The Bismarck tribune., 1919-03-27
STRASBURG MAN
PROVES SCHERR
CLAIMS CORRECT
Declares There Is General Dis
appointment There Over Con.
sumers' Store Proposition
+ A II M ERS PAID 100000
Thought They Were Going In on
Cooperative Basis and Dis.
cover Mistake Too Late
F A X M ERS PAID 100000

II have no worries abont my 800:
there are plenty of hundreds yet to be
had in this land, and it makes me
laugh to think how easy | was, but
hate to furnish fun for my neigabors
and give them a chance 10 say, Eth.
what did l tell you?'
So George Grinsteiner, prosperous,
hard-headed farmer OF StrasDurg sums
up the situation which confronts him
and 299 neighbors who last Angus
su suoscrlbed $30,O0J for a Consumers
United Store at Strasburg. The Con-
sumers' United Stores Co., a Townley
chain store scheme now under the
ban Of the state blue sky commission
300 farmers, ana the farmers have {,
promise that, after all these months
a store will be established aboul
April Is. .r
Strong for Cooperation.
I'VE are firm believers in cOoper;l-
ton down our way" said Mr.. Grin.
steiner today. I'VE went into farm
ers' elevator a few years ago We
put in machinery, and we haven't
shipped out a bushel Of grain that
nasn't been cleaned We keep the
screenings at home and feed it to
our stock, and we sent clean grain to
market and got a good price for it,
and everyone of the 80 farmers who
put up a $l00 to 60 into this PROPOSE
ion has got his m)ney back many
times over.
80, when fine-speaking man came
to my place and began talking about
a cooperative store, | was ready to
listen. He told US how much chIp.
er we could buy everything we need
ed-shoes, dresses, groceries. dry.
goods, farm machinery and imple
ments-and how much more we could
get for our butter and eggs and oth
er farm products. He said the store
would sell US everything we needed at
a low price and buy everything we
produced at a high price. thought
Well, if this is so, it, won t be long
before I'll have my hundred back SO
went in, and pursuaded some Of my
neighbors to go In. | never heard
such a fine-talking fellow. Pve list
so good as he was .a ..-, ..u.5
800 Farmers Went In.
They got 300 farmers to put uE
100 apiece. We thought they were go
ing to build us ah,ne store. .ouilding 9
and ,knJN thatsif they putin all the
things they said they were going to
carry, they would need the money
So we, 800 of us, subscribed a hun
dred dollars apiece, and then we be
gan to feel good about the fine store
we were going to get, and the money
we would save. That was last An
gust, and we're still waiting, but we're
not feeling so good any more.
The Scherr Incident.
Il know Mike Scherr | knew him
in the old country, in old Strasburg
when we were both boys. He has
been working for the league and being
paid for it, think. He came up to
Bismarck to investigate because men
whom he had talked into buying
store certificates were getting mad
When he came back there was a
meeting, and we were told that we
would have a store by the middle OF
April | didn't see what Mike Scherr
said in The Courier-News, but | was
at tHe store meeting in Strasburg and
| didn't hear. any resolutions read
about anybody being liar like IN.
derst and Mike Scierr has said. When
people heard from Mike Scherr what
he learned when he was in Bismarck
somebody said in a joke they ought
to take him out and hang him. 1t
,pyoc i,Yof n inkn nf tho
Dle felt pretty much that way about
it.
Kisses 500 Goodbye.
II am not worrying any longer
about my 800. The Consumers peo-
pie may put in store at Strasburg
as they have promised. But we have
seen one of their stores, at Hazel.
ton. All we could find was canned
gods and bananas rows of
shelves filled with canned goods, and
a long row Of bananas hanging down
the middle. Now we can buy canned
goods and bananas at the stores we
have been patronizing. There's no
reason why while we're buying our
shoes and dry goods and hardware
and implements we shouldn't buy our
canned goods and bananas at the same
place. We're not going over to the
company store just to buy one or two
things We still want store, tho,
and If we can get our money out OF
this thing I think we'll get together
and put up $4,000 or $4,000 and have
a real cooperative store. That's what
we thought we were going to get when
we went into this proposition last
summer. but we've made up our minds
that was nothing but fine talk"
Has Made His Own Way.
George Grinsteiner came to Bis
marck as a boy, emigrating from
StrasPurg. He worked here at com