ORGANIZATION 123 



tion on a large scale. It has a large membership, 

 chiefly in the South and in the West. The American 

 Society of Equity, organized in the Middle West, has 

 for its main purpose the improvement of economic con- 

 ditions among farmers. Especial emphasis is laid upon 

 equitable returns to the farmer for his produce. 



Another group of societies, started even before the 

 great farmers' organizations, are of special interest. 

 These were associations of stock breeders, fruit grow- 

 ers, dairymen, etc. At the beginning they were in- 

 tended largely for educational or conference purposes 

 and were only to a slight extent business organizations. 

 Many of them are still of this character, but some of 

 the most powerful are frankly engaged in the effort to 

 improve facilities for collective bargaining and even to 

 influence legislation designed either to encourage or to 

 protect the industry. 



Collective bargaining, or, as it has usually been called 

 business cooperation, was one of the great objectives of 

 the earlier farmers' organizations; but this phase of 

 their work has never been a complete success. Indeed, 

 in spite of many individual instances of successful 

 Grange stores, Union warehouses, etc., and in spite of 

 the fact that efforts and discussion prepared the way for 

 collective bargaining, there was a vital defect in the 

 plans. Successful collective bargaining on the part of 

 farmers is dependent chiefly upon the ability of a rela- 

 tively small group of farmers who live near together 

 and grow the same things, to pool their interests in the 

 buying of supplies and in selling the particular products 

 they grow. The Grange and other great farmers' or- 

 ganizations took into membership farmers who were 

 growing a variety of things and sometimes endeavored 

 to lump all the products together for purposes of sale; 



