was formed temporarily in October, and permanently some time later, with the following officers: F. A. Putnam of Dudley, President; G. M. Whitaker of 43 Merchants' Row, Boston, Secretary; J. C. Poor of North Andover, Treasurer.

The League is not a secret organization. It has no ritual, signs, grips, or passwords. It is confined to farmers alone. The method of organization is simple in the extreme.

The membership of the League is confined almost exclusively to the States of Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York, numbering in all something less than fifty thousand. At present its efforts are directed to the better protection of dairy products against fraudulent imitations. While it may accomplish beneficial results in that line, it is hardly organized with a continuity of purpose, or fixed limits of action, to become either large in numbers or effective in national affairs. However, it is a move in the right direction, and should be encouraged rather than depreciated in its work among the farmers. Any organization that will assist in bringing the farmer to a sense of duty in regard to his own relations to society will do good, no matter in what form it may appear.

The Alliance in the State of New York. After much trouble, I have succeeded in obtaining the following statement regarding the origin of the Alliance in New York. It seems rather strange that the name should have been selected by an organization in Texas in 1873, and in New York in 1875, without one knowing of the existence of the other; yet this appears to have been the case. The history of the Alliance of New York is more interesting when it is known to have been the origin of what is now known as the Northwestern National Alliance, and clears up the early history of that organization. The following statement is kindly given me by Mr. F. P. Root of Brockport, New York:

N. A. DUNNING, Esq.

Dear Sir,-Your communication of the 5th inst. came duly to hand. In reply to your inquiries in relation to the early formation of a Farmers' Alliance, I will say: I have not the minutes of the first organization before me, but the proceedings are quite fresh in my memory. You may have noticed an article I communicated to the Albany Cultivator and Country Gentleman on the subject, published a few weeks since, in which the chief points of the early organization were given.

The only published notice I find, is the call for the meeting to organize, which was in February, 1875. In pursuance of that call, the meeting of farmers assembled, and the organization was effected. Since the publication of the article in the Cultivator at Albany, I have received a note from Rev. B. T. Roberts of North Chili, this county, saying that he claimed to be the originator of the Alliance; that he circulated the call for the first meeting, and that he framed the constitution and bylaws adopted. He says he presented the call to me, which I signed, but not without some objections, that such an effort might interfere with the Grange work, which I thought was already organizing farmers with much promise of good. Mr. Roberts says he replied that it would not be so, for he only proposed to take up their cause where the Grange left

it; that the Grange forbade all interference in politics, and this should be strictly political work, but not party.

Our meeting organized at the court-house in Rochester, and a committee was appointed to consider and report name, constitution, and by-laws for a farmers' organization. That committee consisted of the following men: Rev. B. T. Roberts, Prof. A. A. Hopkins, F. P. Root, John R. Garretson, and Jesse Deney.

That committee, after considerable discussion, reported the name of Farmers' Alliance, and constitution and by-laws, which were adopted by the meeting. I have not now a copy of the constitution at hand, but know that none but farmers were eligible; but all who were engaged in any branch of husbandry could become members, by the payment of an annual fee. The officers then elected, were: F. P. Root of Brockport, President; Mr. Ely of Rochester, Vice-President; and A. A. Hopkins of Rochester, Secretary and Treasurer.

This organization was in February, or the first of March, 1875. It embraced only the county of Monroe, but soon after a call was issued for a State meeting at Rochester, to organize a State Alliance. The call was responded to by representative farmers throughout Western New York, and an organization was effected to be known as the New York Farmers' Alliance. The constitution adopted by the Monroe County Alliance was also adopted by the State Alliance. The objects of this organization, as set forth, were to work out reforms in the State laws affecting the farming interest, and to urge an equal representation from our class in the legislation of the State. The course as most approved, and to which members were pledged, was to attend primary meetings of each political party, to which they were severally connected, and to urge the nomination of such men as were favorable to our interests; and when each party could succeed in their aim, each would vote their own ticket; but if one failed and the other succeeded, all should turn in and elect the candidate who favored us; otherwise, if neither candidate favored our views, an independent candidate should be nominated. The officers elected for the State Alliance were: President, F. P. Root of Brockport; Secretary and Treasurer, Prof. A. Dan of Wyoming County. The name of the Vice-President I have lost.

The next annual meeting was appointed at Syracuse, New York, which meeting was well attended, and an address was given by the president, and the objects and reforms most sought for were discussed during two days of the session. An election of officers for the ensuing year resulted as follows: President, Hon. Harris Lewis of Herkimer County; Prof. A. Dan was re-elected Secretary and Treasurer. The next annual meet

ing was held at Utica, New York. At this meeting a delegation from the Board of Trade and Transportation of New York City was sent, and was accepted in consultation. The officers of the previous year were re-elected. The next annual meeting was held in the city of Rochester, at which Gen. A. Diven of Elmira, Chemung County, was elected President, and W. J. Fowler of Monroe County was elected Secretary and Treasurer.

General Diven was a man of considerable note, being ex-member of Congress, also ex-vice-president of the Erie Railroad, but he could not afford the time necessary to advance the interests of the Farmers' Alliance, though heartily approving its work. He was twice elected President, with W. J. Fowler Secretary and Treasurer, but did not maintain the organization after the expiration of their official terms. I did not attend the last two meetings of the Alliance.

An organization of farmers, under the name of Farmers' League, was soon after effected, which is still in operation. Some time in the winter of 1880, a notice was issued for a meeting at Chicago for the formation of a National Farmers' Alliance. The purpose was carried out, and the Secretary of our Alliance, W. J. Fowler of Monroe County, New York, was elected President. Whether there were organizations under the head of Farmers' Alliance prior to the Chicago meeting, in any of the Western or Southern States, I am not informed; or whether the Alliance was anywhere known prior to our movement at Rochester, I do not know; but the organization was original with us. It was reported that an organization, copied after ours, was inaugurated in Germany, and also in England, previous to the Chicago meeting in 1880; but I have no positive knowledge of the fact.

This organization died almost, if not completely, out in the State, and is just at the present time being revived. It was never a secret organization, and did not reach a very high position either in effectiveness or utility; but it did, without doubt, lead to the formation of other and stronger organizations, and in this manner became the pioneer in the agricultural alliances of the North.

The Grange, or Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. — This order was founded in the city of Washington, District of Columbia, on the 4th day of December, 1867. The circumstances which led to its formation are as follows: In January, 1866, Mr. O. H. Kelley, in the Department of Agriculture, was sent on a mission of some sort through the South, by Mr.

Newton, the then Commissioner of Agriculture. Kelley went as far south as Charleston, South Carolina; thence to Savannah, Mobile, New Orleans, up the Mississippi to Memphis, across the country to Atlanta, and back again to Washington City, by the 21st day of April following.

Impressed with the disorganization of that peculiarly agricultural section, and grieved at the utter demoralization of its people, whom he found to be intelligent and trustworthy, Mr. Kelley conceived the idea that organization was necessary for the resuscitation of the country, and the recuperation of the farmers, whose wealth and resources had been swept away by the cruel hand of war. This, however, was but a transient thought, as applied to the farmers of the South; for a moment's reflection convinced him that there was vital need of organization among the farmers of the entire Union, North as well as South. In his soliloquy he asked himself why farmers should not join in a league peculiar to themselves, to which others should not be admitted. Such a union would be partisan; and, if partisan, it should be secret; and, if secret, it must have a ritual to make it effective and attractive.

This process of reasoning rapidly brought him to a conclusion, and forthwith he undertook to execute the ritualistic framework of such an organization. The task was, however, beyond his capacity, and he soon found himself sounding in deep water. But Kelley was a man not easily baffled; so, with ardor unabated, he resorted to the expedient of advising with counsellors. Mr. J. R. Thompson, an officer in the Treasury Department, and Mr. William M. Ireland, chief clerk in the Finance Division of the Post Office Department, to which bureau Kelley had been transferred in the fall of 1866, were two congenial companions, whose acquaintance he had made after his return from the South.

Mr. William Saunders, superintendent of the garden and grounds of the Department of Agriculture, was invited to join them, which he did. This quartet, unwilling to pass judgment upon the work of their own minds, invited the Rev. John Trimble, then an officer in the Treasury Department, to exercise the privilege of criticising their labors as they progressed. After a season, the Rev. A. B. Grosh, then a clerk in the Agricultural