BEGINNINGS OF THE NORTHWEST 



which was to establish uniform buying prices 

 for wheat and prevent the loss that followed 

 when one mill bid against another for it. 

 In 1881 the name of this association was 

 changed to the Minneapolis Chamber of 

 Commerce, but it continued to be an organi- 

 zation chiefly of millers and milling interests 

 and the affiliated elevator enterprises. 



In 1883 it applied to the legislature and 

 secured a law that conferred upon it remark- 

 able and even amazing powers. 



The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, 

 by this act, was elevated to the dignity and 

 authority of a trial court,^ although remain- 

 ing within the control and observation of its 

 own members. For instance, in arbitrating 

 differences among these members or between 

 a member and an outsider, it was authorized 

 to subpoena witnesses, and swear them ex- 

 actly as in a court of the state, and the awards 

 of its tribunal in such cases, when filed with 

 the clerk of the district court, had all the valid- 

 ity and significance of findings by the court 

 itself. Yet all the proceedings of this ex- 

 traordinary tribunal were conducted in secret; 

 neither side was represented by counsel and 

 nothing concerning the trial except the award 

 was allowed to reach even the district court. 



In other words, the legislature had erected 

 a new judicial tribunal, affecting the public 



1 See General Laws of Minnesota, 1883, Chapter 138. 

 15 



