258 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



unless under sufficient bonds to secure the members of the order 

 from possible loss. 1 



At the eighth session of the National Grange, in February, 

 1875, business cooperation was the all-absorbing theme among 

 the delegates, but the work of the National Grange in this direc- 

 tion was crippled by the loan of fifty thousand dollars to the 

 state granges to assist them in carrying on the extensive agencies 

 and manufacturing enterprises undertaken. A plan recom- 

 mended by the executive committee for the appointment of 

 three national purchasing agents in New York, Chicago, and 

 New Orleans, with salaries to be paid by the National Grange, 

 was rejected. The operations of the committee during the 

 year were approved, however, and encouragement was given 

 for continuing them along the same lines. 2 



During the summer of 1875, a sub-committee of the executive 

 committee visited a number of states for the purpose of deciding 

 upon a location for the headquarters of the National Grange, 

 and advantage was taken of this opportunity to investigate 

 the workings of the state business agencies. This sub-committee 

 reported that many of the agencies were unsatisfactory, especially 

 those doing business on a commission basis, which differed little 

 from ordinary commission firms, and recommended the inaugura- 

 tion of a permanent, uniform cooperative business system in 

 the order. As a result of this investigation the executive com- 

 mittee adopted a series of resolutions condemning the commission 

 system as at variance with cooperative principles and recom- 

 mending the abolition of all commission agencies and the estab- 

 lishment in each state of a single salaried state agent. When 

 the National Grange met in November, 1875, it expressed its 

 approval of this action by adopting a similar resolution, with 

 the added recommendations that the agents be members of the 

 order, that they be placed under bonds, that they cooperate 



1 On this episode, see National Grange, Proceedings, viii. 51, 90, 98, 104, ix. 100, 

 135, 141, 155, x. 23, 101 (1875-76); State grange proceedings: North Carolina, 

 Hi. 12, 27, 36 (1876); New York, ii. 13, 22-24, 42-44, 56 (1875); Ohio, iii. 7 (1876). 



2 National Grange, Proceedings, viii. 23-31, 55, 65, 70, 77, 99 (February, 1875); 

 Woodman, " Early History of the Grange," in American Grange Bulletin, xxx. 

 nos. 38, 41 (March 7, 28, 1901). 



