THE ECONOMIC PROTEST 199 



"True, the movement suffered a severe backset 

 following the collapse of the Grange in 1875-76, 

 and again with the disintegration of the Farmers' 

 Alliance in 1890-91. For a period of many years 

 following this latter disaster the movement found 

 expression only in a whirlpool of political 'isms' 

 without much semblance of coherence or unity. Yet 

 throughout it all the same impelling motive has 

 existed. . . . 



"The story of the rise and decline of the Grange, 

 the Farmers' Alliance, the Agricultural Wheel, the 

 Brothers of Freedom, the Northwestern Alliance, 

 the Farmers' Union, the Farmers' and Laborers' 

 Union, the Equity, and the Gleaners, together with 

 the story of the farmers' attempt at independent 

 politics as exemplified by Greenbackism, populism, 

 and bimetalism, form a most interesting chapter in 

 the development of our economic and political life 

 and contain vivid lessons which our agricultural no 

 less than our political leaders of today may well 

 stop and ponder." 1 



Cooperative Marketing on a Commodity Basis 



The cooperative marketing movement is the 

 result of new policies recently put into force by the 

 federal government and a new type of farm organ- 

 ization that has developed through government en- 

 couragement. The passage of the Smith-Lever Act 



1 0rville Merton Kile's The Farm Bureau Movement (1921), 

 Chap. I, pp. 3 and 4. 



