44 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



with the outside world. His dissociation from any 

 but his nearest neighbors made him unsocial, nar- 

 row-minded, bigoted, and suspicious. He believed 

 that every man's hand was against him, and he was 

 therefore often led to turn his hand against every 

 man. Not until he was convinced that he might 

 at least trust the Grangers did he lay aside his 

 suspicions and join with other farmers in the at- 

 tempt to obtain what they considered just railroad 

 legislation. 



Certain it is, moreover, that the Grangers made 

 use of the popular hostility to the railroads in secur- 

 ing membership for the order. "Cooperation*' 

 and "Down with Monopoly" were two of the slo- 

 gans most commonly used by the Grange between 

 1870 and 1875 and were in large part responsi- 

 ble for its great expansion. Widely circulated re- 

 prints of articles exposing graft and corruption 

 made excellent fuel for the flames of agitation. 



How much of the farmers' bitterness against the 

 railroads was justified it is difficult to determine. 

 Some of it was undoubtedly due to prejudice, to 

 the hostility of the "producer" for the "nonpro- 

 ducer," and to the suspicion which the Western 

 farmer felt for the Eastern magnate. But much 

 of the suspicion was not without foundation. In 



