THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



COMMISSIONER PROUTT. I do not think we will re- 

 quire Mr. Case to answer that question unless he 

 wants to. 



MR. CASE. I will state this, your Honor, that if we 

 had the money placed in our treasury that was taken 

 out of there to pay for grain that was turned into the 

 Chamber of Commerce (and we did not get our money 

 back), we would be in much better shape. 



MR. Koox. You mean commissions, Mr. Case? 



MR. CASE. No. Grain turned in to members of 

 the Chamber of Commerce and we did not get our 

 money back. 



MR. Koox. Somebody was a defaulter? 



MR. CASE. I state the case. You may draw your 

 inferences. 1 



The farmers never received any answer to 

 Mr. Case's question. No response was made 

 to the proposal to deposit any given amount 

 as security, no statement of any reason why 

 farmers should not be admitted to a market 

 where they sold all their produce. But after 

 a long time they received this illuminating 

 epistle: 



CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, 

 MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., 



July 18, 1905 

 MR. L. K. KEYERS, 



Secretary, Minnesota Farmers' Exchange, 

 Corn Exchange Building, City. 



DEAR SIR, Your application for corporate mem- 

 bership for the Minnesota Farmers' Exchange was 

 considered by the board of directors of the Chamber 



1 Before the Interstate Commerce Commission. In re Relations 

 of Common Carriers to the Grain Trade; testimony, p. 998. 



11G 



