and another, but they had failed. They all
talked politics a great deal, -- politics and rail-
roads. Annie had not much patience with
it all. She had great confidence in the
course of things. She believed that in this
country all men have a fair chance. So
when it came about that the corn and the
wheat, which had been raised with such
incessant toil, brought them no money, but
only a loss, Annie stood aghast.

"I said the rates were ruinous," Jim said
to her one night, after it was all over, and
he had found out that the year's slavish
work had brought him a loss of three
hundred dollars; "it's been a conspiracy
from the first. The price of corn is all
right. But by the time we set it down in
Chicago we are out eighteen cents a bushel.
It means ruin. What are we going to do?
Here we had the best crop we've had for
years -- but what's the use of talking!
They have us in their grip."

"I don't see how it is," Annie protested.
"I should think it would be for the inter-
est of the roads to help the people to be as
prosperous as possible."

"Oh, we can't get out! And we're