544 AGRICULTURAL DISCONTENT 



Another link to unfold itself in the Equity chain was the brief cam- 

 paign staged by a small minority to encourage direct buying and selling 

 between producers and consumers. This idea became the basis for at least 

 two abortive attempts to get buyers and sellers to cooperate. Judging 

 from the tone of the literature issued by the promoters of these ill-fated 

 ventures, the success scored by the English consumers' movement appears 

 to have been the great inspirational source. 



A more lasting phase of the Equity appeared in the campaigns waged 

 by it in behalf of cooperative marketing and purchasing associations. This 

 phase received major attention, especially after the reorganization of the 

 body in 1907. The Equity organized cooperatives in Wisconsin, Minne- 

 sota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and other states. It seems to 

 have placed most stress on the marketing of grain and livestock, espe- 

 cially during the later years. Its more ambitious terminal-marketing ex- 

 periences, pioneer efforts though they were, were hardly a flattering aspect 

 of its program. 



Next, the Farmers' Union invaded the western Middle West. The Union 

 had several things in common with the Equity: it was born in a period 

 of rising prices; it sought profitable prices for the producers of cotton, 

 wheat, livestock, and other commodities; it attacked the boards of trade, 

 chambers of commerce, cotton exchanges, and other organizations of 

 middlemen. 



From the South, where it was organized, it spread into Missouri, Kansas, 

 and Nebraska rather early. After failing to absorb the Equity, its leaders 

 launched a vigorous campaign for members in the same area in which 

 its rival held forth. The Union made some progress in recruiting mem- 

 bers here, but hardly to the extent that its leaders had hoped. Since its 

 platform was militant and its leadership aggressive, and since it had a 

 certain psychological appeal, it is not surprising that it eventually absorbed 

 the remnants of the Equity, the National Producers' Alliance, and portions 

 of the Nonpartisan League. 



The Farmers' Union, like the Equity, passed through several stages 

 before it placed main stress on cooperative marketing and purchasing. All 

 the while it tried to put floors under prices by setting levels below which 

 its members were asked not to sell; it advocated production controls and 

 the construction of a system of warehouses to store products and to 



