358 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



aggregated we are a power which will be irresistible for 



good to ourselves." 



The correspondent of the New York Tribune, gives 



the following account of an interview with Mr. Smith : 

 " The great apostle of the farmers' movement in this 



State, the man who planned the organization of the 



farmers, and by his earnest, well-directed efforts, has 



done more than any 

 other to give it shape 

 and make it an ef- 

 fective power, is S. 

 M. Smith, Secretary 

 of the State Farmers' 

 Association, and 

 himself a plain, hard- 

 working prairie far- 

 mer, residing about 

 two miles from this 

 village. A native of 

 Connecticut, and de- 

 scended from one of 

 those frugal, hard- 

 working New-Eng- 

 land farmers who 



S. M. SMITH, SECRETARY OF THE I-LLI- , ,, marks f 



NOIS STATE FARMERS' ASSOCIATION. 



their enterprise 



wherever they go, he came to Illinois seventeen years 

 ago, gave up his business of woollen manufacturer, 

 and hired Willow Farm, which he now owns. The 

 place, though situated in the midst of one of the rich- 

 est prairies of Illinois, had then, after nearly twenty 

 years' cultivation, been little improved. A very small 

 house, such as one may see upon the poorer farms of 



