286 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



participants and listeners. 1 Sometimes the state granges came 

 to the assistance of the local granges in this matter. For ex- 

 ample, the executive committee of the Iowa State Grange in 

 1874 prepared a series of questions for discussion in each of the 

 local granges. These included, as main questions; the desira- 

 bility of cooperation in business, the benefits secured by the 

 order of Patrons of Husbandry, and the control of transportation 

 companies by law; with subdivisions of each question. 2 Such 

 discussions could not help but be stimulating even though con- 

 clusions were sometimes reached which were at variance with 

 orthodox political economy. When funds were available it was 

 quite common for the masters and lecturers and sometimes 

 other officers of the state granges to spend a considerable part 

 of their time visiting local granges throughout the state, encourag- 

 ing them to continue in the work, lecturing to them on the dignity 

 of farming as an occupation or sometimes on more practical 

 agricultural subjects, and spreading information generally. 3 

 Similar services were also performed at times by the officers of 

 the National Grange; and in 1875 the national executive com- 

 mittee adopted the plan of suggesting programs and subjects 

 for discussion to the subordinate granges. 4 



The educational advantages to those who went as delegates 

 to meetings of state and national granges are obvious. The 

 traveling expenses were always paid out of the grange treasuries 



1 New Hampshire State Grange, Proceedings, vii (1880); Martin, Grange Move- 

 ment, 460; M. Whitehead in New Jersey Bureau of Statistics, Reports, ix. 347-349 

 (1886). Here is a typical Grange program: 



" The Patrons of Grange 435 met Saturday night to confer the fourth degree 

 upon a new member. The lady members had prepared a fine table filled with 

 the many blessings bestowed upon us by Our Heavenly Father. It was our harvest 

 feast and we appreciated it very much. After the table was cleared, Sister Hupp 

 read an essay upon Butter Making, and a speech was made by a brother from 

 Hazel Wood Grange. The Worthy Master made a few appropriate remarks, 

 and Brother Henry Bull read an appropriate piece. The question for the next 

 debate will be ' Can anything be made by feeding, to hogs, corn worth fifty cents per 

 bushel, when hogs sell for five cents per pound ? ' " Prairie Farmer, xlv. 3 7 1 ( 1 874) . 



2 Prairie Farmer, xlv. 347 (October 31, 1874). See also National Grange, Pro- 

 ceedings, xiii. 25 (1879). 



3 Ibid. xi. 38, xiv. 42 (1878, 1881); Carr, Patrons of Husbandry, 180. 



4 National Grange, Proceedings, ix. 23, 141 (November, 1875). 



