ublicity. So we'll just let
her toddle along and no hard feelings."

He got his money.

The alleged attempt of these elevator men, whether with or without the
sanction of their associates, to make public opinion by means of the
"Observer" letters began in the fall of 1909. It lasted but a few
weeks.

CHAPTER XIV

THE INTERNAL ELEVATOR CAMPAIGN

What constitutes a state? . . .
Men who their duties know,
But know their rights, and knowing, dare maintain.
--_Sir William Jones._
_Ode after Alcaeus._

Now, about this Government Ownership of Elevators. The Grain Growers
had had it in mind right along. The elevators were the contact points
between the farmer and the marketing machinery; therefore if his
fingers got pinched it was here that he bled. Complaints of injustice
in the matter of weights, dockage, grades and prices colored the
conversation of farmers in many parts of the country and, rightly or
wrongly, many farmers were profoundly dissatisfied with existing
conditions at initial elevators. These elevators provided the only
avenue by which grain could be disposed of quickly if transportation
facilities were not fully adequate. It seemed to the farmers,
therefore, that the only way to avoid monopolistic abuses was for the
provincial governments to own and operate a system of internal storage
elevators and for the Dominion authorities to own and operate the
terminals. The elevators, declared the farmers, should be a public
utility and not in private hands.

This feeling first found definite expression in a request by the
Manitoba Grain Growers prior to the Manitoba elections in 1907. The
Manitoba Government declined to act on the request of the Grain Growers
alone, but called a conference of municipal reeves and others
interested. This conference was held in June and urgently requested
the Manitoba Government to acquire and operate a complete system of
storage elevators throughout the province, as asked for by the Grain
Growers. Nothing was done at the first session of the renewed
government, however.

Meanwhile the Grain Growers were circularizing the three Prairie
Provinces on the need for a government system of elevators and at the
annual conventions of the organized farmers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan
and Alberta in 1908 strong endorsement of the idea was made. An
"Inter-Provincial Council of Grain Growers' and Farmers' Associations"
[1] had been create