296 FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS 



ing many millions of capital; the other was the " Knickerbocker." 

 Boston has a similar Grange, which after much trouble was expelled 

 from the National. Members of these city Granges were criticized 

 as being interested in the farmer "as the hawk is interested in the 

 sparrow." In 1876 four thousand Granges were reported delin- 

 quent. Salaries were at once reduced the Master's from $2,000 

 to $1,200, and the Secretary's from $2,500 to $2,000. In 1879 the 

 Master's salary was dropped entirely, and the secretary reduced 

 to $600. 



Renewed Growth. And now there began a new period of 

 rapid growth. Some writers had reported the Grange as "dead." 

 But it suddenly found new life, especially in the North and the 

 East particularly New England and later in the Northwest. 

 At the session of the National Grange in 1885, held at Boston, 

 delegates were present from all the States and territories but eight! 

 Such were the vicissitudes of ten years! Granges, dormant for 

 many years, were resuscitated. New Granges were organized. 

 During the whole life of the Grange it has thus evinced an almost 

 incredible power to grow weak and become dormant and then 

 suddenly to rise again into full might and activity. Evidently it 

 contains the germs of life. It is now proper to pause and enquire 

 into the economic aspects of Grange endeavor and also into its 

 substantial achievements. 



Economic Program of the Grange. What are commonly called 

 the "Granger laws" had no connection with the Grange. The 

 so-called Granger legislation was railway legislation enacted by 

 the separate States in the days before we had any federal Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission or federal regulation of the railroads. 

 The States in the corn belt accordingly undertook to regulate the 

 rates and services of these roads, and the roads in turn resisted 

 all such regulation. The movement began in Illinois, in the Con- 

 stitution of 1870 and the railway regulation Act of 1871. Other 

 States now followed. The farmers back of this movement were 

 considered radicals, and came to be commonly called "grangers," 

 the term not indicating any connection with any Grange. These 

 laws constituted "granger legislation," but not Grange legislation. 

 There are at least three bits of evidence for this statement. (1) 

 The date of the laws. The Illinois constitution of 1870 the 

 pattern for all the rest was adopted in 1870, after a few years of 

 agitation, and the Grange at that time had not a foothold in the 

 State. The State Grange of Illinois was organized in March, 1872. 

 By 1874 seven States had enacted "Granger laws." (2) The per- 



