ers' Association, D. W. McCuaig, laid formal charges against
three members of the Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange--charges of
conspiring in restraint of trade--and when these gentlemen appeared in
the Police Court it was evident that the Exchange intended to fight the
case every inch of the way. The farmers discovered that the legal
talent of Winnipeg had been cornered; for of the twenty lawyers to whom
their solicitor, R. A. Bonnar, K.C., could turn for assistance in the
prosecution every one appeared to have been retained by the defendants.
The case involved such wide investigation that such assistance was
imperative and finally the Grain Growers secured the services of
ex-Premier F. W. G. Haultain,[1] of Saskatchewan.

The preliminary hearing in the Police Court proved to be most
interesting and at times developed considerable heat among the battling
legal lights. The defendants and their friends were so confident that
commitment for trial would not be forthcoming at all that when the
Magistrate decided that he was justified in so ordering, the grain men
were shocked somewhat rudely out of their complacency.

Following up this preliminary victory, the Manitoba Grain Growers
turned to the Manitoba Government and demanded that the charter under
which the Grain Exchange operated be amended in certain particulars.
The deputation from the Grain Growers met the Committee on Agriculture,
the House being in session, and asked that the powers of the charter be
limited so that business would be conducted on an equitable basis
between buyer and producer. They asked that the Exchange be allowed to
set no limit as to the number of persons who might enjoy its
privileges, the question of the reputability of such persons to be
decided by a majority of the members and that a seat purchased for the
use of any firm or corporation should entitle that firm to the
privileges of the Exchange even though registration of membership was
under the name of an individual; also that the right to membership
should include the right to delegate the trading powers to anyone in
the employ of the firm or corporation.

The Grain Growers also asked that arbitrary interference with the
business methods employed by individual firms or corporations and
inquisitional inquiry into such be prohibited; also that the penalties
and disabilities against those breaking the common rules and the
maximum-price rule be abolished; that the right to define the