RED RIVER VALLEY TO FOOTHILLS 139 



first-class chance of losing it. You betcha ! The Grain 

 Growers' Associations mightn't be so bad; yes, they'd 

 done some good. But this concern in the grain business 

 run by a few men, wasn't it? Well, say, does a cat 

 go by a saucer of cream without taking a lick? 

 " Farmers' company " they called it, eh ? Go and tell 

 it to your grandmother! 



The worst of it was that in many localities were 

 farmers who believed this very suggestion already 

 that the Company belonged to the men at the head of 

 its affairs. Discouraged by past failures and without 

 much respect for the dignity of their occupation, their 

 attitude towards the Company was almost automatic. 

 That it was a great co-operative movement of their 

 class, designed to improve economic and social con- 

 ditions, was something quite out of their grasp. And 

 upon these strings, already out of tune, elevator men 

 strummed diligently in an effort to create discord. 



From the first it had been like that. Friends who 

 would speak a good word for the struggling venture at 

 the time it was most needed were about as scarce as 

 horns on a horse. On the other hand the organizers 

 ran across " the knockers " at every turn. A traveller 

 for one of the milling companies, for instance, happened 

 to get into conversation on the train with E. A. Part- 

 ridge one day. The latter was a stranger to him and 

 he naturally supposed he was talking to " just a farmer." 

 The subject of conversation was the grain trade and 

 this traveller began to make a few remarks about the 

 "little grain company" that had started up. 



"What about that company?" asked Partridge with 

 visible interest. " I've heard a lot about it." 



"Oh, it's just a little dinky affair," laughed the 

 traveller. " They've got a little office about ten feet 



