TIIK STORY OF THE XOXPARTISAX LEAGUE 



When Evans got home he did some figur- 

 ing and the results were not exhilarating. He 

 had planted 140 acres in wheat, which had 

 threshed out thirteen bushels to the acre. 

 At the prices the elevator men were willing 

 to let him have for this he stood to receive 

 $1,134 for his crop. Against that he had to 

 set down for the next twelve months the inter- 

 est charges he must meet, the cost of living, 

 of help, of feed, of repairs, of lumber for fenc- 

 ing and cattle shelters, of seed; and without 

 allowing anything for the new machinery 

 he knew he must have, or for repairs on the 

 old, anything for doctor's bills or even for 

 shoes for himself or a hat for the wife, the 

 total of these items was more than $1,200. 



He saw that without some such good fort- 

 une as would amount to a prodigy he was 

 beaten at the game, but after the manner 

 of his kind held on with the idea that luck 

 would change. The next year's crop might 

 be a bumper or prices might soar. Mean- 

 time, on the advice of some of his neighbors, 

 what was left of his wheat he sent to Minne- 

 apolis to be sold on commission; and, visiting 

 the loan shark again, put a chattel mortgage 

 on his machinery, lie was astounded to 

 find that such wheat as the local elevator men 

 had graded as Xo. 4 was now graded at 

 Minneapolis partly as Xo. 2 and partly as 

 "Xo Grade on account of moisture," when 



