248 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



The operations of Grange agencies in the other states of the 

 Middle West may be briefly summarized. Both state and a 

 profusion of local agencies existed in every state from Kansas to 

 Ohio, but they were similar in their general features to those 

 already described in Iowa and Illinois. The Ohio agency did 

 a large business for several years under the direction of W. H. 

 Hill as state agent, located at Cincinnati, but dissensions arose, 

 and it was closed out by the state grange about iSyS. 1 The 

 Indiana agency was first established on a commission basis. 

 Later the state grange paid the agent a regular salary and 

 allowed him to use fifteen thousand dollars of its funds as capital. 

 During 1875 the business of this agency amounted to three hun- 

 dred thousand dollars, and in 1876 it was still larger; but bad 

 management soon brought it to bankruptcy, entailing a loss of 

 several thousand dollars upon the state grange. 2 In Michigan 

 the state grange was generally conservative in business matters 

 and most of the Grange cooperation was carried on through 

 county councils and local agencies, the state agent confining 

 himself to making contracts with manufacturers and dealers. 

 One of these contracts is said to have broken up the " plaster 

 ring " and saved the farmers a large amount of money on their 

 purchases of land plaster. In the later part of the decade 

 arrangements were made with commercial firms in Detroit 

 and Chicago to act as Grange agents for filling orders and selling 

 produce. A special agency was also established in Ypsilanti 

 in 1878; but the business was so small that the executive com- 

 mittee was obliged to permit the agent to run it as a general 

 commission house in order to clear expenses. 3 In Wisconsin 

 the first state grange agent was appointed as early as 1871. 

 The work of the agency was confined to making contracts and 



1 On the Grange agencies of Ohio, see Ohio State Grange, Proceedings, i-iii 

 (1874-76); W. H. Hill, Revised and Consolidated Price List and Grange Book of 

 Reference; Ellis, " History of the Grange in Ohio," in Ohio Farmer, c. 348, ci. 32, 

 274, 298, 370 (1901, 1902); Warner, " Three Phases of Cooperation in the West," 

 in Johns Hopkins University, Studies, vi. 371. 



2 Indiana State Grange, Proceedings, iv. 12, 15, 16, 26, 29, 31, 35-37 (1874), 

 xxxiv. 98 (appendix); Illinois State Grange, Proceedings, iv. 17 (1875); Rural 

 Carolinian, v. 592; Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, Studies, vi. 382. 



3 Michigan State Grange, Proceedings, i-vii (1874-80). 



