CHAPTEK IX. 



SOME farmers' organizations. 



THE organization of fanners in tlie United States is pro- 

 ceeding on lines materially different from those in 

 whicli it is proceeding elsewhere, but it must not be 

 supposed that the causes which are forcing farmers together 

 in the United States are not equally strong elsewhere. The 

 details of the working of the societies of farmers are difficult 

 to obtain. Publications of such societies in this country have 

 hitherto been largely rhetorical in their character and often 

 give a better idea of what the members think ought to be 

 done, than of what they are actually doing. There is naturally 

 some lack of statistical skill, and more lack of money to pay 

 for printing. The daily press, the great purveyor of news, 

 seldom deals with the subject. The farmers of all nations, 

 however, are beginning to organize, each according to the 

 national character, and the'circumstances of the people. If we 

 knew nothing of the actual facts, we should still know that 

 organization is in progress, or will soon begin among the 

 farmers of all civilized nations, because we know that every- 

 where the forces are at work which compel organization. 

 We also may know that whatever form organization may take 

 among the farmers of any country, it will be very uneven in 

 its progress. It may sweep like wild-fire over a certain district 

 for a season, and in a year or two there may be hardly a 

 visible sign of organization. It is certain, however, that the 

 })rocess is going on among farmers, as among other classes. 

 There are no reliable statistics, for there is a constant succes- 

 sion of societies organizing and disbanding.* A few years 



*0f ii list of fanners' marketing societies of California, compiled by myself, 

 some three years since, for the U. S. Interstate Commerce Commission, nearly 

 half were out of existence before the list was published, and yet the volume of 

 Cdoperative business done in tliat state was last year larger, probably by a 

 million dollars, tlian in any previous year. 

 (284) 



