78 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



The Missouri farmers had one in Jefferson City, October i, 1873 ; l 

 there was one in Maryland, April 8, i874; 2 and in Wisconsin 

 an agricultural convention was held at Madison in February 

 of each year throughout the decade, under the auspices of the 

 State Agricultural Society. 3 In most cases these conventions 

 got no further than discussion and resolutions and no permanent 

 organization was attempted, but in a few instances state organiza- 

 tions were established in imitation of the Illinois State Farmers' 

 Association. Thus the Tennessee State Farmers' Association 

 was formed by a convention which met at Nashville, September 

 16, 1873^ and Indiana fell into line June 10, 1874, with the 

 Indiana State Farmers' Association. 5 None of these institu- 

 tions appear to have been very long-lived or to have exerted 

 any considerable influence; but they indicate the general trend 

 toward agricultural organization. 



Early in the decade efforts were made to establish some sort 

 of a national association of agriculturists. In October, 1870, 

 an Agricultural Congress of the southern states was formed at 

 Augusta, Georgia, and in October, 1871, a National Agricultural 

 Association was organized at Nashville, Tennessee. In May of 

 the following year, these two bodies held a joint meeting at 

 St. Louis and merged under the name of the National Agricultural 

 Congress. In February, 1873, the secretary of the congress 

 issued a call for a meeting in Indianapolis in May, in which he 

 stated that the congress assumed to occupy the same relative 

 position to the farmers' clubs as the National Grange did to 

 the subordinate granges. This meeting was attended by about 

 two hundred delegates, representing twenty-five states. Ques- 

 tions of organization, transportation, agricultural colleges, and 

 public lands were discussed, and made the subjects of resolutions. 



1 Prairie Farmer, xliv. 121, 187 (April, June, 1873); Industrial Age, September 



6, 1873, P- 5- 



2 Maryland Farmer, xi. 149 (May, 1874). 



3 Prairie Farmer, xliii. 20, xliv. 4, 404 (1872-73); Wisconsin State Agricul- 

 tural Society, Transactions, 1872-80. 



4 Industrial Age, September 6, 1873, P- 5> Chicago Tribune, September 17, 1873, 

 p. 8; American Annual Cyclopedia, 1873, P- 7 2 &> Periam, The Groundswell, 100- 

 103. 



6 Industrial Age, June 18, 1874, p. 5; Chicago Tribune, June n, 1873, P- I2 * 



