204: THE PATRONS TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS. 



vance twenty dollars per ton on all grain as it was shipped, :&amp;gt;r 

 received for shipment, the balance to be paid to the farmers 

 when freight and commissions were deducted on the sale of the 

 wheat in Liverpool, but some of the farmers had neglected to 

 obtain these advances. Time must necessarily elapse before 

 the cargoes could be heard from. What could be done ? The 

 Grange was not a corporate body; the Executive Committee 

 were powerless to act in so grave an emergency. The London 

 and San Francisco Bank withdrew its support from Mr. Wal- 

 cott, and though the prominent firm of Daniel Meyer & Co. 

 came at once to his relief, he was forced into bankruptcy. 



The business of E. E. Morgan s Sons was complicated, and 

 the Executive Committee who had access to his books and 

 papers, found that time was required before definite statements 

 could be made of losses and liabilities. Mr. Walcott had been 

 doing a mixed business, within and outside of the Grange, and 

 individual Patrons had been doing business with him on their 

 own account, without consulting the State agent. The warfare 

 which Mr. Walcott had waged with the wheat ring, had been 

 an unequal one, for they could afford to lose a season s profit in 

 breaking him down, trusting to an advance in the foreign de 

 mand. The confidence of the Grangers in Mr. Walcott s busi 

 ness talents was more than matched by that of the most expe 

 rienced commercial houses in San Francisco, upon whom the 

 weight of the failure fell even more heavily. Most unfortunately 

 for himself, for his financial backers, and for a considerable 

 number of Patrons who had trusted implicitly in his judgment 

 and integrity, Mr. Walcott failed; but most fortunately for the 

 success of the farmers movement towards emancipation. Now, 

 for the first time, the farmers had a true view of their helpless 

 ness, who knew how to grow a crop, but not how to dispose of 

 Tit to their own advantage. The whole body of Patrons were 

 now ready to incorporate, pay their own agents, and employ 

 their own capital. The lesson was at once improved; and those 

 who best understood how the disaster had happened, were the 

 most patient and unshaken in their confidence in their officers, 

 who labored day and night to lessen the severity of the loss. 



Another blessing in disguise included in the failure, was that 

 it demonstrated the moral status of the Order. 



When, in August and September, it was seen that ships could 

 be obtained at a much lower rate than that specified in Morgan s 



