148 DEEP FURROWS 



Associations are the one thing above everything else 

 that stands between the farmer and the power of 

 merciless corporations. They have undoubtedly been 

 the greatest shield this Company has had since its 

 organization; they have helped the Company to prove, 

 far beyond any question of doubt, the advantages of 

 co-operation." 



And what had the elevator men to say about all this ? 

 Surely these farmers were becoming a menace ! At the 

 present rate of speed another three years would see 

 them in control of the grain business and was that good 

 for the grain business? Was it good for the farmer? 

 The elevator men did not think so. 



Strangely enough, they were not worrying greatly 

 about government ownership. They were more inter- 

 ested in the fact that the volume of grain which had 

 flowed so faithfully all these years was being split up 

 by all these commission men these hangers-on who 

 invested little or no capital but necked right up to the 

 profits of the trade as if they owned the whole business ! 



Trouble was brewing on the Winnipeg Grain 

 Exchange had been for some time. 



Then one day word reached the office^f the Grain 

 Growers' Grain Company that by a majority vote the 

 Grain Exchange had suspended, for a period of one 

 year, the Commission Eule under which grain was 

 handled^ 



Thus did things come to a showdown. 



