FARMERS' EXCHANGE COLLAPSES 



> 



Answer. I certainly do. 



Q. Do you know what kind of an organization the 

 Chamber is? 



A. I think so. 



Q. You do not mean to say you think the Chamber 

 got this money itself? 



A. Through their instrumentality Mr. Welch got 

 the money. Your system and the manifold ways of 

 doing business fixed it so Welch & Co. swindled the 

 farmers out of twenty-six carloads of grain. 



Q. How long have you been thinking this over? Do 

 you want this committee to believe that you are not 

 willing to try it out in court and although the Chamber 

 did not get this grain you want them to pay for it? 



A. I want this committee to believe that I wanted 

 the Chamber of Commerce to understand the situation, 

 so they could, if they saw fit, make their members 

 make restitution to these people who had shipped this 

 grain. I submitted the case as plainly as I could to 

 them and they declined to do so, and that is all so far 

 as I am concerned. 



Q. You are willing to have it appear in record that 

 you think the Chamber of Commerce owes this debt? 



A. I still hold that they are morally responsible 

 and should make restitution, either themselves or those 

 that got the money. 



Q. You never looked into this yourself? 



A. I have. 



Q. And you were not willing to have that instru- 

 mentality [the Board of Arbitration of the Chamber 

 of Commerce] arbitrate the dispute? 



A. If an outsider were to submit to any agreement 

 to arbitrate matters of this kind with a member, he 

 would have no chance whatever before a Board of 

 Arbitrators composed of members of the Chamber. If 

 members would live up to the by-laws and rules they 



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