CAUSES OF GROWTH. 119 



sand,&quot; falling so quietly from the coffers of tlie Subordinate 

 Granges, were accomplishing when gathered together. The 

 monopolists who had thought the farmers movement unlikely 

 to &quot;prove much of a shower,&quot; began to lay in a stock of um 

 brellas. They also began to devise schemes for dividing and 

 creating distrust within the body of the Order. But so thor 

 oughly had the organization prepared itself for any stress of 

 weather; so strong was it on its central principle that &quot;the 

 good of the whole could only be reached by the perfection of 

 its parts,&quot; that its growth has scarcely been checked by even 

 momentary disasters. 



It was not until the fall of 1873, however, that, owing to the 

 agitation prevailing throughout the United States in respect 

 to monopolies, especially oppressive in the North-west, the 

 power of the Grange began to be felt in the land. From the 

 original centers of its strength, without any effort at propo- 

 gandism, it had spread in all directions; in truth, it had a cen 

 ter in every true Patron, from which an unconscious influence 

 proceeded, until at the opening of the year 1875, its member 

 ship was estimated at not less than one million four hundred and 

 thirty thousand. There were other negative causes for this un 

 precedented growth, among which may be named class-spirit, 

 a debauched currency, protective tariff, railroad combinations, 

 combinations of manufactures, plow-makers and others. The 

 Granges of the first period may be termed the fighting Granges; 

 for they bore the brunt of the great conflict with monopolies, 

 and led the way to concession and peace. They had unpleas 

 ant things to say, and they said them in unmistakable English. 

 Some excesses of zeal were exhibited, and the Western Granges 

 narrowly escaped the fate of becoming a third political party. 

 It must be admitted by all that they possessed wise and tem 

 perate leaders. Dudley TV. Adams, the present TV. M. of the 

 National Grange, and Colonel Cochrane, Master of the Wis 

 consin State Grange, declined nominations for the highest 

 offices in their respective States. 



The Order now contains, in round numbers, twenty-two thou 

 sand Subordinate Granges, distributed as follows: Missouri, 

 Iowa, and Indiana, each two thousand; Illinois and Kentucky, 

 each one thousand five hundred; Kansas, one thousand three 

 hundred; Ohio and Tennessee, each one thousand one hundred; 

 Texas, eight hundred; Georgia, seven hundred; Alabama and 



