THE STRUGGLES OF COOPERATION 99 



with such unanimous support found such difficul- 

 ty in making progress. For some time it was 

 difficult to trace the source of this opposition. 



It soon developed, however, that the middle- 

 men's organizations acting through Boards of 

 Trade or other agencies were exerting pressure 

 to prevent action by Congress. One of these or- 

 ganizations boldly sent a memorial to members 

 of Congress in which it was contended that the 

 courts and not Congress should decide whether 

 the opposition of farmers' cooperative societies 

 were restrictive to commerce. They also con- 

 tended that the bill gave farmers the right to 

 form an oppressive monopoly which is denied to 

 all others. 



The representatives of these opponents of 

 farm cooperation persisted to the last in try- 

 ing to deny to farmers a legal standing which 

 the anti-trust law freely gives to any corpora- 

 tion, a standing which is granted to farmers ' co- 

 operative associations in practically every other 

 civilized nation. They sought to prevent a 

 group of farmers from doing business as freely 

 and legally as a corporation with thousands of 

 stockholders. 



It was pointed out in the discussion which 

 followed concerning this bill how impossible 



A O %. 



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