THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 469 



who buy for cash, and on whose purchases there is, 

 therefore, no risk. The Grange also assists its mem- 

 bers to get down to a cash basis, by making contracts 

 with local dealers to allow a discount to Grangers who 

 pay on the spot for their purchases, by making exten- 

 sive contracts to purchase agricultural implements, 

 sewing-machines, etc., at wholesale from the manufac- 

 turers, and in a few cases by lending money at low 

 rates of interest to enable the farmers to take advantage 

 of these arrangements. I have spoken of this feature 

 of the Grange movement at considerable length in one 

 of my letters from Iowa : the Grange in that State has 

 thus far been the model which those of other States are 

 imitating with greater or less success. 



" The Grange, I have said, teaches its members to be 

 thrifty and economical. By this I do not mean that it 

 teaches them to pinch and starve themselves, or to deny 

 themselves the comforts or even the luxuries of life. On 

 the other hand, it shows them how to acquire the means 

 to gratify their finer tastes. , Instead of leaving his 

 plow in the last furrow, to rust and rot through the 

 long season and wear out in four years, when it ought 

 to last six, the Grange teaches the farmer to put it 

 under cover, and so save enough to pay for the subscrip- 

 tion to a good newspaper or magazine, or to purchase a 

 good book. Instead of allowing his wheat to lie in the 

 shock and sprout before it is threshed, the Grange tells 

 the farmer that its value will be increased several cents 

 on a bushel if he carefully stacks it. It shows the 

 careless, thriftless farmer the secret of his more success- 

 ful neighbor's success, and gives him a helping hand to 

 make that secret of practical value to him." 



The Grange is the foe to selfishness. It is too much 



