THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



lated, were naturally presented for payment 

 on the first day. 



Among the men that crowded to the bank 

 with deposits was a farmer named Frank 

 Bennett, whose post-office address is Har- 

 wood. North Dakota. He gave to a reporter 

 two reasons why he wished to do everything 

 in his power to sustain the bank. I give them 

 here because they seem to me of even greater 

 importance than the closing and reopening of 

 the concern. 



He had just sold a thousand bushels of 

 wheat that had been graded as No. 3, and for 

 which he had received $2.26. At that time 

 No. 1 wheat was selling for $2.35 a bushel, so 

 that he received for No. 3 only 9 cents a 

 bushel less than he would have received for 

 No. 1. 



To see what this means it is only necessary 

 to turn back to what has been said in another 

 chapter about the difference under the old 

 system between prices paid for wheat and 

 the actual milling value of the same wheat. 

 Bennett was now paid on the basis of the 

 milling value of his wheat. A few months be- 

 fore he would have been paid on the basis of 

 the wheel-of -fortune in Chicago, modified by 

 the superior grabbing ability of a long line of 

 middlemen between Chicago and Harwood. 

 He would have received, therefore, about $2.05 

 a bushel instead of $2.26. 



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