istent the longer it was entertained, and
although at first E. A. Partridge, who was on the directorate, was
opposed to such a venture, he finally agreed that it would be of untold
assistance to the farmers if they had a paper of their own to voice
their ideals. The logical editor for the new undertaking was E. A.
Partridge, of course, and accordingly he began to gather material for
the first issue of a paper, to be called the _Grain Growers' Guide_.

Partridge had a few ideas of his own that had lived with him for a long
time. On occasion he had introduced some of them to his friends with
characteristic eloquence and the eloquence of E. A. Partridge on a
favorite theme was something worth listening to; also, he gave his
auditors much to think about and sometimes got completely beyond their
depth. It was then that some of them were forced to shake their heads
at theories which appeared to them to be so idealistic that their
practical consummation belonged to a future generation.

In connection with this new paper it was Partridge's idea to issue it
as a weekly and as the official organ of the grain growers' trading
company instead of the grain growers' movement as a whole. He thought,
too, that it would be advisable to join hands with _The Voice_, which
was the organ of the Labor unions. The President and the other
officers could not agree that any of these was wise at the start; it
would be better, they thought, to creep before trying to walk, to issue
the paper as a monthly at first and to have it the official organ of
the Grain Growers' Associations rather than the trading company alone.

This failure of his associates to see the wisdom of his plan to
amalgamate with the organ of the Labor unions was a great
disappointment to Partridge; for he had been working towards this
consummation for some time, devoutly wished it and considered the time
opportune for such a move. He believed it to be of vital importance to
"the Cause" and its future. In October he had met with an unfortunate
accident, having fallen from his binder and so injured his foot in the
machinery that amputation was necessary; he was in no condition to
undertake new and arduous duties in organizing a publishing proposition
as he was still suffering greatly from his injury. On the verge of a
nervous breakdown, it required only the upsetting of the plans he had
cherished to make him give up altogether and he resigned the editorship
of the new ma