the farmers stand behind the 

 company in the face of the competition that would be 

 brought to bear? That was the question that bulged 

 right out in front; for, as everybody knew, farmers 

 never had been able to hang together very long when it 

 came down to a matter of dollars and cents in their 



dividual pockets. Finally, however, he agreed that 

 there might be a fighting chance and accepted the 

 management. 



So far so good. But what about the seat on the Grain 

 Exchange? The price of it was |2 7 50Q. One thousand 

 shares of the company's stock had been disposed of 

 with ten per cent, paid up and from the |2,500 thus 

 realized the expenses of organization had to be met, 

 the charter paid for, the legal fee and expenses at 

 Ottawa in connection with the effort to secure a 

 Dominion charter, office rent, printing bills and what 

 not. 



" Which leaves us about f 1,000 to buy a f 2,500 seat 

 and finance our first business operations," said John 

 Spencer with the look of a worried Secretary-Treasurer. 



" We'll have to issue a twenty per cent, call on sub- 

 scribed stock," admitted the President reluctantly. " In 

 the meantime I'll have to see if some of the boys out 

 at Sintaluta will go security for the fifteen hundred. 

 Thank heaven, these fellows down here think we're a 



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