PKEFAUE. 



To present in a compact and readily accessible form the 

 annals of the farmers movement in California, with a sum 

 mary of the advantages thus far secured by combination and 

 cooperation, was the primary object of this work. In addition, 

 I have thought it desirable to show the general relations of ag 

 riculture to human progress; to give the results of recent official 

 investigations into railroad affairs, and to treat of some other 

 questions of general public interest, by summarizing important 

 and recent reports not generally accessible to Patrons. 



Again, I know of no single work in which the statistical in 

 formation which farmers so often need for reference can be 

 obtained. I have endeavored to meet this want, in the dis 

 cussions of the various subjects to which such information 

 appropriately belongs. 



As the work grew upon my hands, I have found that the pres 

 entation of my subject involved a constant reference to author 

 ities. As far as possible, therefore, I have allowed each witness 

 to speak for himself, to the exclusion of all claims to originality 

 on my own part. I am greatly indebted to able writers, Pro 

 fessor Perry, President Anderson, Henry George, Hon. M. M. 

 Estee and others, who have placed their valuable papers at my 

 disposal, and I only regret that want of space has made it 

 accessary for me to exclude any portion of them. 



The second chapter, denning the office of Agriculture in the 

 Social Economy,&quot; is a condensation of the instruction in Po 

 litical Economy, given more than twenty years ago, to college 

 classes, by the late John H. Lathrop, LL. D., first President 

 of the Universities of Missouri and Wisconsin. In the chapter 

 on &quot; Agriculture in the Public Schools,&quot; it will be observed 

 that the agitation of this question is not a recent thing in agri 

 cultural bodies. The Grange has done little more than to 

 organize the public sentiment of farmers for the effective exer- 



