In an action by a broker for compensation, the defense being a general denial, any competent evidence is admissible in behalf of plaintiff or defendant which tends to prove or to disprove that plaintiff was the procuring cause of the transaction into which the defendant and the customer entered; if any act of the broker in pursuance of his authority to find a purchaser is the initiatory step that leads to the sale consummated, the owner must pay the commission. Hoadley v. Banbury Sav. Bk., 71 Conn. 599, 42 A. 667, 44 L. R. A. 321; Doonan v. Ives, 73 Ga. 295; Smiley v. Bradley, 18 Colo. App. 191, 70 P. 696; Adams v. McLaughlin, 159 Ind. 23, 64 N. E. 462; Hunn v. Ashton, 121 Iowa, 265, 96 N. W. 745; Sawyer v. Bowman, 91 Iowa, 717, 59 N. W. 27; Newton v. Ritchie, 75 Iowa, 91, 39 N. W. 209; Creager v. Johnson, 114 Iowa, 249, 86 N. W. 275; Brooks v. Leathers, 112 Mich, 463, 70 N. W. 1099; Kerr v. Cusenbury, 69 Mo. App. 221; Willard v. Wright (Mass. Sup. '09), 89 N. E. 559; Childs v. Ptomey, 17 Mont. 502, 43 P. 714; Waters v. Rafalsky, 119 N. Y. S. 271; Lockhart v. Hamlin, 190 N. Y. 132, 82 N. E. 1094; Doran v. Bussard, 45 N. Y. S. 387, 18 App. Div. 36; Goldsmith v. Cook, 14 N. Y. S. 878, Rev. 13 N. Y. S. 578; Bowser v. Field

(Tex. Civ. App. '91), 17 S. W. 45; Larsen v. Thoma (Iowa Sup. '09), 121 N. W. 1059; Hughes & Thurman v. Dodd, 146 S. W. 446, 164 Mo. App. 454; Obets v. Maney, 146 S. W. 351, - Tex. Civ. App. -; Pope v. Ansley Realty Co., 135 S. W. 1103, judg. rev., 151 S. W. 525, 105 Tex. 440; Davis v. Clausen, 57 S. 79, 2 Ala. App. 378; Cameron v. Powers, 57 S. 888, 63 Fla. 108; Fre-del v. Boldinger, 138 N. Y. Sup. 147; Owcharoffsky v. Trustees of Welch Cal. Me. Church, 148 N. Y. Sup. 138, 86 Misc. Rep. 36; Naulty v. Gorham Mfg. Co., 164 N. Y. Sup. 328, 178 App. Div. 36; Kamp v. Madison, 161 N. W. 809, - S. D. Sup. -; Ford v. Cole, 195 S. W. 661, - Tex. Civ. App. -; Foote v. Cohen, 199 I11. App. 462; McLaughlin & Co. v. Southern Hotel Co., 177 N. Y. Sup. 323; Karr v. Moffett, 187 P. 683, den. re., 185 P. 890, - Kan. Sup. - .