664 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



continued till the faint-hearted in the Charleston session in 1875 

 carried a measure to distribute ^55,000 to the subordinate Granges 

 about $2.50 to each ! Prominent Grangers have maintained that 

 the causes of Grange decay are to be found in this and the other 

 measures of the same session curtailing the power of the National 

 Grange. The true cause has been seen to lie deeper, in the 

 failure of business enterprises. These measures had some influ- 

 ence, however. They were the beginnings of endless tinkering 

 with the constitution, and the cause of quarrels innumerable. 

 Among other quarrels was one with the Grange of Canada over 

 the question of jurisdiction. Soon afterward came the first open 

 break in the ranks. An Illinois Grange voted to disband, alleging 

 pecuniary reasons and the autocratic rule of the National Grange. 

 Many still had dreams that the Order was to spread over the 

 world, but the co-operative leaven had begun to work, and there 

 was soon no mistaking the tendency to decay. At the annual 

 meeting in 1876, four thousand Granges were reported delin- 

 quent. ^ Salaries were at once reduced the Master's from $2000 

 to $1200, and the secretary's from $2500 to $2000. It was 

 vainly attempted to stem the tide by issuing an official organ, the 

 Grange Record. In 1879 the Master's salary was dropped en- 

 tirely, and the secretary's reduced to $600. A bill for services 

 from Herr Prenzel, who had been working for the Order in 

 Germany since 1875, was dismissed with little ceremony. The 

 National Grange was not poor, having always kept about $50,000 

 to its credit invested in government bonds, but it had given up 

 the idea of converting the world. But the low-water mark had 

 been reached. Cash receipts in 1880 increased 200 per cent 

 over those in 1879. More Granges had been organized than in 

 any year since 1874. The growth was especially marked in New 

 England. The State Grange of Connecticut was revived after a 

 dormancy of six years, and Maine began to claim more Grangers 

 in proportion to population than any other state. At the session 

 of the National Grange for 1885, held in Boston, delegates were 

 present from all the states and territories but eight. It is not 

 easy to explain this growth, as there seems to be no great prin- 

 ciple underlying it. Some New England patrons are agitating 



