peration of the Commission rule,
doubt being entertained that all the members were keeping good faith in
the collection of the full commission charge of one cent to non-members
of the Exchange and one-half cent per bushel to members on country
consigned and purchased grain. Although the Council of the Exchange
had held many special meetings in an endeavor to find a remedy and to
investigate the charges, the results had not been very marked owing to
the difficulty of securing the evidence to support such charges.

This was given as a reason for the doing away with the one cent
commission restriction altogether for a trial period of one year.
Thereby the trade was put on a "free for all" basis, as the President
of the Exchange then in office pointed out. It meant that Exchange
members were "enabled to pay owners of grain in the country any price
they desired without regard to actual market values as regularly
established on the floor of the Exchange." It was the personal opinion
of the President that to preserve stable markets with uniformity and
discipline amongst Exchange members a commission rule was absolutely
necessary and he predicted that perhaps in a short while, after the
suspension of the Commission Rule had been given a fair trial, the
Exchange might see its way clear to rescind the suspension.

"Just so," nodded the commission men among themselves. "The logical
and certain result will be the weeding out of the commission men and
track buyers, who give practically the only element of competition that
exists in the trade! One of the curses of our Canadian commercialism
is the strong tendency to monopoly and this looks like an effort to
create an absolute elevator monopoly of the grain trade, which is the
staple industry of the country."

But if the small dealers on the Exchange were aroused, what about the
farmers' trading company? They did business on a commission basis only
and with the elevators offering to handle the farmers' grain for
nothing, or next door to it, what would happen? Would the farmer be
"unable to see past his nose," as was predicted? Would he forget the
conditions of the early days and grab for a present saving of five or
ten dollars per car? If the farmers did not stand together now, they
were licked! It was a showdown.

There was only one thing to do--take a referendum of the shareholders
as to the basis on which they wished the year's business handled. The
Board of Control