AMERICAN SOCIETY OF EQUITY 



of information so obtained, the board of directors, each of whom was 

 supposed to be an expert in some line of agriculture, was to study the 

 demands of the nation and then place what it considered to be an equitable 

 price on each commodity. Ideally, there should also be held annually "a 

 convention of wheat growers, of corn raisers, of cotton planters, of tobacco 

 raisers, of fruit growers, of livestock men of every great agricultural in- 

 terest" to consider the supply, demand, market, and price and all other 

 questions that affected the industry. Such "equitable prices" as were set 

 by the board of directors were also referred to as "minimum prices," 

 below which the farmers were urged not to sell. "There need be no fear," 

 wrote Everitt, "that buyers will be out of the market long, because the 

 world must have your goods all the time." 1 



The name Equity had something appealing about it. It was synonymous 

 with justice, equality, parity, fairness, righteousness, and honesty. The 

 order was also referred to as the "American Square Deal Association," no 

 doubt after the "Square Deal" of Theodore Roosevelt. 



An analysis of the backgrounds of twelve men prominent in early 

 Equity councils reveals precisely what one would expect. All claimed to 

 have had farming experience of one kind or another, vocational or avoca- 

 tional. Three had had teaching experience and one had been a member 

 of Congress. At least five claimed to have attended or to have graduated 

 from college. Two had had newspaper experience and one had been a 

 customs collector under two different presidents. A number had been 

 members of the Farmers' Alliance and the Populist party. One who was 

 to assume an important role was an osteopath who had "an active interest 

 in religion and politics, [and] sociology, believing heartily in the philos- 

 ophy of Jesus Christ, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of 

 Man; [and] that we are our brother's keeper." 1 



As might be expected with such leadership, the membership and or- 

 ganizing policies of the Equity Society were highly defective. Apparently 

 Everitt had had little experience as an organizer before his founding of 

 the order. The membership dues of one dollar, really the subscription price 

 of his paper, was far too small a sum to cover the costs of organizing; yet 



11. Ibid., pp. 1-2; Everitt, The Third Power, third edition, pp. 231-32, 273-77. 



12. Ibid., fourth edition, pp. 214-15; Wisconsin Equity News, February 10, 1912, 

 p. i; Equity Farm Journal (Indianapolis), I (November, 1908), p. 6. 



