NEW FURROWS 209 



" The fellow who made that stove paid a profit to the 

 Iron an' Steel Trust who supplied the raw iron ore," 

 considered he. " Then he turned around an' added a 

 profit of his own before he let the wholesaler have it. 

 Then the wholesaler chalked up more profit before he 

 shipped it along to Joe Green over in town an' Joe just 

 naturally had to soak me something before I got her 

 aboard for home. That's profits on the profits ! It's a 

 hot proposition an' it's my money that goes up the 

 flue!" 



When he added further profits which he figured 

 might be due to agreements between supposed com- 

 petitors in prices, the Grain Grower was quite ready to 

 believe that he had paid about twice as much for that 

 stove as the thing would cost him legitimately if he 

 dealt with the maker direct. Here was the High Cost 

 of Living that everybody was talking about. The 

 remedy? The same chance as the Other Fellow for the 

 farmer to use the resources of Nature and, by co- 

 operation, the reduction to a minimum of production 

 and distribution cost. 



" I've done it with my grain. Why can't I do it with 

 what I need to buy ?" That was what the Grain Grower 

 was asking himself. " Why must I feed and clothe and 

 buy the smokes for so many of these middlemen?" 



So when the directors of the grain-trading company 

 came before him with the suggestion of buying a timber 

 x limit in British Columbia in order to put in their own 

 saw-mills eventually to supply building materials on 

 the prairie, the Grain Grower slapped his leg and said : 

 "Good boy! An' say, what about a coal mine, too?" 



That was the beginning of great developments for 

 the organized farmers of Western Canada. It was the 

 beginning of new furrows the opening up of new 

 14 



