ORGANIZATION 67 



United States. In many of the states of the Northwest, how- 

 ever, the decline had already begun by the close of the year 1874, 

 and the division as a whole showed an increase between Sep- 

 tember i and January i of but fifty-eight granges, which scarcely 

 kept pace with the increase in population. Minnesota, Iowa, 

 Nebraska, and Kansas experienced an actual decrease in granges 

 during the four months and only Ohio and Michigan of the other 

 states of the division were able to show any considerable 

 advance. 



Such a result was quite the natural one in view of the extent 

 to which this section was now crowded with granges. 1 Three 

 of the states, Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri, reached the two 

 thousand mark in numbers of subordinate organizations, which 

 gave them from six to nine hundred granges per hundred thou- 

 sand of agricultural population; but in Kansas and Nebraska 

 with their sparser settlement, the ratio reached 1190 and 1064 

 respectively. This means that in Kansas there was a grange 

 for every eighty-four persons engaged in agricultural occupa- 

 tions, the conclusion from which would be that at least three- 

 fourths of all who were eligible were members of the order in 

 this state. Indiana, on the other hand, had the greatest number 

 of granges in proportion to size, the ratio being one for every 

 eighteen square miles, or an average of two for every township 

 in the state. That such a situation could be permanent was 

 not to be expected, and the inevitable result, as soon as the 

 first enthusiasm began to cool, was a decrease in the number 

 of granges, by the consolidation of some, the disbanding of 

 others, and the revocation of charters because of delinquency 

 in dues to the state grange. 



During the years 1874 and 1875 the great size of the order 

 of Patrons of Husbandry gave it prestige and influence through- 

 out the land, and the vastness of its projects excited universal 

 astonishment. The treasury of the National Grange was 

 plethoric with the receipts from dues and the sale of dispensa- 

 tions; the officers and members of the executive committee drew 

 salaries ranging from a thousand to twenty-five hundred dollars 



1 See statistics of the density of granges, January i, 1875, i n table following p. 58. 



