PREFACE 



SOCIAL unrest has been one of the most marked characteristics 

 of the last half-century in the United States. During this 

 period the country, and especially the western part of it, has 

 been transformed from a comparatively simple agricultural 

 community into a complex modern industrial state; and in 

 the process of adjustment the agricultural class of the population, 

 among others, has been inclined to feel aggrieved. The result 

 has been a series of radical agitations on the part of the farmers 

 for the improvement, by organized effort, of their relative con- 

 dition. Of this general " farmers' movement/' the first wave, 

 which is the subject of this study, began with the establishment 

 of the order of Patrons of Husbandry in 1867, slowly gathered 

 headway for a few years, and then suddenly culminated in a 

 series of startling manifestations, political and economic, during 

 the years from 1873 to 1875. From then on to the end of the 

 decade, this " Granger movement " gradually subsided, although 

 many of its features were embodied in the programs of the more 

 radical agricultural movements which took their rise in the early 

 eighties. 



It may be well to explain at the outset that this is not intended 

 to be a history of the " Grange," as the order of Patrons of Hus- 

 bandry is frequently called. The term " Granger movement," 

 nevertheless, is used advisedly: in the first place, because the 

 phrase has the sanction of considerable usage, both contemporary 

 and later, in the sense in which it is here applied; and secondly, 

 because the movement did seize upon the order of Patrons of 

 Husbandry as an efficient means of organization and a con- 

 venient rallying point. The contentions of members of the order 

 that it should not be held responsible for many of the features 

 of the movement are doubtless sound, and it should be under- 



