76 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



postmasters everywhere reported a great increase 

 in their mails after the establishment of a Grange 

 in the vicinity. One said that after the advent of 

 the order there were thirty newspapers taken at his 

 office where previously there had been but one. 

 Papers for which members or local Granges sub- 

 scribed were read, passed from hand to hand, and 

 thoroughly discussed. This is good evidence that 

 farmers were forming the habit of reading. All 

 the Granger laws might have been repealed; all 

 the schemes for cooperation might have come to 

 naught; all the moral and religious teachings of the 

 Grange might have been left to the church; but 

 if the Granger movement had created nothing 

 else than this desire to read, it would have been 

 worth while. For after the farmer began to read, 

 he was no longer like deadwood floating in the 

 backwaters of the current; he became more like 

 a propelled vessel in midstream sometimes, to 

 be sure, driven into turbulent waters, sometimes 

 tossed about by conflicting currents, but at least 

 making progress. 



