356 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



lie in the establishment of a farmers' bank for the 

 financial aid of farmers whose realizable capital 

 does not exceed AT, and the law of the price of money 

 loaned should rule the highest price not to exceed 

 five per cent. 



My predecessor was both just and kind about my 

 land payment and its interest, and his wife kinder ; 

 but he pointed out to me that of course the money 

 rate was very high, and that he could easily obtain 

 eight per cent, for that for which I was paying only 

 six. I suggested that in future it should be held 

 at seven, and he assented, and told me not to bother, 

 for he was quite sure I should send it to him before 

 long. He advised me to be sure and not fail to go 

 and see his son-in-law, who was owner of the hard- 

 ware store, and whose bill I was also not prepared 

 to pay at the moment. There too I always obtained 

 consideration, and when I offered to pay interest 

 on an overdue account it was not taken. 



The Union Bank would make no advance on 

 wheat in the granary, or even lodged at the elevator. 

 This was hardly to be wondered at since South 

 Qu'Appelle was literally choked with low-grade 

 grain. Mr. Donald H. Macdonald, the second son 

 of the chief factor of the Hudson Bay Company, 

 ran a bank at the time in connexion with his land 

 business at Fort Qu'Appelle, and he lent me two 

 hundred and fifty dollars on my carload, and just 

 at the time thirty-six pounds fell due from London. 

 I settled everything I possibly could, took a twenty- 

 five-dollar excursion ticket to New York, and for- 

 swore sleepers, and got out my baggage, which was 

 rusty and dusty from its two and a half years' 

 sojourn on the prairie. 



