276 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



out in England. As a consequence, they fell into many pitfalls 

 which the English cooperators had learned to avoid. Even 

 when the leaders of the Grange attempted to introduce the true 

 principles of cooperation they met with considerable opposition, 

 and the old enterprises generally retained their original form 

 to the end. The cooperative undertakings which were begun 

 after 1875 had the advantage, however, not only of the experience 

 of the English cooperators as promulgated in the rules of the 

 National Grange but also of the disastrous experience of their 

 predecessors, and, as has been seen, they were moderately suc- 

 cessful. In this connection it might be noted that the laws of 

 many of the states made the organization of cooperative associa- 

 tions in strict accord with the Rochdale plan an impossibility. 1 

 Had this difficulty appeared in the early years when the Granger 

 movement was a political force, the desired laws would probably 

 have been quickly enacted; but as it was the articles of asso- 

 ciation had to be modified to conform to the laws, and this was 

 a partial cause of the failure of some of these enterprises. 



Finally, the poverty of the farmers and the prevalence of the 

 credit system stood in the way of the success of Grange coopera- 

 tion. A certain amount of ready money was necessary, not 

 only to provide capital for the stores and agencies, but to enable 

 the farmers to take advantage of the opportunities they offered, 

 and ready money was far from plentiful with the farmers at 

 this time. The substitution of cash payment for the credit 

 system was one of the great objects of the Grange and the business 

 operations under its auspices were generally conducted on a 

 cash basis. The change from a credit system to cash payments 

 can be accomplished only gradually and many farmers who were 

 compelled to go to the regular merchants when they wanted 

 credit felt under obligations to trade with them when they had 

 cash. On the other hand, the giving of credit was a factor in 

 the ruin of some of the cooperative enterprises. 2 When com- 

 petition became strong, the teaching of the Grange was sometimes 

 forgotten and credit extended. Once started in this direction, 



1 Warner, in Johns Hopkins University, Studies, vi. 372-374, 389. 



2 Ibid. 374-377, 382. 



