The Georgia grange. (Atlanta, Ga.) 18??-1882, November 01, 1873, Image 1
vwa ® ftjjßtu'w'' i if 1 |ii W 1-4. iSiKKIHEt w wl' M tefer-MrWKfe o ® WB JMNP 1 * * wiwJ WHI ZflSßl Jlßawl W \lKBSfe imMe waW? .WK IH URfih Wk f- Jxxwfe** TO NG . u u * * nc 11 i VOLUME I. the To Grangers and the Public Gener ally.—The terms of subscription to The Georgia Grange are two dollars and fifty cents per year to members Os Granges, and three dollars per year to outsiders. We call attention to our club rates, and schedule rates for advertising. Our rates are exceedingly low, and we offer inducements and facilities unsurpassed in this country. Read the announcements. The Granger’s Crop Reports—From the official returns of crops from forty-four Granges in this State, we find the number of acres planted in cotton to be 65,390, and the number of bales of cotton that will be made on the same at 20,878, or an average of about 3} acres per bale. The acres in c0rn—47,091 —probably yield 422,006, or an average of little over 9 bushels per acre. How Business Men Estimate the Crop Reports of the Georgia Granges.—lt may serve as a stimulus to the Grangers in giving ac curate crop returns from month to month, to know that the State Grange has already been offered five hundred dollars for the same. Granges should certainly aim at the highest attainable accuracy, in forwarding estimates of crops, which, when compared with data from every cotton and grain growing State, will ma terially aid the farmer in future plans and cal culations. Hypocrisy.—lt won’t do for any political trickster, place-holder, or aspirant after the money bags of our people, to talk “Grange talk,” sleep in hay mows, and sprinkle their breeches with cockle burs, in order to make the farmers believe that he is “one Jof them,” and has nothing in the world at heart but the interests of the “dear |>eople.” These hypo crites will do well to note the fact that their hypocrisy is now too thin, and will fail to have the effect it used to have. Farmers have be come wiser. They have suffered in the school of experience, but they have also learned. Nor will the lesson be lost. All this mimicry on the part of |>olitical apes is labor lost. Let them slink back to their insignificance, and remain there. To Secretaries and Tteasurers of Local Granges.—We have been requested to publish the foil twing for the benefit of Secre taries and Treasurers of local Granges : “To prevent unnecessary labor and con fusion, already pre .’ailing, your attention is called to Art. VII., Sec. it. and Sec. 111., which make it the duty of the Secretary to re port quarterly to the Secretary of the State Grange (on/y) the names of all persons initi ated or passed to higher degrees; and pay (on/y) to the Treasurer of the State Grange the sum of one dollar for each man, and fifty cents for each woman, initiated during the quarter; also a quarterly due of six cents for each mem ber.” Treasurers will see from the alx>ve that they are not required to make any rejKirt to the Secretary of the State Grange. —■—•—-• How to Purchase Seals for Subordi nate Granges.—Address B. Z. Dutton, At lanta, Ga., and enclose a postal order of $6. Write plainly the name and number of the Grange, when organised, and the county in which located—and device. Don’t require too many features in your device—they crowd your seal t<x> much, and prevent distinctness of im pression. Don’t fail to write plainly your nearest express office, to which the seal must be shipped. Granges, so soon as organized, should agree upon their device, and have everything in readiness for their members, which they receive upon Dispensations from O. 11. Kelley, Secretary. They can then for- Jward order* for seals without any unnecessary delay. At best, it requires about thirty days, and sometimes seven weeks, to have them de livered to you. Timely action in the premises will save much delay. ' It is reported that Granges of Patrons if J Husbandry are being organised in Missouri at V’the rate of fifty per week. To the Granger* of Georgia. Should The Georgia Grange be adopted by the Georgia State Grange as the official organ of the Patrons of Husbandry, all circu lars, announcements, reports, proclamations, and other official matter, will be published free, for the benefit of the Order. The State Grange, therefore, will •be at no expense whatever in the promulgation of its official acts, or of anything else relative to the business and progress of the Order. The col umns of The Georgia Grange shall always be open to every member who shall desire to write on matters pertinent to the cause, and conducive to the welfare of the Order. The Georgia Grange will be a “ Farmer’s Paper,” complete, as such, in every feature, and claiming your patronage and support sole ly upon its own merits. “ Open to Conviction.” —Some who boast of an extra amount of personal independence, or take a questionable delight in “straddling the fence” on important questions—say that of joining their fellow-farmers in the Grange or ganization —they will “ remain open to convic tion.” We hope they will not remain long in this monotonous and undignified position. Let thenr entift: TW'-n’ Tiefirrite deeiwion, one w«y or the other. Common sense, the instinct of self preservation, and palpable facts before all eyes, we think ought to be “ conviction” suffi cient that the Patrons of Husbandry are an or ganization worthy the most earnest support of every honest man who has an interest in agri culture, and desires to see its best interests suc cessfully sustained. The Editor of the Hural Carolinian well says: “ Those who are striving so persistently to drag the Order of Patrons of Husbandry into the filthy mire of politics are not the farm ers’ friends, whatever their professions may be. They would lead us to our ruin. But it should be enough, with every good Patron, that our Constitution strictly forbids not merely polit ical action by the Granges, but even the dis cussion of political questions. We must not tolerate any departure from the spirit of this wise provision. As Granges, we have other means of making our power felt. Shall we be made tools of by the demagogue ? God for bid ! When it comes to that, we may well close our gates and tie black crape around the knobs.” The following pertinent and sensible re marks were recently made by the Master of one of our Granges, in the course of an ad dress : “ In no one direction, and in no relation to society, is the Order doing a more important and fruitful work than in the education of woman. Much as I love its beautiful and symbolic ritual, as amply as I respect its power to lift up a class long needing its aid, yet in no one direction is it more important than in its relation to woman It does not ask, Is she the stronger or weaker vessel ? It does not ask whether her brain or intellect is greater or less than man's. It simply asks, Is she a human soul? Answering this question in the affirma tive, it says to her, whether as wife, mother, sister or friend, you have equal responsibili ties, rights and duties with man in the social spheres of life, and we need and expect your sympathy and aid.” Rate of Increase in the Membership of the Granges of Georgia.—From the books of the Secretary of the State Grange we obtain the following synopsis of the rate of increase in the membership of subordinate Granges in the State of Georgia. We find that in the quarterly reports, received from thirty-six Granges, a gain of eight hundred and twenty-four members is recorded. This is a gain of over 140 per cent, since their organi zation, and gives an average of over thirty five members to the Grange. Estimating the number of Granges in Georgia at two hundred and forty (240), we have, in round numbers, a grand total of eight thousand four hundred (8,400) members. Os this number, about two thirds arc males and the balance female*. The rapid and extraordinary increase in membership of this beneficent Order, as proven by the above figures, will give our outside farming friends abundant evidence of the sym pathy which their brother-farmers exhibit in the work, and the high esteem in which the Patrons of Husbandry are held in Georgia. FRANKLIN PRINTING HOUSE, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1873. Benefit* of Co-operative Purchases. Among many other beneficial fruits of the Farmers’ Organization cropping out in the Western States, is the fact that a constantly in creasing competition has sprung up between wholesale dealers to secure the coveted custom of the Grangers. The purchasing agents of the Illinois Granges, for instance, are buying every article necessary for the use of members at wholesale prices. In that section a good farm wagon, compete, retails at SIOO. The agents of Grange pay but S7O for it A Granger gets a plow for sl6 which formerly cost him $32. The same reduction holds good in other articles. A Granger’s wife can get a sewing machine for $39 which formerly, outside of Grange influ ence, would have cost her $65, and through the same agency those who desire it, can get a parlor organ from S4O to S6O cheaper than she ;ould a year ago. Thus, the system of co operation among farmers works like a charm, and facts like these establish its succes. The Grange in Its Social Benefits. The educational and social influences of the Grange are ingredients worthy of consideration. Farmers, through the peculiarities of their avocation, have, as a rule, been denied pleasures of organized social intercourse with each other. Scattered here and there in isolated locali ties, without a common rallying point for socia bility, with a lack of system and purpose in every undertaking, it is not to be wondered at that the peculiar polish and cosy grace charac terizing urban communities, should have failed to become habitual to the sturdy sons and daughters of our rural districts. The local Grange is an excellent corrective of this condition. It brings the best social ele ments of the vicinity together; it breaks the ice of diffidence and constraint; it brings out latent talent, and makes the membership feel as one great family sssembled in friendly’ union for the furtherance of every project which can improve every individual—mentally, socially, or pecuniarily. A broader, a brighter, and a better view of life is thus afforded ; prejudices and clanish habits are forgotten, and “the Grange” becomes an excellent school of knowl edge in experience and wisdom. Grange Gossip.—The Grangers of Cham paign county, Illinois, having shipped, in their corporate capacity, nineteen car-loads of corn to market, on their own account, made five hundred dollars more than they could have made by any other mode of shipment. Owing to their success, the farmers have de termined to forward their whole crop in a sim ilar way. One novel feature of the farmers’ movement, which bids fair to become very popular and to work great good in cementing the fanners to gether more closely, is the harvest home pic nic. These gatherings are largely social in their character, but can not fail to advance the political prospects of the farmers. Lately, at a farmers’ meeting in lowa, sixty Granges were in attendance, all in the regalia of the Order. On the ground were 500 teams, and from 8,000 to 10,000 farmers were present. They were addressed by Mr. Dudley W. Adams, Master of the National Grange. The farmers’ gatherings throughout the ■ country this fall, have demonstrated an amount of public spirit and intelligence which is grati. ifying to all interested in the progress of agri culture. They’ have developed the fact that a general interest is taken in both public affairs and political economy. The people are getting opportunity to look at all sides of the same question. The views obtained are not those of two opposing political parties simply,but of men standing in the position of publicists, outside of the party harness. We rejoice in this, and regard the future, politically, with more hope than we have for a long time. It looks as if I the filthy political stables were to be cleaned and deoderized. The Missouri Patrons of Husbandry are I making arrangements to handle all the hog product of that State through the agency of St. Louis. The annual meeting of the Illinois State Farmers’ Association is to be held at D.catur, December 26. r Old Farmer Brown. INSCRIBED to the patrons of husbandry. From the harvest, field, old farmer Brown came home with a look of care, Hathrew his hat on the floor, and satdown in his old splint-bottomed chair, He wiped the sweat, iroin his dripping brow, and pulled out his old jack-knife, He whittled away to' himself, awhile, and called to his little wife. From her quaint and tidy kitchen, she came through the open door; With her sleeves pinned up to her shoulders and her skirt pinned up before. She loeked as faded, wrinkled and worn as the folds of lier gingham gown, When she saw the haggard and hopeless look on the face of fanner Brown. Then, down in her rocking-chair she sank, in a sort of helpless way, Nor spoke one word, but looked and listened to hear what he might say. “ Hannah, I’m sick a livin’ here, an’ a workin’ from spring to fall A raisin’ tatoes an’ corn to sell, that don’t bring nothin’ at all. Here we have worked together, for forty years, like a pair of slaves, An’ that old mortgage, ain’t lifted yet, that I owe to Gideon Graves. That judgment note o’ deacou Dunn’s will soon be a failin’due, An’ where’ the money’s a coinin’ from, why, I can’t tell, nor you. I’m kept in sech a worry an’ fret, by all these sort o’ thipgs, That I have to sell the stuff that I raise, rite off for what it brings. It costs so much for my taxes now, an’ to keep the woif That I havn’t no chance to make a cent, an’ that is what’s to pay. Hannah, we’ve both on us grown old, an' our children entail gone, Thermal no one now that is left at home, for us to de upon. J hi 11 ut ns I used tu be. nor as able to work, I KV >W, But I've got to set these matters square, an’ the farm’ll have to go. “Half o’ the world lives idle, with plenty to eat an’ wear, An’ the ones who work the hardest, have often the least to spare. The farmers work till their forms are bent, an’ their hands are hard and brown ; The workmen delve in the dust an’ smoke, o’ the workshops in the town ; The sturdy sailors bring to our shores the wealth o’ foreign lands, An’ the other half o’ the world subsists by the work o’ these hardened hands. An’ this is one o' the reasons why I can’t pay what I owe; While you an’ I area gettin’ old, an’ the farm’ll have to go. “I’ve worked in the woods in the winter time, I've plowed an’ sowed in the spring, I’ve hoed an' dug through ;summer and fall, an’ I hav’nt made a thing, Sometimes I lie awake all night, an’ worry, an’ fuss, an’ fret. An’ never a single wink o’ sleep, nor a bit o’ rest I get. I think o' our grown up children, an’ the life they’ve just begun— They’ve gut to hoe the same hard row, as you an’ I have done. I think o’ the politicians, an’ the way that they rob an’ steal, An’ the more I think o' farmin', the poorer it makes me feel. The speculators buy up our cheese, our butter, our wool an’ hay; An' they sell ’em agin for more’n twice as much as they had to pay. They bleed us in transportation, they fleece us every where ; They cheat us on our provisions an’ the very clothes we wear. They live in their loity houses, on the best that can be found, Their wives wear dazzlin’ diamonds, an’ their chil dren loaf around. In the summer they go to the seashore, an’ the spring to make a show. An’ that is the way our butter an’ cheese an’ our corn an’ ’taters go.' “ We work in the sun all summer, raise turnips an’ corn on shares, That the railroadsan* politicians may cheat us an' put on airs. They carry the reins o’ power, an’ will till we fill our graves. They rule and ruin the markets, an’ we are a pack o’ slaves. What's to be done? God only knows. I’ve failed in many ways. In tryiif to lay a leetle by t<> ease my declinin’ days. I never have been a shiftless man ; I've (tiggured, I’ve worked an' tried, While the old farm’s been a runnin’ down, since the day that satber died I’ve borrowed money to pay my debts, an’ I’ve watch ed the interest grow, Till its fairly got the start o' me, an’ the farm'll have logo.’’ Then the little wife of farmer Brown stood up upon the floor, And she looked at him in a kind of way thatshe never had before. The furrows fled from her shrivelled cheeks, and her face grew all aglow ; “ I never will sign the deed, John, an’ the farm shall • twr go. There's jest one thing to be done as sure as you an' I are born. You must join the Grange an’ note, John, if you would sell vour corn ; Hope an prayer are good, John, for the man who digs an' delves, But Heaven will not help us, John, unless we help ourselves. I ain’t as chipper, an’ smart, an’ spry, nor as strong as I used to be, But I've got a heap o' tpunk, John, when it’s started up in me.” Over the old man’s furrowed face the tears began to flow, He never had felt more proud and strong, aince their welding long ago. A golden gleam of heavenly hope illumined his soul's despair, And. kneeling down on the time-worn floor, both bowed their heads in prayer. —Eugene J. Hall- A wealthy farmer of Fulton has this notice posted up in his field : “If any man’s or wo man’s cows or oxen gits in these air oats, his or her head will be cut off, as the case may be. A man eye um, and pay mi taxes, but confooli zation to a man who lets his critters run loose, said eve.” * States and Railroads. “The Granger movement! What is that? Don’t know anything about it; havn’t j»id any attention to it.” Thus, something after the manner of Pilate when he asked “What is truth?” and would not stay for the answer, Mr. Vanderbilt is reported to have commenced an interview upon one of the most important issues of the day—the relations which are to be maintained between the State and the corpo rations which it has created. The moderation and caution of the Western people have been conspicuous. They have not displayed iconoclastic zeal, but have en deavored so to deal with the railroads that the legitimate and reasonable profits of the latter should not be diminished. Accus tomed to buy legislatures and judges, the man agers of great corporations forget that in the West their antagonists have elected themselves to the Senate and Assembly, and seated them selves on the bench. There are railroad kings—though we are glad to believe that Mr. Vanderbilt is not one of them—who regard the railroad not at all as a means of transportation, but simply as a gambling implement. They forget that it is in the power of the people to sweep their paper millions out of existence. The effect on the inflated stock of the railroad whose taxes were doubled and whose receipts were diminished one-half by an act of the Legislature would be apt to be unsatisfactory to those who had “gone long” on it. But when the judges whom the railroads had elected declare that the Stat may punish rebellious corporations by extinct tion, when the most careful and conservative public men of the West are found recommend ing the wiping out of all “watered” stock, and oven the making of the roads public highways over which A, B, and C may run his cars on payment of a moderate toll, it would seem as if it were nearly time for Mr. Vanderbilt to brush up his natural history and obtain some information as to the habits and constitution of those apparently unknown beasts,the Grangers —otherwise the people.— World. War and Finance. There is some analogy between war and finance in their defensive measures and in the importance of alliances. There were bits of genuine stratagem in the September panic, and victories not less renowned than war’s. The sudden shutting up of the New York Stock Exchange was like exploding a mine under besiegers. The issue by the banks of loan certificates, to be used at the clearing house in bank settlements, instead of currency, was throwing supplies into be leaguered forts. The league of the national banks bound handfuls of loose twigs into fascines. In Philadelphia, the enemy assem bled in front of the Fidelity Trust Company, and attacked it in force. Perceiving this» and the strength of the position (a less de fensible one had been abandoned to a rapid fate), its friends poured reinforcements into the Fidelity, the Pennsylvania Railroad alone anticipating and paying it $175,000 not then due. It was the key of the finan cial position in that city, and after a three days’ assault the panic-stricken moved off, while the bank stood intact. The finance of the future might well study the strategy of alliances and the methods of rallying and concentration, to resist such attacks for the common good. It might study the best methods of guarding against such deadlocks of foreign exchange as occurred in Septem ber, whereby for a time the seaboard mer chants could not realize on bills of exchange at any price, and thus the moving of the crops (that most important element in the situation) was menaced and momentarily checked. It might study the wisdom and legality of interventions by the Secretary of the Treasury in financial troubles for the purpose of setting the government’s shoulder to the wheel. It might inquire if any addi tional security given to small deposits in the savings banks, would lessen the tendency to “runs” by the depositors— Philip Quilibet, in November Galaxy. There were 134,393 tons of rails exported from Great Britain to the United States dur ing the seven months ending with July, com pared with 300,616 in the corresixmding period in 1872, and 287,169 tuns in 1871. To Merchants, Manufacturers, etc. Georgia State Grange, ) COLAPARCHEE, GA. f To Merchants, Manufacturers, and to Whom soever it may Concern : By authority of the State Grange of Geor gia, the following circular is issued, and to it your special attention is respectfully in vited : There is, in the State of Georgia, an asso ciation of planters styled “Patrons of Hus bandry.” By co-operative associations they seek, through any and all legitimate and honorable agencies, mutual protection and mutual benefit. They aim not to antagonize the rights of any class of our fellow-citizens; nor will they peimit themselves to wage ex acting and tyrannic crusade in their own in terests. Hitherto, however, we have com mitted the management of much of our busi ness to certain classes of our fellow men. For this we deem the commission received disproportionate to the service rendered. The necessities of the times demand rigid reform alike in the varied detail of farm-life at home and abroad. Otherwise the gaunt form of bankruptcy and dissolution will stalk in every rural pathway, daguerreotyp ing woe upon every fireside, and Ichabod be written upon the walls of of our once peace prosperous homes. You concede to Agriculture the position of pre-eminence, the substructure underlying every material interest. You tell us you seek and rejoice in her prosperity. We are before you to-day to most respectfully ask you to verify your assertion, and share with us your commissions, thus making the bene fits resulting from the products of our daily toil and care, in summer sunshine and winter snow, mutual. For this we think you have a 11 quid pro quo" in the influence and cash patronage of associated numbers. Be assured, we are no mendicants at your doors, pleading for gratu itous charities; for were it the will of our Divine Master that we even die of poverty, we would still expect to “die game!” We ask your mutual aid in rendering prosperous that interest upon which you say the pros perity of yours depends. Should you deem it advisable thus to deal with us, address, (granting us the right to re ject any and every offer,) giving terms, to either— L. F. Livingston, Covington, Ga.,) g x J. 8. Lavender, Barnesville, Ga., > C. M. Davis, Morgan, Ga., ) Or E. Taylor, Secretary. August 18, 1873. The Modern Newspaper.—Newspapers are getting to be much more than mere tran scripts of the news and gossip of the day. They are pioneers in learned exploration; they are foremost in geographical and historical discov ery; they are the teachers of social science. They are no longer satisfied with disseminating the knowledge laboriously collected by savans, by travelers, by experimenters in natural phi losophy. They must pursue their own invest igations, and send their agents into all the half explored fields of science and adventure. The reporter of to-day is the adventurer who pene trates the desert and jungle; the scholar who searches for relics of the forgotten past; the courier who bears the news of victory to courts and congresses across a wilderness and through hostile armies ; the detective who pries into public abuses and discovers hidden wrongs; the pioneer who throws new countries open to the world ; the philanthropist who unbars the door of the torture chambers; the chemist who detects adulteration in the spice-box; the inspect or who seizes false weights and measures; the auditor who exposes a public theft in the pub lic treasury. Journalism busies itself now with every thing that affects the public welfare. It trenches upon the province once sacred to the scholar and the man of science, and has made itself the standard-bearer of modern civiliza tion. This is not a very auspicious time for the opening of an exposition of products in this country, but Chicago seems to have opened it* great show with a great deal of edal. It has a right to boast of its grand building, 800 feet long by 200 wide, erected in ninety days, and filled with objects which represent the r«ult* of the prodigious activity of the Great Wert NUMBER 1.