COLLAPSE OF THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 65 



patent system was that new patents were not thor- 

 oughly investigated, so that occasionally one was 

 issued on an article which had long been in common 

 use. That a man should take out a patent for the 

 manufacture of a sliding gate which farmers had 

 for years crudely constructed for themselves and 

 should then collect royalty from those who were 

 using the gates they had made, naturally enough 

 aroused the wrath of his victims. 



It was but natural, then, that the Granges should 

 be drawn into all sorts of schemes to divert into the 

 pockets of their members the streams of wealth 

 which had previously flowed to the greedy middle- 

 men . The members of the National Grange, think- 

 ing that these early schemes for cooperation were 

 premature, did not at first take them up and stand- 

 ardize them but left them entirely in the hands of 

 local, county, and state Granges. These there- 

 upon proceeded to "gang their ain gait" through 

 the unfamiliar paths of business operations and too 

 frequently brought up in a quagmire. "This pur- 

 chasing business," said Kelley in 1867, "com- 

 menced with buying jackasses; the prospects are 

 that many will be sold. " But the Grangers went 

 on with their plans for business cooperation with 

 ardor undampened by such forebodings. Sometimes 



