278 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



charges, even when the lack of competition made it possible 

 to do so. As a result, lower prices, smaller profits, and more 

 cordial relations seem to have prevailed for some time after the 

 collapse of the Granger movement. But the farmers as well 

 as the merchants had discovered that they were no longer help- 

 less: they had learned the power of organization and could keep 

 it in reserve even if they did not use it; they had also learned 

 the advantage of direct trade and purchases in large quantities, 

 and, as a result, the business of mail order houses has grown 

 steadily from that day to this. 



Again, Grange cooperation undoubtedly helped to break up 

 the credit system, and thus in another way tended to make the 

 farmers independent of the local merchants. The insistence 

 of the Grange on cash purchases caused the farmers to make 

 an effort to free themselves from the bonds of the credit system, 

 and the very savings effected through the Grange agencies made 

 it possible for them to continue to buy for cash even after the 

 agencies had disappeared. 



As a result of their connection with the cooperative enter- 

 prises of the Grange, a considerable number of farmers received 

 a business training which might be of use to them in many ways. 

 In particular, it gave them a very great advantage in their future 

 dealings with merchants and commission men. Added to this 

 general business training was an increased knowledge of the 

 principles and possibilities of cooperation, as a result not only 

 of the occasional successes but of the failures as well. These 

 things paved the way, in some parts of the country at least, 

 for successful and enduring cooperation not only among farmers, 

 but also among workingmen. On the whole, although the 

 Grangers did not succeed in revolutionizing business as they 

 set out to do, nevertheless, a great deal of good both temporary 

 and permanent resulted from their attempts at business coopera- 

 tion. 



