268 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



the farmers ? So at least reasoned the leading Patrons; and 

 when the order was once embarked in this direction, all sorts of 

 schemes for Grange manufacturing made their appearance. 



As early as 1872 the state grange of Nebraska made arrange- 

 ments for the manufacture of headers under its auspices. The 

 header was a comparatively simple machine, which was used 

 for a while in some parts of the West for gathering merely the 

 heads of the grain. For a year or two this enterprise appeared 

 to be a success, and the machines, which had previously retailed 

 for from $225 to $300, were now furnished to Patrons for $150. 

 Later, however, the state grange undertook the manufacture 

 of cultivators and harvesters and as a result of overstocking, 

 defective machines, and bad management, it suffered a severe 

 financial loss. Even the assistance from the National Grange 

 in the form of loans and donations was not sufficient to retrieve 

 the disaster, and the Grange disappeared from Nebraska. 1 



The most important attempt at manufacturing agricultural 

 machinery by the Patrons of Husbandry originated in Iowa. 

 When, in 1873, the state agent found it practically impossible 

 to induce the manufacturers of harvesters to sell to the order 

 at wholesale rates, the idea occurred to some one that the Grange 

 might manufacture its own harvesters. A man was discovered 

 in Wisconsin who owned a patent on a machine known as the 

 Werner harvester, and State Agent Whitman with E. R. Shank- 

 land of the executive committee of the National Grange were 

 sent to Wisconsin to make arrangements for its control. The 

 outcome was the purchase of the patent for one thousand dollars 

 and a royalty of two dollars on each machine manufactured. 

 Arrangements were at once made for the establishment of 

 foundries in various places in Iowa, Minnesota, and Nebraska 

 to manufacture the harvesters under contract for the different 

 state granges. During the summer of 1874 about 250 in all 

 of these machines were manufactured and were furnished to 

 Patrons at $140, or about half the prevailing price for harvesters. 



1 Nebraska State Grange, Proceedings, iv (1874); National Grange, Proceedings, 

 viii. 30, 68, 82, 105 (February, 1875); Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, 

 Studies, vi. 368; Woodman, " Early History of the Grange," in American Grange 

 Bulletin, xxx. no. 38 (March 7, 1901). 



