GRANGER MOVEMENT AT FLOOD TIDE 29 



but of their high freight tariffs and monopoly 

 of transportation. In politics, too, they main- 

 tained a rather nice balance: the Grange was not 

 to be a political or party organization, but its 

 members were to perform their political duties as 

 individual citizens. 



It could hardly be expected that the program 

 of the Grange would satisfy all farmers. For the 

 agricultural discontent, as for any other dissatis- 

 faction, numerous panaceas were proposed, the ad- 

 vocates of each of which scorned all the others and 

 insisted on their particular remedy. Some farmers 

 objected to the Grange because it was a secret 

 organization; others, because it was nonpartisan. 

 For some the organization was too conservative; 

 for others, too radical. Yet all these objectors felt 

 the need of some sort of organization among the 

 farmers, very much as the trade-unionist and the 

 socialist, though widely divergent in program, 

 agree that the workers must unite in order to better 

 their condition. Hence during these years of activ- 

 ity on the part of the Grange many other agricul- 

 tural societies were formed, differing from the 

 Patrons of Husbandry in specific program rather 

 than in general purpose. 



The most important of these societies were the 



