THE GEANGE FLEET. 203 



Subordinate Granges, advising them of the fact, and requesting 

 them to signify whether they wished to import, and what num 

 ber they were willing to take and pay for on delivery. There 

 being no time to lose, Mr. Walcott took the responsibility, and 

 at once ordered two million sacks from Dundee, which, becom 

 ing known to the wheat ring, they at once &quot;unloaded,&quot; in many 

 instances at less than cost prices. &quot;When the supply ordered 

 by Mr. Walcott arrived, by steamship, thus further enhancing ^ 

 its cost, the sack market was at its lowest. 



Meanwhile, the admiration of eastern Patrons was challenged 

 by the sailing of the Grange fleet of California, loaded by the 

 different Granges, some at Yallejo, some at Antioch, where it 

 was demonstrated that vessels could be loaded without risk, 

 and others at Oakland and San Francisco. The &quot;doubting 

 Thomases and unbelieving Philips&quot; in the Eastern Granges 

 were bidden by their masters to* &quot;get up and shake themselves,&quot; 

 for while they had been &quot;napping and grumbling, the Grange 

 fleet of California, where the Order was little more than a year 

 old, with a membership of sixteen thousand, had out-done Iowa, 

 three and a half years old, with a membership of one hundred 

 thousand.&quot; &quot;Let us rejoice,&quot; they said, &quot; that the farmers of 

 California have courage and brains enough to enter the markets 

 of Europe with their own produce, shipped on their own ac 

 count. Who will now say that the millenium is not near at 

 hand.&quot; 



But the Grange fleet was destined to encounter financial 

 storms and breakers, and the millenium of the monopolists, 

 when &quot;the lion and the lamb would lie down peaceably, with 

 the lamb inside of the lion,&quot; was yet further off. 



At the time of the failure, the firm of E. E. Morgan s Sons 

 had loaded and dispatched seventeen cargoes of wheat for the 

 Grangers, in 1874. Five of these were sent off in August, eight 

 in September, and four in November. The Antioch, Colusa, 

 Collinsville, Dixon, Hollister, Livermore, Merced, Modesto, 

 Plainsburg, Stockton, Turlock and Yolo Granges, had engaged 

 in this trade. These seventeen vessels carried over twenty 

 thousand tons of wheat. With one exception, they were all 

 chartered to arrive at 4 and upward. The firm had fifteen 

 vessels then in port, under charter to load wheat, chiefly at 

 85s., though two got 87s. 6d., and one was taken on the spot at 

 60s. It appears that it was customary for the shippers to ad- 



