THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



view, came together, put in a little money, 

 pledged their credit for a little more and 

 launched their Farmers' Exchange to market 

 grain on the co-operative principle. 



They believed that on the Minneapolis 

 Chamber of Commerce they would have the 

 same right of access as any other persons, 

 not being able, I suppose, to conceive of a 

 private public market. They therefore pur- 

 chased a membership on the Chamber of 

 Commerce and prepared to do business, 

 advertising for consignments of grain. 



But as soon as they attempted to enter 

 the Chamber for this purpose they were 

 astonished to find that their membership was 

 practically worthless, for it could be annulled 

 if the directors were pleased to annul it. 



They applied to the board of directors for 

 that body's sanction of the membership they 

 had bought. A long delay ensued. As to 

 what happened next I feel I should quote 

 the sworn testimony, because the story is so 

 remarkable no mere assertion would seem to 

 be adequate. The secretary of the Farmers' 

 Exchange of Minnesota was Mr. George E. 

 Case of LeSueur County, and under oath 

 Mr. Case says: 



We [the Exchange] asked if we could meet the board 

 of directors of the Chamber of Commerce. They told 

 us we could. We asked them to appoint a time, and 

 they set a time that we could meet the board. We 



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