The Grange's Power

The Grange accused the railroads of monopolistic practices designed to financially devastate the farmer.  For instance, each town was allowed by the railroad just one grain-elevator operator, thus eliminating the opportunity for competitive pricing.

What the farmer needed to run a successful farm- plows, reapers, seed and the cost of credit - all soared in price as a direct result of the railroad's discriminating pricing according to the farmers.  The Grange pointed to a 100% increase in the price of plows after the merger of two manufacturers of agricultural implements.

The Farmer's Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1873, stated that "toilers of the soil are people suffering from systems of oppression and abuse."  Most of the document focused on the railroads as the problem.  In the 1870s the Grange held the political power in many states, regulating railroad rates and grain-elevator operators by law.  After challenges in the Supreme Court, landmark decisions upheld the principle that government could regulate those industries that affected public interest. 

The Grange then organized cooperatives that would own grain elevators and farm machinery factories, thus reducing costs.  However, these cooperatives were poorly managed and under capitalized eventually failing and leaving the farmers as the losers. 

In the late 1870s, prosperity returned to the frontier and after the poor management practices of the Grange, many farmers chose to leave the organization.  The Grange's policies and economic influence was greatly reduced, but the farmers would once again face hard times and become a new powerful movement mobilizing the country's economy.  The country's food supply depended on it.

Next time....Montgomery Ward
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Today in Pioneer History: "On October 18, 1867,  the U.S. formally takes possession of Alaska after purchasing the territory from Russia for $7.2 million, or less than two cents an acre. The Alaska purchase comprised 586,412 square miles, about twice the size of Texas, and was championed by William Henry Seward, the enthusiastically expansionist secretary of state under President Andrew Johnson.