THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



to myself, if they were sincere in their motives and 

 wanted to follow out the principles they would possibly 

 assist us to get this wheat paid for to the original 

 shipper, and in order to give them that opportunity I 

 took it up with the Chamber of Commerce by corre- 

 spondence and explained to them the situation to lend 

 us a helping hand. We had several letters with them 

 and they staved it off. 



Q. Did the Chamber of Commerce ever attempt to 

 right the wrong of the transaction which you have 

 stated to the committee? 



A. No, they have not. 



Q. What further was done, if anything? Did the 

 farmers ever get paid for their wheat? 



A. Yes; there were nine directors of us and eight 

 of us put up $1,500 each to pay for the wheat. The 

 directors paid the farmers for the wheat. 



Q. The farmers' corporation it broke them? 



A. Yes sir. 1 



Farther on in the same investigation the 

 same witness was on the stand, and this 

 occurred: 



Question. Do you at the present time, Mr. Steen- 

 erson, consider it obligatory upon the Chamber of 

 Commerce to pay this debt? 



Answer. Morally, they ought to pay it. 



An attorney for the Chamber of Commerce 

 was present and bristled up at this. He said: 



Question. Do you want this committee to under- 

 stand that you think the Chamber of Commerce should 

 pay it? 



1 Investigation of Grain Exchanges; House of Representatives of 

 Minnesota; testimony, pp. 246-247. 



120 



