Y 



CHAPTER VIII 

 A KNOCK ON THE DOOR 



Every man is worth just as much as the things 

 are worth about which he is concerned. 



Marcus Aurelvus. 



THAT big shipment to Buffalo, along with several 

 others which were placed in the East with the 

 market recovering, relieved the situation greatly. 

 Also, the Scottish Co-Operative Wholesale Society's 

 Winnipeg office decided to stand by the farmers' co- 

 operative marketing venture and risked disapproval to 

 buy some of the young company's wheat ; not only that, 

 but the farmers' company was allowed the regular com- 

 mission of one cent per bushel on the purchase and the 

 cheque paid in to the bank amounted to $58,298. This 

 friendly co-operation the farmers were not quick to 

 forget and they still speak of it with gratitude. 



It began to look as if the struggling farmers' agency 

 might worry through the winter after all. The strain 

 of the past few months had told upon the men at the 

 head of the young organization and especially upon the 

 provisional President, who felt keenly the responsi- 

 bilities of his office. Of a sensitive, high-strung 

 temperament, E. A. Partridge suffered reaction to such 

 a degree that at times he became almost despondent. 



He began to talk of resigning. He felt that he had 

 done quite a lot in getting things under way and that 

 the hard fight which the farmers would have to wage 



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