COOPERATIVE ORGANIZATIONS 289 



"It has been said that these things always regulate 

 themselves. I question if anything regulates itself. 

 The farmers and fruit growers must combine for 

 their own protection,, as the grain dealers and huck- 

 sters combine for their own profit otherwise they 

 will continue to labor for the benefit of those who, 

 however useful as a class, produce nothing." 



Such declarations resulted in a meeting, during 

 the State Fair of 1872, of delegates from various 

 farmers clubs and other local agricultural societies 

 for the avowed purpose of organizing a state-wide 

 association to "serve as a medium of communication 

 between the local clubs, to canvass the condition of 

 the agricultural interests and their relation to the 

 other industries of the State and., if possible, to 

 devise some means for the better promotion and pro- 

 tection of those interests in the future." Thirteen 

 counties were represented and an address was issued 

 to the farmers of the State "setting forth the disad- 

 vantages under which the agriculturists as a class 

 are laboring, the grievances which they are suffering 

 and showing the importance of strong and perma- 

 nent organizations and early and united action/' 

 This organization was called the California Farmers 

 Union, the name having of course no relation what- 

 ever with the existing Farmers Union, which was 

 organized over thirty years later. This original Cali- 

 fornia Farmers Union in its "address to the farmers 

 of the State" made these two declarations, which will 

 sufficiently indicate the temper of half a dozen 

 others : 



