THE OUTCOME OF THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 665 



free trade, but that can not be called a Grange issue, as Penn- 

 sylvania patrons want protection extended to farm-products. The 

 harmless practice of holding great fairs is gaining ground. At a 

 recent one in Pennsylvania, lasting a week, the local paper says : 

 " Over fifty thousand people were present on one day, and the 

 sale of machinery direct to the farmers ran up into the hundreds 

 of thousands of dollars. Never were manufacturers and consumers 

 brought into more direct and friendly relations." This is, perhaps, 

 the latest development of Grange anti-middleman ideas. 



The most enthusiastic Grangers at present are the farmers' 

 wives and daughters, who are attracted by the social opportunities. 

 In fact, the Order seems to be going back to the educational and 

 social basis of the founders, and its boasts are no longer co- 

 operative ventures so much as Grange buildings and libraries and 

 the Grange schools that exist in several states. In these direc- 

 tions, and in what it has done to heal sectional differences between 

 North and South, the Grange can boast its best achievements. 



