160 THE GREEN RISING 



to the beginning of hostilities, and protest against 

 prevailing rates was not only renewed but it was 

 much more widespread than formerly. Farmers of 

 the West were producing immense crops of grain 

 which they were unable to market because of the 

 inadequate equipment of the railroads. The prices 

 of farm products were so low that the farmers could 

 not afford to pay the freight from the farms to the 

 market centers. The situation was intolerable and 

 it was inevitable that something should be done. 



The railroads naturally resisted all efforts to re- 

 duce freight rates. They were over-capitalized and 

 were endeavoring to pay dividends on capital invest- 

 ment in excess of actual values. The railroad offi- 

 cials had lost the confidence of the people because 

 of fraudulent practices. Their pleas, therefore, for 

 impartial consideration fell on deaf ears. "High 

 freight and passenger rates/' says Haworth, "and 

 stories of the millions that railway lords were piling 

 up, combined to create great hostility among the 

 people; and the men chiefly engaged in the manage- 

 ment of railroads Jay Gould, the Vanderbilts, 

 Thomas A. Scott, John W. Garrett, and others 

 were indiscriminately condemned as a band of finan- 

 cial pirates." 3 



While this controversy between farmers and trans- 

 portation companies was in progress, the "Patrons 

 of Husbandry," familiarly known as the "Grangers," 

 was founded in Washington City in 1867. This 



* The United States in Our Own Times, Chap. I, p. 159. 



