28 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



was now well defined and national in scope, so that 

 the seventh annual session of the National Grange, 

 which took place in St. Louis in February, 1874, at- 

 tracted much interest and comment. Thirty-three 

 men and twelve women attended the meetings, rep- 

 resenting thirty-two state and territorial Granges 

 and about half a million members. Their most 

 important act was the adoption of the "Declara- 

 tion of Purposes of the National Grange," sub- 

 scribed to then and now as the platform of the 

 Patrons and copied with minor modifications by 

 many later agricultural organizations in the United 

 States. The general purpose of the Patrons was 

 "to labor for the good of our Order, our Country, 

 and Mankind." This altruistic ideal was to find 

 practical application in efforts to enhance the com- 

 fort and attractions of homes, to maintain the laws, 

 to advance agricultural and industrial education, 

 to diversify crops, to systematize farm work, to 

 establish cooperative buying and selling, to suppress 

 personal, local, sectional, and national prejudices, 

 and to discountenance "the credit system, the 

 fashion system, and every other system tending to 

 prodigality and bankruptcy." As to business, the 

 Patrons declared themselves enemies not of capital 

 but of the tyranny of monopolies, not of railroads 



