nest had to repeat his question before Mr. Asmunsen gave an answer,
and then he said:

"Yes, that's it, except that we do not object to the others making
profits so long as they are not extortionate."

"By extortionate you mean large; yet you do not object to making large
profits yourself? . . . Surely not?"

And Mr. Asmunsen amiably confessed to the weakness. There was one other
man who was quizzed by Ernest at this juncture, a Mr. Calvin, who had
once been a great dairy-owner.

"Some time ago you were fighting the Milk Trust," Ernest said to him;
"and now you are in Grange politics.* How did it happen?"

* Many efforts were made during this period to organize the
perishing farmer class into a political party, the aim of
which was destroy the trusts and corporations by drastic
legislation. All such attempts ended in failure.

"Oh, I haven't quit the fight," Mr. Calvin answered, and he looked
belligerent enough. "I'm fighting the Trust on the only field where it
is possible to fight--the political field. Let me show you. A few years
ago we dairymen had everything our own way."

"But you competed among yourselves?" Ernest interrupted.

"Yes, that was what kept the profits down. We did try to organize, but
independent dairymen always broke through us. Then came the Milk Trust."

"Financed by surplus capital from Standard Oil,"* Ernest said.

* The first successful great trust--almost a generation in
advance of the rest.

"Yes," Mr. Calvin acknowledged. "But we did not know it at the time.
Its agents approached us with a club. "Come in and be fat," was their
proposition, "or stay out and starve." Most of us came in. Those that
didn't, starved. Oh, it paid us . . . at first. Milk was raised a cent a
quart. One-quarter of this cent came to us. Three-quarters of it went to
the Trust. Then milk was raised another cent, only we didn't get any
of that cent. Our complaints were useless. The Trust was in control. We
discovered that we were pawns. Finally, the additional quarter of a cent
was denied us. Then the Trust began to squeeze us out. What could we do?
We were squeezed out. There were no dairymen, only a Milk Trust."

"But with milk two cents higher, I should think you could have
competed," Ernest suggested slyly.

"So we thought. We tried it." Mr. Calvin paused a moment. "It broke us.
The Trust could put milk upon the market more cheaply than we. It could
sell still at a slight