2 94 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



ing been organized in May, 1920, in Hutchinson, Kansas, in the attempt 

 to keep wheat prices up after the government guarantee was removed on 

 June i, 1920. Its marketing contracts were similar to those of the North- 

 west Wheat Growers except that provisions had been made to curtail 

 the acreage of wheat if necessary. In the fall of 1920 an abortive wheat 

 strike was staged, but despite this the organization at the end of 1920 

 still boasted a membership of fifty thousand, extending from Texas to 

 North Dakota. 



During the next two years the National Wheat Growers' underwent a 

 series of changes in its structure and marketing program. Originally, it 

 had in it many radicals and was a loosely knit affair, but in time many 

 of these elements were eliminated. Finally, in 1922 the National Wheat 

 Growers' merged with the Northwest group to form the American Wheat 

 Growers, Associated. 



The latter began its marketing operations in August, 1923, with its 

 headquarters in Minneapolis. According to the plan, the United States 

 was divided into three selling zones, with agencies in Minneapolis, Duluth, 

 Spokane, Seattle, and Portland. The Northwest Wheat Growers, Asso- 

 ciated, became the selling agency for the Washington, Oregon, Idaho, 

 and Montana associations. The American Wheat Growers, Associated, 

 became the selling agency for the North Dakota Wheat Growers' Associa- 

 tion and a number of other associations. Obviously, the purpose of the 

 American Wheat Growers was to establish a national wheat-marketing 

 agency. 



Experience soon proved that these national agencies and the numerous 

 state associations formed were to be short-lived. By and large, operations 

 began before an adequate supply of wheat had been signed up; the mar- 

 keting activities took in wide and often remote areas; associations were 

 unable to enforce their marketing contracts; mortgaged wheat was ex- 

 empted; local points of contact had not been established; and the pooling 

 of wheat was undertaken in a period of declining prices. 19 



An equally ambitious phase of the cooperative movement was the 

 launching of large-scale terminal grain-marketing agencies. Beginning 

 with the creation of bodies such as the United States Grain Growers, In- 



19. Senate Document 95, 70 Congress, i session, pp. 64-66; Steen, Cooperative 

 Marketing, pp. 216-18; Filley, Cooperation in Agriculture, pp. 127-29. 



