486 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



ing that their wares have received the endorsement of 

 the Order. Farmers should beware of all such persons, 

 and bear in mind the following letter of warning issued 

 to the Order in general by the Secretary of the National 

 Grange : 



" To PATRONS : All members of the Order are here- 

 by cautioned against noticing any circulars that may be 

 sent them purporting to be issued on the recommenda- 

 tion of the National Grange, or its Officers, as no 

 certificate in favor of any article, seed, or implement 

 will be furnished to any individual, under any circum- 

 stances whatsoever, until the merits of such article is 

 endorsed and properly certified by at least ten Granges, 

 (whose endorsement will appear on the. circular,) and 

 not in any case to those who are not members of the 

 Order; and when any such endorsement is issued by 

 the National Grange, all and every subordinate Grange 

 will be duly notified by the Secretary of the National 

 Grange." . 



No feature of the Order has had to encounter more 

 opposition than the cooperative system we have de- 

 scribed. The middle-men early took the alarm, and 

 assailed it as a mere chimera, as utterly impracticable, 

 and ridiculed unmercifully the claims of its advocates. 

 Even that portion of the press most favorable to the 

 Order expressed grave doubts of the possibility of carry- 

 ing out this part of the programme. The repeated 

 and numerous failures of cooperative ' systems were 

 brought forward and urged with great force in opposi- 

 tion to the claims of the Grangers^and for a long time 

 the farmers themselves held aloof irom this feature of 

 the Order. But time and experience have demon- 

 strated both the practicability and the excellence of the 



