296 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



time. As it was, this phase of the movement is of interest 

 principally as illustrating the aspirations and enthusiasm of the 

 leaders. 



The Grange in the South seems to have been especially inter- 

 ested in projects for the advancement of the agricultural interests 

 of that section. It was generally believed that the cotton 

 planters of the South would experience greater prosperity if 

 they could be induced to devote less energy to the production 

 of the staple and more to the growth of breadstuffs. During 

 1874 and 1875 there was a concerted movement in this direction 

 in which the Grange had a part. At the St. Louis session of the 

 National Grange in February, 1874, the representatives of North 

 and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, 

 Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana got together and drew up 

 a " Memorial to the Cotton States." l This memorial, which 

 received the sanction of the National Grange, presented strongly 

 to the Patrons of Husbandry in the cotton-growing sections of 

 the country the desirability of limiting the size of the cotton 

 crop and producing their foodstuffs at home. It was hoped 

 that by these means large sums annually expended for supplies 

 might be saved, and, at the same time, depression of the cotton 

 market avoided. Similar recommendations were made by several 

 of the state granges and by a " Cotton States Convention" which 

 was held at Atlanta in 1874, and it was reported that in Georgia 

 the planters were substituting wheat for cotton in many cases. 2 

 On the whole, however, it does not seem probable that these 

 efforts had any considerable effect, for there is always a tempta- 

 tion to the individual planter to increase the size of his own crop 

 when he believes that the total crop is going to be decreased 

 and the price enhanced. They are of interest, nevertheless, 

 as illustrating the activities of the order in the South, and also 

 as one of a long series of attempts to restrict by artificial 

 means the production of southern staples attempts which 

 began in Virginia and Maryland in the seventeenth century 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, viii. 60-63 (1874). 



2 Alabama State Grange, Proceedings, ii (1874); North Carolina State Grange, 

 Proceedings, iii. 32 (1876); Rural Carolinian, v. 255 (February, 1874). 



