196 THE AGRARIAN CRUSADE 



But the defection and death of Populist leaders, 

 the collapse of the party, and the disintegration of 

 the alliances could not stay the farmers' move- 

 ment. It ebbed for a time, just as at the end of the 

 Granger period, but it was destined to rise again. 

 The unprecedented prosperity, especially among 

 the farmers, which began with the closing years of 

 the nineteenth century and has continued with 

 little reaction down to the present has removed 

 many causes for agrarian discontent; but some of 

 the old evils are left, and fresh grievances have 

 come to the front. Experience taught the farmer 

 one lesson which he has never forgotten: that 

 whether prosperous or not, he can and must pro- 

 mote his welfare by organization. So it is that, as 

 one association or group of associations declines, 

 others arise. In some States, where the Grange 

 has survived or has been reintroduced, it is once 

 more the leading organ of the agricultural class. 

 Elsewhere other organizations, sometimes confined 

 to a single State 9 sometimes transcending state 

 lines, hold the farmers' allegiance more or less 

 firmly; and an attempt is now being made to unite 

 all of these associations in an American Federation 

 of Farmers. 



Until recently these orders have devoted their 



