FUNDAMENTAL CONDITIONS 39 



The idea of some form of association among the farmers 

 for cooperation in the improvement of their condition, materially, 

 socially, and intellectually, appealed to them in many ways. 

 If they lacked opportunities for social intercourse and enjoy- 

 ment, how better could these be furnished than in the weekly 

 or bi-weekly meetings of a local association of farmers ? If 

 they lacked a knowledge of public problems and of their own 

 interest, or the ability to reason logically about them and to 

 present their ideas to others, how better could they gain these 

 things than by discussions in these same meetings ? If their 

 political power and prestige were waning, how could these 

 better be rehabilitated than by a grand national union of branch 

 associations of farmers, which would display their overwhelming 

 strength as a united class ? If they were being worsted in the 

 struggle with the organized mercantile and manufacturing 

 classes with whom they had to deal, how better could they 

 equip themselves than by extensive counter-organization ? 1 

 An agricultural organization including a great part of the farmers 

 of the nation would be able to demand fairer treatment from the 

 railway corporations and to enforce it with the help of the state; 

 it could use its immense influence to secure more favorable 

 legislation on such matters as the tariff, currency, and taxation; 

 by means of a widespread local organization it could gather 

 and disseminate useful information concerning the crops and 

 the markets; and in general it could foster a beneficent spirit 

 of cooperation and mutual assistance among its members. In 

 this way alone can a satisfactory explanation be found for the 

 widespread and phenomenal movement for organization which 

 appeared among the farmers in the decade of the seventies. 



1 Farmers' Union, January 18, 1873. 



