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ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JANUARY 1, 1874.
OUR PAPER.
The numerous readers of The Geor
gia Grange can not fail to render an
appreciative tribute to the elegant
“make-up” and interesting character
of the contents of this issue, We are
vain enough to defy competition in any
element essential to the presentation of
a first-class specimen of true journal
ism. We pledge, from week to week,
our manliest endeavor to present its
leeion of friends a visitor, which shall
command, by its merit, a hearty and
gladsome welcome. Our’s shall be the
untiring task, to hold up the torch of
agricultural science, and invite the
hardy yeomanry of the soil to explore
with us the fields of practical and
successful experiment. Nor shall we
overlook the domain of Horticulture
and Floriculture. To utilize and beau
tify the latter art, our fair readers
must allow us to appeal to their sym
pathy and effort. We dare attempt to
make farm-life prosperous, and the fire
sides of our friends happy.
To our Brotherhood of the Patrons
of Husbandry we say: born and reared
a farmer among you, making it the
chosen lot of maturer years, and with
an ever-green memory of solemn and
mutual vows within the “ inner gate,
we pledge to you an unyielding advo
cacy and defense of your ennobling
aims and principles ; and, in commit
ting ourselves to this pledge, we are
well-apprised of the titanic strength of
hostile opposition arrayed against us.
Be assured it is not against imaginary
windmills we contend, nor that we hope
by Quixotic tilts, to win lor ourselves
redemption from the thraldom of an
impoverishing and ignoble serfdom.
With an intelligent consciousness of
the rectitude of our purposes, we shall
■ endeavor to inculcate lessons of pati
ence, fortitude and determined perse
verance in their accomplishment.
As regards the official character of
The Georgia Grange we can say, that
all official announcements of the Geor
gia State Grange will be published
within its columns. Any, and every
item of information, useful or inter
esting to our Order, shall be given
without delay.
Now then, Brother Patrons, we invito
you to rally around your standard, and
make it a glorious success. Let the
407 Granges in the State of Georgia
send each a club of subscribers. Try
us — if we do not merit your favors,
then abandon us.
E. Taylor, See. State Grange,
For Georgia Grange Publishing Company.
Official Matter Patrons Will Plea*o
Notice.
We call the attention of every mem
ber of the subordinate Granges in the
State, to the listof subordinate Granges,
name, master, secretary, and postoffice,
in Georgia; also table of counties and
number of Granges in each ; also list of
counties according to districts, with
total number of Granges in each, with
names of lecturers and deputies in each
division.
All these items have been officially
and carefully revised up to date, and.
will be valuable to our brethren through
out the State for reference. AU infor
mation published in The Georgia
Grange for the benefit of the Order,
may be implicitly relied upon as official.
Strict accuracy will be observed in this
important department of The Grange;
and the information thus imparted will
keep our brethren fully posted in regard
to the Order in Georgia, its condition
and progress.
fc— »
“ Raiwe Your Own Supplies."
The communication in the first num
ber of The Georgia Grange, entitled
“ Raise Your Own Supplies,” from the
pen of Mr. J. S. Lavender, one of our
prominent Patrons, and a farmer of
large experience, has met with the
hearty approval and praise of the Press
of Georgia. It is a plain, sensible and
graphic article, and fully deserves the j
praise it has received. We trust Mr.
Lavender’s wise counsel will be grad
ually adopted. Our people will be glad i
to see similar arti. 'es from this writer, I
, through the columns of The Grange. '
■HMfgg mi®*-
The Outcome of the Grange Movement.
Under this head, a recent number of
the Hearth and Home, discourses on
the principles and objects of the
Grange organization. Alluding to this
uprising as one of the most significant
in the annals of our history, the editor
says:
“Had it come pending a general election, the
farmers engaged in it would simply have been
making themselves beasts of burden for the po
liticians ; but coming as it does during an “oft”
year, it is incapable of immediate prostitution
to partisan ends, and so it is proving a hideous
nightmare to the smaller political manipula
tors, who are trying to keep on the safe side by
wheedling and flattering the Granges, in the
absence of anything better to do in the case.”
All of which is true.
The editor, continuing, suddenly be
comes mystified as to the meaning and
purposes of the movement; this is a
little remarkable in a writer who is
able to use such cipar and logical reas
oning relative to the movement after
this momentary fog has passed from
his mental horizon. He says :
“Precisely what the Granges contemplate it
is impossible for anybody to say, principally
for the reason that the Granges themselves do
not know’. The members are a unit in the con
viction that they have a grievance, but they are
not agreed as to what that grievance is or how
it is to be cured. They all unite in denouncing
“monopoly,” but they di tier somewhat as to the
precise form of monopoly to be destroyed and
the means to be employed in its destruction.
In Illinois and lowa the word monopoly is
synonymous with railroad; in Missouri it
means national banks, while in the South it
means the local merchants who, by an extended
system of credit and crop mortgage, have man
aged, since the war, to pretty effectually ruin
everybody, themselves included.”
Monopoly, of course, takes various
shapes, according to the nature of things
it operates upon, or the peculiarities of
the field of its operation, but it is still
the same hydra-headed monster, under
all of its disguises ; therefore, the “head
and front” of this offending evil is well
defined, and the grand object of attack
plainly enough to be seen for practical
purposes.
Crush the serpent’s head, and little
danger need be apprehended from the
constrictions and convulsions of the
rest of the “ring’’-tailed body. The
writer, under review, goes on to speak
of the unavailability of numerous “res
olutions” passed by the farmers in
various States, which have never accom
plished anything. We agree with him
in this, as we are in favor of not only
“ resolving ” to do, but of doing that
which we resolve upon.
The mystification under which the
writer suffered in the beginning of his
discourse, changes at this point into a
clear appreciation of the motives,
strength, scope, and practical results of
the movement; and, alluding more es
pecially to the producing interests of
the great West than to the equally im
portant interests of the other sections,
he says :
“And yet out of all this confusion some gen
uine good has certainly grown already, and
more is promised in the luture. The farmers
have discovered their own power when acting
in concert, and the discovery augments that
power Their demonstration of their ability to
act in concert has bred a wholesome resnect for
them in the breasts of the politicians, which is
a very great gain indeed. Their movement
has stirred up the merchants of New York too ;
and the very valuable discovery has been made
that the interests of these merchants are clearly
allied to those of the farmers. Now this last,
to our thinking, is the greatest good yet born
of the movement, inasmuch as the one lesson
which above all others we all need to learn is
the lesson of brotherhood. As a people we
have been blind to the fact that we are insepa
rably one in interest as we are in nationality;
that there can no calamity come to one class or
one section which will not bring misfortune
upon all ; that whatever of prosperity comes to
one must be shared by the rest; that whether
we will it or not,weare one great family,with in
dividual opinions and private interests it is
true, bnt with far greater common interest,
which it will not do to sacrifice in petty self
seeking. Not that the lesson has been suffi
ciently learned, by any means. We have only
made a good beginning. The merchants
have learned its rudiments it would app ar,
and we may reasonably hope that the farmers
will now discover, not only that the merchants
of the East are dependent upon them, but that
they in their turn are dependent upon the mer
chants. Both will discover, perhaps, after a
while at least, that the railroadsand national
banks are valuable allies, and the railroads
and banks will find out that the prosperity of
merchant and farmer is absolutely necessary to
their own ten per cent, dividends. This is the
knowledge towards which they seem to be tend
ing, and it is the knowledge most essentially
necessary to all of them. When merchant
and farmer, and’bankerjand railroad king, shall
fully realize this truth, the grievances of each
will cure themselves, and until that time no
amount of crude legislation, or well considered
.legislation either, will afford any permanent
relief.
As antagonists these several interests are
powerful for each other’s destruction, but no
one o! them can stand alone w ithout the sup
port of all the rest, and when they shall come to
recognize their mutual dependence, enlightened
self-interest will afford the best possible solution
of the present problems.”
The great lesson of common brother
hood, attd mutual respect for the rights
and interests of all, is precisely the aim
of the Grange movement ; this desira
ble end once reached, the paramount
necessity for the organization of our citi
zens to preserve and enforce these sev
eral rights and interests will cease to :
exist.
But this glorious goal has not yet ,
been reached, although every effort of
our honest workers is paving the way,
and directing a movement in that direc
tion.
It is because monopolists, of every
name and condition, have for years
polluted legislation, and striven to sepa
rate the common interests, and the unity
of our people, in order to benefit their
own pockets, and that they might ride
over the prostrated backs of millions of
toilers, who earn their bread by the
sweat of their brow—it is for this that
an Order like that of the Patrons of
Husbandry has been organized to con
serve the best interests of all men, and
to bring these vampires of finance to a
realizing sense of their obligations to
the people, especially to the farming
interest of the country. This is the
main support of all other interests ; its
ruin would involve the ruin of the
country, because it is the foundation
rock of the Republic, upholding the
State against assaults from any quar
ter.
“ When merchant, banker, and rail
road king, shall fully realize this truth,”
the grievance of their oppression ought
to cease, and it is our belief that they
tvill realize it, and act upon the dictates
of wisdom ; but if they will not volun
tarily “realize truths,” they will be
made to do it, to their own discomfiture
and loss, if there is truth in the ac
cepted axiom that,
“Truth is mighty, and will prevail.”
Waking Up.
The impetus which the concerted
action of our farmers in Georgia has
given to public thought and feeling, is
beginning to show itself in various
ways, all of which are tending in the
direction of progress and intelligent
information. In this connection, we
are gratified to learn, that many of our
leading men have become disgusted
with the negligence heretofore exhibited
by our Legislatures, in failing to provide
means and enactments for the estab
lishment of a Bureau of Statistics and
Agriculture, such as the majority of
States have had for years. If we
desire to have the incomparable natural
resources of Georgia placed in a proper
light before the world, and so conduce
to the promulgation of facts which will
invite immigration, and the progressive
development of our wealth, we must
have a department in our State govern
ment whose duties shall be the collec
tion and official promulgation of these
vital facts.
Any man of common sense can read
ily appreciate the great importance of
such information, and we are surprised
that an intelligent commonwealth
should have neglected its own interests
so long.
The Montgomery Advert iser and Ma il,
commenting on Hon. Alexander H.
Stephens’ position on the “ Back-pay ”
law, and on his recent speech advoca
ting the right of each Congress to fix
the pay of its members, says :
“We deny that this man, who has heretofore
defended Grant in his foul Louisiana outrage,
who now seems to take delight in toadying the
President, and who has gone to Congress to
prove that the mercenary times have come, and
lie with them, is not the true Representative of
Southern Conservative sentiments anti princi
ples. He will not be permitted to sell out the
honor of the South to Radical power, no mat
ter what the price. He does not represent the
Democratic South, and never will. He is no
more than an adventurer in the halls of Con
gress, as the defender of the back-steal, and of
any sort of demagoguism!’’
We are sorry to sec that a journal,
claiming to be a representative of the
Southern people, should so far forget
itself as to denounce, in such ungenerous
and unmanly terms, a gentleman and a
statesman, who is intellectually the
superior of any man in the South, and
whose high sense of honor, and devo
tion to noble principles, has made him
admired wherever the English language
is spoken. We do not defend the opin
ions advanced by him in regard to this
public matter, and believe it unadvisa
ble in principle, but in asserting our
own opinion, we shall not attempt the
defamation of another, whose views dif
fer from our own. A weak dilution of
billingsgate is not argument, and we be
lieve few gentlemen will be found in
the South willing to indorse the vul
garities of the Advertiser in this respect.
Agricultural Warehouse.
We call attention to the advertise
ment of Mark W. Johnson’s great ag
ricultural warehouse and seed store,
Atlanta, Ga. Southern farmers and I
planters will find everything in the wav |
of farming at this extensive and popu- '
lar establishment. Large discounts
will be allowed to clubs and Granges.
Read the advertisement carefullv.
Nashville is thronged with cotton
bales, and the warehouses are jammed
full of the fleecy wealth.
The Supreme Court of Georgia.
A pure, Lightened, and incorruptible
Judiciary is one of the main pillars
upon which the stability and safety of
a State must rest. The welfare of a
people, the best interests of society, the
rights of individuals and of communi
ties, alike depend upon its edicts, and
its rulings become a recognizable stan
dard of the civilization maintained by
the people over which it is placed as a
decisive power.
The Supreme Court of Georgia, in
the qualities we have mentioned as
essential, stands second to none in the
United States.
Georgia has ample reason to be proud
of it. It is one of the shining land
marks of our grand old Commonwealth;
a bulwark of our rights and privileges
as freemen ; a rock against which the
angry tides of political malice, and the
blasts of partisan fury have tried their
strength in vain.
From the Supreme Court is reflected
I some of the brightest light that beams
j from the pages of Georgia’s history,
> and reminiscences of devoted patriotism,
glorious genius, and exalted intellect,
are contained in its annals, and are
wreathed about it in the great names
that have been connected with it iu the
course of its existence.
The proud names of Lumpkin, Nes
bit, Warner, and others, are linked im
perishably with the history of the Court,
as well as with the affection of a grate
ful people.
Without referring further to its past,
we may be allowed to allude, in passing,
to the present decidedly able incum
bents of the Supreme Bench, upholding,
as they do, the fair fame of our Su
preme Court with the most marked suc
cess. Judge Warner was one of the first
Judges, and has, with slight interrup
tion, filled the position since the organ
ization of the Court in 1846. To him
the people of Georgia are mainly in
debted for the protection of their rights,
and their property, during the reign of
Radical partisans, and thievish carpet
baggers. He is noted for firmness, and
unwavering adherence to the fundamen
tal principles of law. His associates,
Judges McCay and Trippe, are worthy
of their chief. Judge McCay’s mind is
strictly analytical; seizes the salient
points of a case with unerring certainty,
and brings them to bear upon the issue
of the case by a remarkably rapid com
parison of facts and principles. Judge
Trippe is noted for sagaciousness, har
mony of temper, and a fidelity of pur
pose which never allows technicalities, or
conflicting verbiage, to warp judgment
from its true course ; the Right, as in
terpreted by the fiat of law, finds in
Judge Trippe an inflexible advocate and
champion.
Indeed, the Supreme Bench has never
been occupied by judges worthier of the
praise and regard of our people than
these. We are pained to perceive that
there are those,who, in connection with
the proposed State Convention for the
formation of a new Constitution, are
agitating, on very unreasonable grounds,
the abolishment of the Supreme Court.
A more wretchedly injudicious and un
warranted blow at the welfare of our
State could not be made. Its very ab
surdity would be the best antidote for
this poison, which a few hot-headed
schismatics arc attempting to infuse
into the healthy life-blood of our Com
monwealth, were it not for the fact,
unfortunately true, that in the ranks of
the masses,many will follow aloud-voiced
and brazen-mouthed demagogue as
willingly as sheep follow a bell-wether, ,
and as ignorantly ; hence it is proper, !
that good citizens, having the fortunes ,
of Georgia at heart, and unwilling to |
see one of the corner-stones of our po
litical and social polity wantonly re
moved, should nip this foolish attempt
to destroy the Supreme Court of our
State in the bud, because the success of
these iconoclasts would entail upon our
people a long train of almost irreparable
evil. _ __
We are glad to learn that a number
of gentlemen of means, actuated bv a !
°.. * I
most commendable spirit, have deter- .
mined to undertake the establishment I
of fruit farms, on an extensive scale, 1
and in accordance with the highest
standard of horticultural science, in
Fulton and adjoining counties.
This important branch of domestic 1
wealth is in the hands of men of expe
rience and large capacity, and the re
sult cannot fail to be eminently suc
cessful. This is the true spirit of pro
gress, and to means like this we must
look for the intelligent and practical
development of the resources of our
fertile soil. 1
Main Points of the late Grange Con
vention Considered.
The Convention of Patrons of Hus
bandry which assembled in Atlanta
last month, to take into consideration
the proper means for promoting the
welfare of the Order, as well as that of
the agricultural interests of the South
in general, is acknowledged to have
been an able and representative body.
A more intelligent and earnest assem
bly of men, than this, never congrega
ted anywhere; and the deliberations
upon the subjects now engrossing pub
lic attention, are worthy of serious re
flection on the part of all who love
their country.
The discussion relative to the repeal
of the lien law, has brought this grave
question prominently into public notice,
and it will doubtless cause considerable
agitation in the coming General As
sembly. The resolutions to utilize the
value of cotton as much as possible, to
manufacture as much of it as we can,
and to sell the balance of it direct to
manufacturers, is the dictate of common
sense. Our farmers have also, as a
general thing, nobly responded to the
expression of the Convention, that the
prompt payment by the farmer of his
indebtedness to the middle men and
other lien holders, was obligatory as a
matter of honor, as well as good policy.
The resolution looking to the devel
opment of Vie coal and iron interests
of our section, as a matter demanding
not only the attention of the capital
ists and financiers, but of every man in
our section who desires our future
prosperity and advancement, is one that
will strike every good citizen as emi
nently proper.
The subject of cheap transportation
—a matter which has acquired pre
dominating importance, because upon
a better and cheaper system of trans
portation depends, in a great measure,
the value of farm products —was also
intelligently attended to.
The advocacy of a return to the cash
system as soon as practicable, backed*by
the unanimous sentiment of as large
and dominating a body of our citizens
as this Convention, must necessarily
have great influence for good upon the
people of our section. The general
practice of such a system would break
the backbone of monopolism, and be a
potent power for the enfranchisement
of our hitherto enslaved and oppressed
Southern agriculture.
In strict connection with the cash
system resolved upon, is another glori
ous resolution: that obligating our
fanners to circumscribe their propensi
ty for speculating in cotton crops, and
to adopt the sensible one-third corn,
one-third cotton, and one-third small
grain system. If our farmers, to a
man, will stick to this wise resolve, a
few years more will see Georgia the
most independent State in the Union—
prosperous, and out of debt.
The resolution appointing a commit
tee to investigate the question of direct
shipment of cotton from the Southern
seaboard to European markets, and to
make arrangements for that purpose,
was also a good one, and the matter
having been placed into the hands of
an able and practical minded commit
tee, we look for the results of their ac
tion with considerable interest.
Among the wisest of the resolutions
was the one appointing a committee,
whose duty it is to revise the law, so as
to protect farmers from the chicanery
and imposition of agents and manufac
turers in the matter of fertilizers. This
involves millions of money, and proper
ly accomplished, will save the State an
immense sum of money annually. The
action taken by the Convention, look
ing to the refunding of the cotton tax
by the United States Government to
the producer, and instructing our repre
sentatives in Congress to use their in
fluence in behalf of such a measure, was
eminently wise and proper.
Somesixty millionsof dollars,unjust
ly taken from the impoverished pockets
of our people, would thus again be ad
ded to our resources, and help us great
ly in our struggles for prosperity and
financial independence. We hope that
the interests of our people in this
weighty direction, will not be neglected
by our delegation in Congress.
Upon the whole, we feel great pride
in the work accomplished, and the dis
cussions had by the late Convention,
and predict valuable results therefrom.
We have indulged in this retrospection
in order to keep its action fresh in the
memory of our readers, and to urge
u[>on the coming Legislature a free and
full discussion of every vital point
touched upon by this Convention of
Farmers.
Emigration to North Carolina.
Professor Kerr, who is in Germany
distributing pamphlets descriptive of
North Carolina, to induce immigration
to that State, writes to the Sta'e Agri
cultural Journal as follows :
“ Wc must look for emigrants to South Ger
many, Hungry and Switzerland, chiefly, and
secondly to the Rhine (French) provinces of
Germany. Wc can get them from these
regions without much trouble, beyond show
ing them the way and making them acquaint
ed with the characteristics and conditions of
the country. * * The Swiss and the
Hungarians are the best material for our
purposes ou the continent.”
We hope the Professor will succeed
in his sanguine expectations, and in
duce thousands to emigrate to the good
old North State. Georgia has had
bad luck in this respect. The agent
sent a few years ago by the State
government to bring emigrants from
Germany to Georgia, succeeded in
bringing only one lady (a relative, we
I believe). True, it cost the State only
three thousand dollars in gold, still we
can hardly bring ourselves to consider
this attempt a brilliant and remunera
tive success.
Tlie Next Legislature.
Our Legislature, whose next session
will soon open, will have matters of
serious importance to the State under
discussion. The people of Georgia
look to their representatives for an
earnest and thorough consideration of
questions deeply involving their wel
fare. It is to be hoped that this coming
session will be a little more productive
of good legislation than the preceding
session was. A little more practical,
intelligent w r ork, and less talk and
political wire-pulling, will be an agree
able and profitable change. Prominent
among the topics which require the
thoughtful and conscientious attention
of our law makers, are those bearing
reference to the agricultural interests
of Georgia, and the practical develop
ment of its resources and industries.
The action and resolutions of the late
Grange Convention, in Atlanta, are
particularly worthy of the attention of
our legislators, and we hope to see laws
and regulations passed during this
session that will reflect credit upon the
Legislature, and conduce to the pro
gressive welfare of our people.
The New Orleans Times says that the
cotton planters in various portions of
Texas are entering into written obliga
gations to reduce the amount of land
devoted to next year’s cotton crop, by
at least one-third, in order to secure
better prices for the cotton raised, and
a better supply of provisions. Through
out the interior of Louisiana and neigh
boring States, provisions are now scarce
and high, and cotton is too low to pay
the cost of production. Such a condi
tion of things cannot, and should not,
be maintained. The Patrons of Hus
bandry must see to it, that an intelli
gent discrimation is exercised in the
choice ami extent of crops.
This course is precisely the one that
the intelligent farmers of Georgia in
tend to pursue in the future. They will
then be independent of panics, and will
always be sure of fair renumeration for
all the crops they may raise for the
market.
A correspondent writes: “ I think I
can sec, in the Patrons of Husbandry,
the Day Star of Hope for the farmers.”
He says that notwithstanding the fact
that farmers are the wealth-producing
class of citizens, it is a rare thing for
one of them to get an office of honor or
profit, and believes the Patrons will do
good by uniting their forces to elect
prudent and intelligent farmers for our
law makers. He thinks such men will
be opposed to extravagant legislation,
as men who make theii’ living at the
plow handle know the value of money.
This is true; the fault, heretofore,
has been with the farmers, who would
stand in their own light, as the saying
is, and allow selfish and unpatriotic
men to usurp all the places of honor
and profit. However, we are glad to
know that things are taking a change
for the better. Let the good work of
the Order go on.
A reformed general bankrupt law,
based upon sound conservative princi
ples, is now under discussion in Con
gress, and will doubtless be passed
during this session. It will be a deci
ded improvement upon the old bank
rupt law.
A correspondent of the Americus
(Ga.) Republican says: That the in
crease of reptiles in some sections of
the State is due to the scarcity of large
hogs, which, he says, are noted for
destroying them in large bodies.