it vain

ch a land will

discovered w

k nor be found

eckoned by

pward, till the

planted on th

aspirations l

t J. C

E. A. Partridge to the exclusion of everything else was a big idea to begi

ol of ten million bushels of wheat and sold through a single accredited agency, they would be in the same position exactly as a single person who owned ten mill

artridge. "Would he pay one hundred thousand dollars to a commission man to sell his wheat, with perhaps a nice rake-off to an exporter, who

ed swiftly on the

dition? Would he pay the terminal elevator seventy-five thousand dollars' worth of screenings? Would he pay two and one-half million dolla

ch farmer produced, on an average, five thousand bushels of wheat-that would put the company in control of the sale of fif

ives and the prejudices of the outsiders. The remedy lay not in legislative penalties against co-operation but in the practice of co-operation on a large scale by th

Ignorance and suspicion would require to be routed. It would be difficult to convince some farmers that his motives were unselfish. Others would be opposed to the idea of a farmers

and on his way back home he remained over to address the delegates. They listened carefully to what he had to say; but when he began to urge the necessity of the farmers themselves going into trading in grain his fire and enthusiasm caused more excitement where he was standing on the p

knew him at Sintaluta, listened to him seriously, and the leaders of the little community shook hands on the idea

ived-just as it had been in Manitoba-many farmers drew back distrustfully from the idea of "going into business." Their experience with business in the past had not been of a nature to instill confidence in suc

e held in the Town Hall on January 27th (1906) and in preparation for it a preliminary meeting was held i

nted to the thirty farm

y resolution was passe

bjects of the prospe

undertook to sub

om the secondary and ultimate markets and their ignorance of the details of the grain business-that these things rendered them individually liable to suffer grave injustices, even without their knowledge and certainly without hope of remedy by individual efforts. The scient

cial risk, it should prove immediately profitable, afford protection from crooked practices and at the same time the shareholders could gain an insight into the whole grain business and thereby equip themselves for greater enterprises; it would not be long before they would be in a position to deal intellig

armers and to be known as "The Grain Growers' Grain Company, Limited," with shares at twenty-five dollars each. It was stipulated that no one person could hold more than four shares, that even these were not to be trans

by the election of a provisional directorate at an organization meeting which it was hoped to hold at Brandon the following March.

s spent in printing a prospectus. E. A. Partridge got a card and blocked out on it: GRAIN GROWERS' GRAIN COMPANY. This he hung in the window of Wilson's old store at Sintaluta, where a dollar was paid for the use of a des

lity of establishing a company to handle the farmers' grain. By this time the plan had taken more definite shape and he pressed the claims of the proposed commission company with such logic and eloquence that b

randon Town Hall. Between twenty and thirty farmers attended this meeting and the plans of the Sintaluta men for a co-operative trading compa

There were those who objected to the chosen name of the prospective company as being a handicap upon the Association movement in case the venture failed. The Sintaluta

r gold-pieces for a dollar had no harder task. Blood from stones! Milk from dry cows! Although ten per cent. on each share was all the cash that was asked app

four times $2.50, which is ten dollars. But you lose that much when you draw a load of wheat up to the ele

s. "This here thing's just a scheme for Partridge to feather his nest! Y

put a hundred in a horse an' he dies on me. Same thing, ain't it? I got to have horses to do farmin' an' I j

cess. His name was Kennedy and his friends who knew him best called him "Honest John

y, if $2.50 will stop y

e sl

ould stop

ne left besides E. A. Partridge was this hard-talking enthusiast up in the Swan Ri

Appendix

Appendix

Appendix