Il8 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



of resolutions demanding the advancement of the bureau of 

 agriculture and more liberal appropriations for its use, while 

 many of the state granges, notably those of the New England 

 states, adopted similar resolutions and took steps to induce 

 the congressmen from their states to support the project. 1 

 In Congress the measure met the opposition of the chairman of 

 the committee on agriculture of the House, but it was taken 

 in hand by D. Wyatt Aiken, a prominent Patron and congress- 

 man from South Carolina, and by him pressed to a vote in 

 February, 1881. The debate developed considerable opposition 

 on the ground that the measure was class legislation, and the 

 bill failed by two votes of the two-thirds necessary for the sus- 

 pension of the rules. In the next Congress, the forty-seventh, 

 the bill was again brought forward, and was passed in the House 

 on May 10, 1882, by the overwhelming vote of 183 to 7; but 

 it was not until February, 1887, that the bill finally passed the 

 Senate, with amendments, and not until 1889 did the two houses 

 succeed in agreeing on the provisions of the measure and permit 

 it to become a law. 2 While the Grange was, of course, not the 

 only force which exerted an influence in favor of this measure, 

 it seems clear that it was one of the most important factors in 

 securing the establishment and liberal support of the depart- 

 ment of agriculture, an institution which has been of great 

 service to the farmers of the country and to the nation in general. 3 

 Another proposition for national legislation which received 

 considerable attention from the Patrons of Husbandry was that 

 of reform of the patent laws. The greater part of the machinery 

 and many implements and devices used by the farmers were 

 patented, and it was felt that these laws and the administration 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, x. 23, 116, 159 (1876), xi. 105 (1877), xii. 64 

 (1878), xiii. 40, 94, 124, 127 (1879), x i v - 6 9> 79> 9 (1880); New Hampshire State 

 Grange, Proceedings, iv (1877), vii (1880); Maine State Grange, Proceedings, vi 



(1879). 



2 National Grange, Proceedings, xv. 15-18 (1881), xvi. 10 (1882); Darrow, 

 Patrons of Husbandry, 45-50; Congressional Record, xi. 709, 1317-1320, xiii. 3706, 

 3727, 3753-3776, 3794-3796, 4284, xiv. 1154-1159, 1176-1179, xx. 1399. 



8 Darrow, Patrons of Husbandry, 50; Messer, The Grange, 17; C. H. Great- 

 house, Historical Sketch of the Department of Agriculture (rev. ed.), 20. 



