THE STORY OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE 



and third, profits made by scalping in grain, and the 

 total aggregate profits made by middlemen, standing 

 between the producers and consumers. I am making 

 this request, putting the burden on the Chamber of 

 Commerce and the men that are defending the dealing 

 in futures of showing by original competent testimony 

 that it is not an unfair or unreasonable trade. I do 

 not care by what means they show it. 



This request was never complied with. 



Later the committee, by a vote of its mem- 

 bers, instructed Mr. Williams, secretary of 

 the Clearing House Association of the Cham- 

 ber of Commerce, to prepare a statement 

 from his records showing the total amount 

 of future transactions on the floor of the 

 Chamber. 1 



This statement was never furnished. 



A little later the committee instructed V. 

 S. Ireys, a pit trader of Minneapolis, to 

 produce his books and show his transactions 

 in futures. 2 



These instructions were never obeyed. 



The committee had previously demanded 

 that E. L. Welch, one of the most prominent 

 of the Minneapolis grain-dealers, produce his 

 books for the year 1912 to show the amount 

 of actual wheat his firm handled and the 

 amount handled as futures. 3 



This demand was never complied with. 



1 Investigation by Minnesota House Committee: testimony, p. 

 1331. *lbid: testimony, pp. 1451-1452. 



8 Ibid: testimony, p. 883. 



164 



