BUSINESS COOPERATION 263 



patronage, it was found necessary to appoint a receiver to liqui- 

 date the affairs of the association. 1 



In the other states of the Northwest, also, large numbers of 

 so-called cooperative stores were established; but the only ones 

 which appear to have had any considerable success were a few 

 established late in the decade which followed the rules recom- 

 mended by the National Grange as closely as the state laws 

 would permit. Good examples of these are the Huntington Coop- 

 erative Store, established by Patrons at Huntington, Indiana, 

 about 1879, and one at Brandon, Wisconsin, established in 1877. 

 Both of these were reported as doing a large business about the 

 middle of the next decade. In Iowa, the Farmers' Exchange 

 of Grinnell, which was started in 1873 with a membership limited 

 to Patrons, survived the collapse of the order in that state, but 

 was obliged to admit others to membership after 1878. The 

 Rochdale system was never adopted in this store; but provision 

 was made for limiting the voting power of large stockholders, 

 and, largely because of skilful management, the store continued 

 to do an extensive business during the decade of the eighties. 2 



In Kansas, also, the first crop of Grange stores went to pieces 

 about the middle of the decade; but in 1876 some of the leading 

 Grange workers of the state brought about the organization 

 of the Johnson County Cooperative Association at Olathe upon 

 the Rochdale plan as embodied in the rules recommended by the 

 National Grange. The success of this store was phenomenal. 



1 Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, Sttidies, vi. 372-378; S. H. Ellis, 

 " History of the Grange in Ohio," in Ohio Farmer, ci. 32, cv. 399 (1902, 1904). 



2 National Grange, Proceedings, xv. 45, xvi. 34, 46 (1881, 1882); Illinois State 

 Grange, Proceedings, v. 74, 94-96 (1876); Michigan State Grange, Proceedings, 

 viii. 1 6 (1880); Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, Studies, vi. 382-384; Shaw, 

 in ibid. 316; Wisconsin Bureau of Statistics, Reports, ii. 208-211 (1885-86). 



In November, 1876, a meeting of managers of the cooperative stores of the 

 Northwest was held in Chicago in connection with the session of the National 

 Grange. Representatives were present from about twenty different stores and 

 associations located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee, Arkansas, 

 and New York. Steps were taken for the organization of a " Northwestern Co- 

 operative Association " to be located in Chicago and to serve as a wholesale house 

 for the local stores, but the association does not appear to have been established. 

 Probably it was not possible to dispose of enough stock to secure a working capital. 

 Illinois State Grange, Proceedings, v. 102-107. 



