The banks refused to make any new loans and insisted upon the immediate payment of such indebtedness as was then due. The railroad companies began a course of discrimination against the people of the state and business houses reduced their stocks of goods. Money, gold, silver and paper, became very scarce. Boise City, the capital, before January 1st was in a condition of business paralysis. As for the several Co-operators, who made up the Legislature and occupied other government positions, they had no money—that is, United States gold, silver and paper. Their entire exchange consisted of the orders and checks already described. It was evident that they would not be able to pay cash for what they purchased in Boise and the merchants and other business men realized as early as December that they were not likely to reap a harvest from the new administration. This was also anticipated by the Department of Commerce at Co-opolis, and an agent of the Legislative Council was sent down to Boise, who speedily closed a trade for a lot of land on Boise’s principal street. Then came carloads of lumber from Co-opolis, and a force of Co-opolitan carpenters was speedily at work, even in the dead of winter, constructing a good, substantial and commodious three-story-high building. One-half of this building was a hotel and one-half a department store. By January 1st such was the energy displayed by the Co-opolitan workmen that it was completed and furnished and the store part was stocked with a large assortment of groceries, hardware, cutlery, drugs, clothing, dry goods, fancy goods, millinery, fruit, meats, boots and shoes, dairy products and many other of the manufactures and products of Co-opolis and the Co-opolitan farm. This, to a very large extent, solved the problem of comfort and supplies for our representatives. The orders and checks of the Association were all good at the hotel and store. A few motorcycles with runners and others without and some horses and carriages were provided later on. The inferiority of the streets and roads in and around Boise at that time made horses indispensable in the conveyance of passengers in the winter time. The department stores undersold every other business and in a very short time its trade from the citizens and from the surrounding country was enormous. The competitive stores could not compete with them. The same was true of the hotel. The table creaked with the finest of Co-opolitan foods and delicacies prepared by the most expert of Co-opolitan cooks. The service at the hotel was excellent, the beds were clean and soft, and the attention given by our hotel attendants made up for the somewhat temporary character of the buildings.