THE RISE OF THE GRANGER MOVEMENT. 199 



the common strawberry into the same division as the wliito-flowered 

 European P, fragarioides, while I would put the Indian species into 

 the same division with the yellow-flowered P. frigida of your Mount 

 Washington range. 



!^' 



THE EISE OF THE GEANGER MOVEMENT. 



By CHARLES W. PIEESON. 



I OME wise men of the press are saying that the Knights of Labor 

 kJ are like the Grangers, As the exact points of resemblance are 

 not stated, the assertion serves merely to call up a recollection of the 

 unique secret society, which, a dozen years ago, seemed far more 

 powerful than ever the Knights of Labor were. The Grange still lives, 

 but its glory is departed, and its history is recorded only in the dis- 

 torted statements of partisans and of misinformed review-writers. 



In the latter part of 1868 certain Minnesota farmers received a 

 printed sheet which began as follows : " In response to numerous 

 inquiries in regard to our order, this circular is issued. The order 

 was organized by a number of distinguished agriculturists of various 

 States of the Union at Washington in December, 1867, and since then 

 has met with most encouraging success, giving assurances that it will 

 soon become one of the most useful and powerful organizations in the 

 United States, Its grand object is not only general improvement in 

 husbandry, but to increase the general happiness, wealth, and pros- 

 perity of the country," As an aid in accomplishing its author's de- 

 sign, this circular was certainly a success. As a statement of truth it 

 was a conspicuous failure. Instead of having "met with most encour- 

 aging success," the order had scarcely been heard of ; while the " dis- 

 tinguished agriculturists" who had "organized" it comprised one 

 fruit-grower and six Government clerks, equally distributed among 

 the Post-Oifice, Treasury, and Agricultural Departments. Of these 

 seven Immortal Founders, as enthusiastic Grangers were calling them 

 a few years later, six are living. Nevertheless, it is difficult to deter- 

 mine just how much of the plan and its execution was due to each. 

 The truth seems to be about as follows : In 1866 one O. H. Kelley, 

 a clerk in the Agricultural Department, was sent by the Commissioner 

 of Agriculture on a tour of inspection through the Southern States. 

 Impressed with the demoralization of the farming population, he hit 

 upon the idea of organization for social and educational purposes, as 

 a means for these people to better their condition. An ardent Mason, 

 he naturally thought of an organization similar to the Masonic, in 

 whose ritual, secrecy, and fraternity he saw the secret of that perma- 

 nence which all agricultural societies had failed to attain. A niece in 

 Boston, to whom he first mentioned the idea, recommended that 

 women be given membership, thus originating an important feature. 



