6 AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS. 



spring of 1865, and that year closed amid universal prosperity 

 in the North, East, and West. The people were out of debt, 

 all labor was employed, and all the conditions which wait upon 

 a prosperous and industrious people were seen on every hand. 



The people of the South had begun the task of repairing the 

 ravages of war and rebuilding their shattered fortunes with a 

 determination which admitted of no failure, and the whole coun- 

 try echoed with the busy hum of industry. During the year 

 which followed, these conditions continued, but in the latter 

 part of 1867 a change was observed. It had been brought about 

 quietly. No one seemed to know how, but the effects were 

 none the less positive. Agriculture was the first to feel this 

 changed condition, and undertook to counteract it by a closer 

 economy and increased production. The first compelled the 

 manufacturer to curtail his production or lessen its value. 

 Either course reduced the remuneration of the laborer, and 

 compelled him to purchase less or buy cheaper. This reacted 

 upon the farmer. The second overstocked the market, and 

 reduced the price of the whole product, and enabled those who 

 could to dictate their own terms. This condition has obtained 

 among the farmers to the present time. In the vain endeavor 

 to extricate themselves from their surroundings, having faith in 

 the prospect of better times, the farmers borrowed money on 

 note or mortgage to tide them over, only to find that the future 

 brought no relief. This dark cloud of debt and disappointment 

 hung lower and lower each succeeding year, until the storm of 

 1873 swept over the country, leaving in its course the wrecks 

 of many thousand financial disasters. 



In 1867 the first agricultural organization of promise appeared 

 in the Grange, or Patrons of Husbandry. This organization 

 sought to better the condition of the farmer by eliminating the 

 so-called middleman, the merchant or dealer. It assumed 

 that the profit, which lodged somewhere between the producer 

 and consumer, was the cause of nearly all the disaster that 

 waited upon agricultural effort. This idea took hold of the peo- 

 ple, and the result was an immense organization, with every 

 promise of success. The experiment, aside from its educational 

 results, was almost an entire failure. 



Since this time the causes which have depressed agriculture 



