THE STORY OF THE NONTARTISAN LEAGUE 



The Equity was still unable to do any busi- 

 ness on the Chamber, although that institu- 

 tion was of a public nature and part of the 

 state's judicial system, but it got state in- 

 spection for its wheat and tried to sell grain 

 to four of the great mills of Minneapolis. 

 None of them would touch it, and not a bushel 

 of Equity wheat was ever bought by a Minne- 

 apolis mill. 



A new blow now fell upon it from an un- 

 expected quarter. There is between Minne- 

 apolis and St. Paul a great switching-ground 

 and freight-car clearing-house called Minne- 

 sota Transfer. It is operated by all the rail- 

 roads in common; it is a public utility if there 

 is one in America. The Equity was now re- 

 ceiving much grain in carload lots and was 

 selling it to Eastern mills and shippers. Of 

 a sudden Minnesota Transfer notified it that 

 thereafter no Equity cars shipped in from 

 a point on one railroad would be forwarded 

 to any point on any other railroad. 



This meant that in every Equity shipment 

 the grain must be taken from the car in which 

 it arrived and transferred to another car. 

 Only an elevator could do this work; the 

 Equity had no elevator, and none of the ele- 

 vators in that region would touch a bushel of 

 Equity grain. At one blow, therefore, the 

 railroads had put the Equity out of business. 



In this emergency appeal was made to the 



132 



