<P> Moreover, this crop - lien system contributed to the establishment of a cotton monoculture, as merchants demanded this easily storable, readily marketable commodity to be produced for the satisfaction of debt . Not accidentally, the requirement by merchants for cotton production made production of adequate food and fodder for sustenance virtually impossible, further deepening the debt of the farmer to his merchant - creditor . A sense of deep discontent with the current state of affairs was felt by the small - holding and tenant farmers of the South . </P> <P> The National Farmers' Alliance, commonly known as the "Northern Alliance," was established on March 21, 1877, by a group of members of the Grange movement from New York state . The group sought to organize in order to fight what they deemed the unfair practices of the railroad transportation mill, for the reform of the tax system, and for the legalization of Grange - sponsored insurance companies . </P> <P> This first organization proved largely ineffectual but does seem to have provided the inspiration for the first effective Alliance group, which was established on April 15, 1880, by newspaper editor Milton George in Chicago . George's paper, Western Rural, gave the new organization public exposure and inspired the establishment of chartered local organizations, beginning in Filley, Nebraska and soon spreading throughout the American Midwest . Dues were not collected in the earliest phase of Northern Alliance's existence, with editor George financing the group's launch--a fact which spurred growth . Within a month more than 200 locals had been chartered, with claims made that 1,000 local groups had been established by the end of the organization's first year . </P> <P> The Northern Alliance made its greatest inroads in areas which were stricken by drought in 1881, including the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota . Growth was slower in states less severely affected, including as Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan . Local organizations proved easier to launch than did statewide bodies and in its first years the Alliance was dominated by these local groups, with state - level bodies floundering . The locals did organize themselves at the state level, however, with delegates gathering in founding conventions in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan between January 1881 and the middle of 1882 . </P>

What was the significance of the farmers alliance