476 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



nothing on credit but to pay cash for all their pur- 

 chases, and having received assurances from a sufficient 

 number of Granges that their members would purchase 

 through their own agent, application was made to three 

 manufacturers of plows in Des Moines for wholesale 

 rates. Two of them refused to make any terms with 

 the Grange, but the third agreed to make a deduction 

 of twenty percent, on the retail price of each of his 

 plows and twenty-five per cent, on cultivators. The 

 result was that this man, although he made up a large 

 stock in advance, was unable to supply the demand of 

 the Grange, and the freight agent of one of the rail- 

 roads at Des Moines remarked the other day that the 

 paint had not been dry on a single plow that had been 

 shipped from that man's shop this year. One of the 

 other manufacturers very soon discovered his mistake, 

 and got some of the orders that the first could not fill, 

 and the third is now ready to trade with the Granges. 

 Plows have also been bought of other manufacturers, 

 both in this State and those adjoining. How many 

 plows the Granges have purchased within a year at 

 these reduced prices cannot be ascertained, as, after the 

 contract had been made by the State agent, the orders 

 did not necessarily come through him, and no complete 

 record has, therefore, been kept; the county agents 

 have forwarded many of them directly to the manu- 

 facturers, the only condition being that the cash accom- 

 pany the order and that the purchaser be a Granger. 

 It is safe to say, however, that the purchases have 

 amounted to many thousands, and that not less than 

 $50,000 have been saved to the farmers of the State, 

 within a year, in the purchase of plows and cultivators 

 alone. 



