THE COMMUNITY CENTER MOVEMENT
tions of farmers was the Grangers, sometimes called Patrons of Industry. This organization was brought about by O. H. Kelly, whom President Johnson sent to the South immediately after the Civil War to study agricultural conditions. It became a powerful order and at one time had a membership of nearly a quarter of a million. Another order of great power was the Farmers' Alliance, organized in Texas in 1876, for the purpose of punishing land and cattle thieves. Smaller organizations of similar character were later combined with the Farmers' Alliance, which at one time had a membership of over 5,000,000. The Farmers' Union of today is the successor of the Farmers' Alliance.
Then came Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, with his great vision and his remarkable mind. As someone said of him, he spent seventy years of preparation for seven years of work. He began on the greatest work of his life in 1911 by organizing the Farmers' Coöperative Work in Texas to fight the boll weevil that was making much havoc with the cotton crops. The next
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