242 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



movement along more conservative lines and prevented much 

 of the confusion and disaster that followed. As it was, how- 

 ever, each state grange was left to work out its own salva- 

 tion in the matter of business cooperation, and Minnesota led 

 the way. 



In the same month in which the " founders " laid the subject 

 of cooperation on the table, Master Smith of the Minnesota 

 State Grange appointed C. A. Prescott of St. Paul as state 

 business agent and issued a circular which announced that the 

 agent would sell produce and make purchases for members. 1 

 The agent proceeded to issue weekly bulletins giving prices of 

 produce and sent a circular to manufacturers of agricultural 

 implements inviting them to send samples to be tested and 

 reported upon by the state grange. 2 The appointment of 

 Prescott as agent was confirmed by the state grange when it 

 met in July, i869, 3 but no further record of the operations of 

 this earliest agency, prior to 1873, has been found. In Febru- 

 ary, 1873, the state grange appointed a committee to develop 

 a feasible plan for cooperation in the purchase of farm imple- 

 ments, 4 and later in the year another state agent, J. H. Denman, 

 was engaged in visiting manufacturers and wholesale dealers 

 in order to secure special terms for members of the order. 5 

 At the meeting of the state grange in December, 1873, Denman 

 was elected state purchasing agent for the ensuing year with a 

 salary of not to exceed sixteen hundred dollars to be derived 

 from commissions on sales. 6 The Minnesota agency never 

 succeeded in doing business on as large a scale or securing as 

 favorable terms as did some of the other grange agencies, partly 

 because the number of granges in the state was comparatively 

 small; nevertheless, the Patrons of the state claimed to have 



1 The agent received a commission on business transacted. The first purchase 

 is said to have been a jackass for one of the officers of the state grange. Kelley 

 commented: " This purchasing business commenced with buying jackasses; the 

 prospects are that many will be sold." Kelley, Patrons of Husbandry, 180. 



2 Minnesota Monthly, i. 134, 213 (April, June, 1869). 

 8 Ibid. 249 (July, 1869). 



4 Minnesota State Grange, Constitution, 1873, pp. 13-16. 

 6 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 355 (November 8, 1873). 

 6 Ibid. 412 (December 27, 1873). 



k 



