THE FARMERS' UNION 223 



sembled in Springfield, Missouri, on May 12 and 13, 1909, to devise a 

 program of action satisfactory to both the West and the South. It urged 

 the establishment of cooperative meat-packing plants, cooperative eleva- 

 tors and storage warehouses, and, wherever practicable, cooperative com- 

 mission firms. Also, it favored the adoption of some plan to limit the 

 amount of grain placed on the market. The announcement of this pro- 

 gram was, in effect, not only an attempt to promote better relations be- 

 tween the West and the South, but also a frank confession, according to 

 Charles Barrett, the national president, that the Union had "reached the 

 height of its usefulness in the South" and had turned for new conquests 

 to the North and West. 6 



Organizations in a state of decay are known to refer to their numbers 

 and achievements as a means of bolstering their morale; hence it is not 

 surprising that the Union, as it unfolded its program for western expan- 

 sion, emphasized the size of its membership and the extent of its business 

 activities in the South. The Union boasted the fantastic figure of 2,000,000 

 members in 1909, which, if it had been true, would have made it the largest 

 farm organization in American history. It claimed that it was active in 

 twenty-seven states, and that it operated several thousand cooperative 

 warehouses and gins. A year later it asserted that business organizations 

 affiliated with or sponsored by its national body had transacted a total of 

 about $100,000,000 worth of business. 7 



The first serious efforts of the Union to penetrate into the western 

 Middle West were made in the states of Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas. 

 Union work in Illinois was based upon the Farmers' Social and Economic 

 Union, which was organized in Somerset Township, Jackson County, on 

 April 27, 1900. A few weeks later, on May 17, 1900, this organization 

 was chartered by the state. From Illinois it spread into Missouri, where 

 it was known at first as a Temporary National Union, but in April, 1906, 

 it was consolidated with a segment of the Farmers' Mutual Benefit As- 



6. The National Co-operator and Farm Journal (Fort Worth), January 22, 1908; 

 Barrett, The Farmers' Union, pp. 125, 236; The Farmers' Union (Salina, Kans.), 

 June, 1909; Fort Smith Elevator, May 14, 1909; Farmers' Union News (Union City, 

 Ga.), May 19, 1909. 



7. Mississippi Union Advocate and Southern Farm and Home (Winona, Miss.), 

 April 7, 1909; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 7, 1910. 



