68 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



per year and traveling expenses; the members received five 

 dollars per day and a five cent mileage for attendance at the 

 St. Louis session; and at the eighth session in Charleston, 

 February, 1875, the per diem was increased to six dollars. 1 

 In spite of these and other somewhat lavish expenditures, the 

 surplus in the treasury of the National Grange, which was about 

 fifty thousand dollars on January i, 1874, had doubled at the 

 beginning of 1875.2 The accumulation of such a large amount 

 of money excited feelings of distrust among many members 

 of the order, who feared that it would be squandered or mis- 

 appropriated and could see no reason why they should be com- 

 pelled to pay dues to increase the funds under the control of an 

 exclusive body, the members of which held superior degrees to 

 which the great mass could never hope to rise. This feeling 

 was inflamed by many newspaper articles, probably inspired 

 by opponents of the order, which hinted at the misuse of funds 

 and denounced the exclusiveness and extravagance of the Na- 

 tional Grange. The result was a widespread agitation for the 

 reduction of dues, the division of the surplus among the state 

 granges, and the reformation jof the National Grange on more 

 democratic lines. 3 



Many of the state granges, on the other hand, having embarked 

 upon elaborate cooperative projects, found the means at their 

 disposal entirely too meager for the successful development of 

 their plans. This, combined with the distrust of the National 

 Grange, led that body, at the Charleston session in February, 

 1875, to vote a loan of over fifty thousand dollars of its accumu- 

 lated funds to the state granges on the basis of $2.50 for every 

 subordinate grange of good standing within the jurisdiction. 

 By the next session, it was evident that these loans would never 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, vii. 54, 64 (1874), viii. 49, 59 (February, 1875); 

 Aiken, The Grange, 9-11. 



2 National Grange, Proceedings, vii. 82-84 (1874), viii. 127 (February, 1875). 



3 Iowa State Grange, Proceedings, iv. 7, 9, 48 (1873), v - 47 ( J 874); Michigan 

 State Grange, Proceedings, i. 12 (1874); Kansas State Grange, Proceedings, iii. 

 26 (1875); Western Rural, xiii. 188, 196 (June, 1874); Prairie Farmer, xlvi. 371 

 (November 20, 1875); Maryland Farmer, xiii. 20 (January, 1876); Aiken, The 

 Grange, 11-13. 



