BUSINESS COOPERATION 



in which anything was done in this direction during the seventies 

 was California. The farmers of that state complained that the 

 existing banks discriminated against them and aided the specula- 

 tors in their efforts to manipulate the markets. They got to- 

 gether, therefore, in 1874, and organized the Grangers' Bank 

 of California with the purpose of enabling the Patrons to secure 

 loans of money on " the landed security of the agriculturist," 

 " upon as favorable terms as it can be obtained- in the city for 

 commercial purposes." Only Patrons of Husbandry could be 

 stockholders or directors of this bank, and the rights of small 

 stockholders were guarded by provisions restricting the voting 

 power of those holding more than fifty of the one hundred dollar 

 shares.- The bank went into operation on August i, 1874, and 

 within a year had two million dollars on deposit and a paid up 

 capital of about half a million dollars. It seems to have had 

 a successful career, and is reported to have saved the farmers 

 of the state a large amount of money at a time of depression 

 in the wheat market, by loaning them three million dollars and 

 thus enabling them to hold their wheat for a rise in the market. 1 

 Two other Grange banks were established in 1874 in Colusa and 

 Solano counties, California, 2 and in 1883 a Patrons' Coopera- 

 tive Bank was established at Olathe, Kansas, where a very suc- 

 cessful cooperative store was already in existence. 3 



The subject of mutual insurance early attracted the attention 

 of the Patrons of Husbandry. 4 Farmers' mutual fire insurance 

 companies had been in existence in many parts of the country 

 before the appearance of the Grange, and it soon became evident 



1 For the organization and by-laws of this institution, see Carr, Patrons of Hus- 

 bandry, 160-165. See also ibid. 175; National Grange, Proceedings, xv. 36 (1881); 

 Prairie Farmer, xlvi. 355 (November 6, 1875); M. Whitehead, "Patrons of Hus- 

 bandry," in New Jersey Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industries, Reports, 

 ix. 344 (1886). 



2 Carr, Patrons of Husbandry, 165, 167. 



3 Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, Studies, vi. 386; Whitehead, in New 

 Jersey Bureau of Statistics, Reports, ix. 344 (1886). 



4 References on insurance are scattered through the proceedings of nearly all 

 of the state granges. See also National Grange, Proceedings, xv. 36, 38, 44, 45, 

 xvi. 38 (1881, 1882); Country Gentleman, xlv. no (February 12, 1880); Whitehead, 

 in New Jersey Bureau of Statistics, Reports, ix. 345 (1886) ; Shaw, in Johns Hopkins 

 University, Studies, vi. 318, 341-344. 



