The representative., 1899-05-11

soon came TO my ears tnat TINS move
ment was designed to checkmate the as
sociation, which was started at the jan
uary convention, and was making haste
to incorporate under the name of the
Grain Growers Association, and was to
ask the legislature to give THEM the
cash and elevator site which the con-
vention in January passed resolutions
and appointed committees to secure.
Then it was that called upon the pres
ident of the G. G. A. and stated my
suspicious, and urged immediate action
to prevent anything of this kind occur
ring. l wrote to the president of the
new Grain Growers Association and
called his attention to the embarrass-
ment which the establishment of ri
val grain growers association" would
place on the movement, and requested
him to do nothing until the committee
would meet which had called a meet
ing for March Z, to finish up the work of
the convention. To this letter 1 re-
ceived no reply. I then called on one
of the chief movers for this meeting, Mr..
Eric Olson, who was also member of
our G. G.. A. committee, and had a con-
ference with him and Mr.. c.. H. Hop
kins, who happened to be in town the
same time. The result of this interview
was satisfactory and was used by Mr..
Olson to hasten the formation and in
corporation of the Fergus Falls society
to anticipate the action of our commit
tee of March z. They were in town
that day with three incorporators, con-
Olson and Jens P. Anderson, to file ar
ticles of incorporation. 1 found that
no articles had been filed, and called on
the governor aud attorney general and
secretary of state to protest against the
| filing of such papers and adopting the
name of the Grain Growers Association.
l. was informed by the attorney general
that the first Incorporation papers SUBJ
mitted by Mr.. Boen were not correct.
and that certain changes must be made
to pass with his approval. 1 later
learned from one of the original incor-
porators that March was the date that
they intended to file their incorporation
papers, and head us off,
l again called on the attorney gen
eral and requested him to hold off ac-
cepting the new draft of incorporation
papers until after the meeting of our
committee, on March T." which he did
without saying SO.
When the new society officers found
that they were stuck" then they chang
ed their policy of ignoring our society,
| and came into our meeting and acted in
| a very friendly way
When our committee was called to
| order Mr.. Olson, 1 think, moved to per-
| NIT H. E. BOen to be heard before the
| committee on his plan, which was grant
ed, and L moved to allow any one pres
ent to present plans for the committees
| consideration, which was also agreed to.
There were several elevator men
present, and all were given an oppor-
tunity to speak on the different plans.
1t soon developed that the "Boen plan"
received the greatest support from those
outside of the committee. But it was
| noticeable that those who favored it
! most were not farmers. There were
plans submitted by Mr.. G.. II. Hopkins
similar to the "Boen plan," but to be
operated inside the Grain Growers AS
sociation general society. Eric Olson
had printed plan of the same general
style of the "Boen plan,' which was
taken from Olson's outline. Mr.. Dom
| nelly had plan which was built on the
| general plan of great society of farm
ers with prOvisO for a business feat
| ure of farmers elevators, etc. Mr.. S.
w. Powell had plan of large general
| society who could operate without the
aid of farmers elevators, etc., but who
| would fix the price of grain within GER
tain zones, while Mr.. Hanley presented
! the same plan as the National Farmers
Alliance and Industrial Union plan, with
| the business agency attached, which
would secure division of the commits
sions from business firms whom the bus
| mess agent could secure.
After listening to arguments on the
| different plans several hours the COM
| mittee finally withdrew tc another room
to agree upon some plan that would be
satisfactory.
1t was soon apparent that the COM
mittee was hopelessly divided on the
several plans before them. Considerable
| feeling was developed Ct think it was the
hottest one) when a proposition was
made to accept the "Boen plan," Of
| ticerS and all. This seemed to me to be
| giving recognition to hostile rival So
ciety, who were not GRAIN GROWERS.
but GRAIN DEALERS, and were mas
qrerading under our name, and who did
not propose to divide any commission
with the Grain Growers Association of
the farmers, which had already secur-
ed from grain commission men outside
the society. 1 could not see where we
could be benefited as society to go
| to the expense and trouble of organizing
| a great society of farmers who would