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ATLANTA, GEORGIA, JANUARY 8, 1874.
Correspondence from the Granges.
We most cordially invite Patrons, and
farmers generally, to write us local
news, interesting to Patrons, or pro
motive of the interests of the Order, or
of general agriculture. Give us items
in regard to the progress of the Order
in your communities. Send us the
facts, and if you have not the time to
“ primp” them up, we’ll prune and dot
and dress them in the best we have in
our stores. Will not the ladies, also,
give us short articles upon any subject
interesting to them ? We know there
are many facile pens now idle, which
could grace the pages of the most re
fined and elegant literature. We ex
ten 1 to you a medium through which
personal graces of mind may be en
hanced, and public good accomplished.
Give us the light of your intellectual
accomplishments.
Home Industry.
The best way for Georgians to make
themselves independent of the monop
oly of those alien to their interests, is
to patronize home industries, giving
these the preference over those man
aged by capitalists who have nothing
at stake in the welfare or progress of
our State, and who look upon the pur
chaser of their wares, here, as only an
individual who can be politely and sys
tematically fleeced in the shape of dis
proportionate profits.
It seems to be a hard matter for us
to get out of the- old ruts of former
habit, and to exercise our brains and
natural gifts in our own behalf. How
ever, we are mending slowly but surely,
and it behooves every good citizen to
give his assistance in promoting the
work of liberation.
Beneficial Effects.
The beneficial effects of the Granges
in putting a salutary check upon the
spirit of extortion which has, in many
instances, characterized the dealings of
railroad managements, with the farm
ing interests of the country, notably in
freight tariffs, are already to be seen m
the lowering of the rates of freight on
several of the leading railways of the
West—among these, the Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific, and the Chicago,
Burlington and Quincy. Grain can now
be shipped over these roads at a con
siderable reduction from the extrava
gant rates charged heretofore. A clear
purpose, courage, and patience, cannot
fail of reaping legitimate fruits.
The moral effect of the Grange organ
ization, freed from the taint of dema
goguism and political chicanery,is truly
astonishing.
Hanner Grange County.
By reference to the list of Granges
in the several counties, published else
where, it will be seen that Harris county
bears off the palm. There are fifteen
Granges organized in this county. We
could not have expected any less of
her enterprising citizens, ‘especially
when such wide awake philanthropists
as Hunt, Hudson and others, lead the
van. That old host, Washington
county, ranks next with her fourteen
Granges. All we have to say about her
is, if any county keeps long ahead of her
in anv of the elements which goto con
stitute good citizenship, her inhabitants
must l>e no kin to Rip Van Winkle.
All honor, fellow-Patrous, to your
zeal and fidelity.
’ The Ileawoii Why.
Th) Grange is lecomu g popular in Califor
nia.— Exchange.
Os course it is, and everywhere else i
where men think. Vast numbers of .
our best citizens have been for years 1
disgusted with the manner in which ’
monopolists, especially those who have I
charge of the great routes and means ’
of traflic.and travel, have lorded it over
the farmer and planter; but for want ’
of a co-operative union, a corporate or
ganization to take care of their inter,
ests, they have failed to accomplish the |
p good so much desired. things
i have changed, “ The Grange is beeom
i ing popular,” because it is an organiza
' tion of and for the people, thoroughly
in earnest in its work to crush out ex
tortion, fraud, and unprincipled deal
k ing, wherever it can be found.
jTS a.«
THE GEORGIA GRANGE.
Diversity of Agricultural Pursuits.
In giving attention to the subject
presented —the diversity of agricultural
pursuits —nothing should be expected
beyond a plain and practical view of
the present situation of the agricultu
ral interest and facilities of the South,
a comparison of its present labor system
with that of a decade since, and a refer
ence to what has been accomplished
in other countries and sections by other
peoples, whose labor has always been
controlled and directed by hire. If it
is shown that a new system of labor
can be made profitable, under a new
system of farming, and that the old
routine can not be so successfully pur
sued with the labor planters are now
compelled to depend upon, a discussion
must be productive of good.
In what we are accustomed to refer
to as the prosperous days of the South,
the planter was independent of every
thing except the seasons. He had
lands, in the possession of which he
was undisturbed, located in a climate
adapted to the production of almost
everything known to agriculture. In
addition, he had unlimited control of
the labor necessary to enable him to
place in market that crop which he had
been taught, and often realized, con
trolled the mercantile operations of the
world. In other words, he fancied
“Cotton was King;” and being sit
uated in a position that enabled him to
monopolize the fleecy monarch, every
energy, every resource, and all the
climatic advantages enjoyed, were de
voted to a single purpose —to raise
cotton to the exclusion of almost every
thing else. Whether this, under then
existing circumstances, was or was not
the wisest policy, need not now be dis
cussed ; for the past, it is maintained,
can furnish no safe precedent to di
rect the present or future. We must
adapt ourselves to new circumstances,
and in agriculture, “ accept the new
situation.”
Formerly capital, skill, judgment,
and well-directed and industrious labor
were necessary to insure success. All
these we have now as fully as ever,
except the labor. Unfortunately the
latter cannot now be controlled with
the precision, and to the extent essen
tial to attain the remunerating rewards
once realized. We have the same fer
tile soil, upon which the same sun
shines and dews fall, that were wont to
aid the workings of the husbandman,
and he has the skill and personal ener
gy he formerly had. But in labor he is
deficient. It is estimated that through
inefficiency and other causes, the labor
of the country has been reduced one
half. Yet we have the same quantity
of tillable lands. Hence it is beginning
to be generally acknowledged that a
change of system must take place, and
the planting interest must adopt some
plan that will, with the labor that can
be controlled, employ all the acreage
that is tillable; and thus, while pre
venting capital invested in lands from
lying idle, at the same time enable the
planter to extract from the bosom of
mother earth, as rich returns as were
heretofore enjoyed.
The remedy proposed is a more diver
sified system of agriculture, —the cultiva
tion of all the crops to which the soil and
climate of the South is adapted.
It is not deemed necessary to refer
to the general and long continued
success that has attended this practice
in other countries, and other sections
of our own country. The facts are
well-known, and admitted by all ob
serving minds. What has been done
elsewhere can be done here. To assert
otherwise would be an insult to the
intelligence of the country. It is as
sumed, therefore, that upon reflection,
and after the experience of the past few
years, Southern planters will admit the
necessity of a change in their agricul
tural management. We respectfully
urge that it shall be in the direction
indicated.
1. By adopting a system that will
embrace the cultivation of all the crops
to which our soil and climate adapted,
the whole of our lands can, most pro
bably, be employed profitably with the
labor now available. If, however, this
should be found insufficient, the planter !
can, by the introduction of machinery
and implements that would be entirely
unsuitable in the cotton field, yet of
practical benefit in growing the cereals
and grasses, supply the deficiency of
human muscle, and thereby compel his
lands to contribute to his reward, to
their utmost capacity.
2. The system proposed would enable
the planter to give attention to a rota
tion of crops. Herein, it is believed, '
the greatest benefits would accrue—
benefits not only of present pecuniary
reward, but of a continued and lasting
character. It is admitted that our ex
clusive system of husbandry, while it
has resulted in heavy reti ras of dollars
and cents, temporarily, has also cer
tainly proven exhaustive of the soil.
To this we may attribute the many
thousand of acres of “ old fields ” that
are to be seen. To this may be at
tributed all failure to keep our lands
up to their original standard, or to
improve them. Our forests were cut
down as fast as cultivated, lands began
to fail in productiveness of the exclu
sive crop, and the acres which had once
yielded such rich returns in cotton cul
ture, and might have been equally as
profitably cultivated otherwise, have
been, from year to year, “ thrown out.”
This system of depletion has gone on to
such an extent, that well-grounded
fears of final and utter impoverishment
were reasonably entertained by a few
thinking men some years ago ; and, for
tunately some of these, notwithstanding
the adverse circumstances by which they
were surrounded, chained their prac
tice and resorted to what was then
styled, in derision, “ variety farming''
They demonstrated the advantages of
the course they adopted, by cultivating
all their lands with less labor than
before, by reclaiming lands that had
been “thrown out,” and at the same
time reaping as rich returns in the ag
gregate, as did their neighbors. Refer
ence need not be made to the results of
diversified farming and rotation of
crops in the Northern and Western
States, w’here “old fields” are un
known, for here in fertile and heaven
favored Georgia, a few of her sons have
given practical examples of what can
be done upon her broad acres, in the
way suggested. We refer to these
practical examples with confidence, be
cause they will prove more convincing
than any argument that can be ad
duced.
3. True political economy has ever
maintained, that the material interests
of any country or section are enhanced
to a greater or less degree, according to
the extent that the people succeed in
becoming independent, or producing
within themselves as many of the ne
cessaries of life as possible. This has
ever been the experience of nations, and
observation will convince us it is the
case with families. Self-reliance always
succeeds; without it dependence .fol
lows. The experience of the South, as
the result of an almost exclusive expen
diture of time, capital and energy, in a
single direction, has been a bitter one
of late years. We have seen the pro
ceeds of our favorite product expended
year after year for the common neces
saries of life. The pickings of our
cotton fields have been po ired into the
graneries and smoke-houses of the
North and West. The liquidation of
mortgages given for supplies—for
corn and bacon that could have been
produced much cheaper at home—
has, in too many instances, left the
planter at the ■ end of a year of
toil and anxiety, no better off than
when he commenced. This is the his
tory of many. If, on the other hand,
the policy of diversified farming had
been adopted—if the supplies that had
been purchased at such high rates, and
for which such enormous interests
were paid, had been raised at home,
and the expenditure avoided, how dif
ferent would have been the result' If
the planting interest had made the
raising of supplies for home consump
tion its primary object, and cotton
culture secondary, who can estimate
the difference in its favor ?
It is claimed, then, that the difficul
ties encountered are the result of a mis
direction of our own capital and labor, j
e have been controlled too much bv
a single idea, actuated by a solitary !
purpose. A few, however, have acted
otherwise, and while they have thus ,
assured their own prosperity, they I
have, also, become public benefactors. '
They have taught us that our soil and '
climate will produce all that enters into (
the necessities of the human race, and
many of the luxuries to which we are
accustomed. They have demonstrated |
that after our facilities to render our
selves as independent as is necessary, I
are emploved. we vet have a larse 1
.‘ ® i
margin upon which the world can be
made to contribute to our wealth.
They have shown us that the produc
tive powers of our soil and climate are
not excelled, that our mineral resources
are as rich and our water powers as
valuable, as are the same features in
any land. For this knowledge we are
indebted to them,—and when we realize
the extent of that indebtedness—when
we profit by this experience and follow
their example, then will our graneries
be filled, our country become self-sus
taining and independent, and our waste
places be reclaimed. For this con
summation every energy should be
directed, and the wise and prudent will
labor constantly and zealously, for this,
with full confidence in a permanently
beneficial result.
In this connection we urgently re
quest our readers, and every intelligent
farmer in the South, to read and pon
der the “ Essay on Diversified Farming,”
in this number of The Grange. It is
from the pen of one of the most suc
cessful Georgia farmers; a gentleman
as thoroughly at home in agricultural
matters, as he is trenchant and inter
esting with the pen. An earnest peru
sal of this thoughtful and practical
article will be time profitably spent, by
all who desire to promote the best
interests of our section.
Power vs. Bight.
The Grange organization is, in its
principles, as old as the hills; it is simply
an illustration of the old feud existing be
tween Power and Right —the first rep
resented by the vast money concerns,
the financial princes, the privileged cor
porations of the land, and the latter by
the poorer middle classes of all coun
tries, the husbandmen, the mechanics,
the laborers, those, in fact, who obey
the divine injunction, and earn their
bread by the sweat of their brows—by
honest toil. These classes must, in the
nature of things, be opposed to each
other, and the province of good govern
ment is not to use one power for the
destruction of the other, but to regu
late the rights of each for the benefit
of all, and to prevent Power from over
riding Right, which it will always do
unless restricted.
The Georgia Grange.
The following is from the Blackshear Geor
gian, one of the ablest of our State exchanges:
We have seen a few numbers of this elegant
and instructive paper published at Atlanta,
Ga. Not only each of the five hundred
Granges would" find it of special advantage to
subscribe for that excellent weekly and keep it
on file, but members of Granges, by amply
sustaining the paper, would secure a fund of
regular useful information; not elsewhere ob
tained to an equal extent. We have no antip
athy to the circulation of The Grange within
' the bounds of our circulation, and not afraid
to endorse and recommend its extensive circu
lation.
We envy not the temperament of the editor
who regards the eulogy of another paper as a
disparagement of his paper. The field is
wide enough, and great the many who can
read, and ought to take one or more papers.
By cultivating a taste for reading, the number
of readers will be increased. The country
needs such a paper as The Georgia Grange,
devoted to.agriculture, useful information, and
the welfare of the Patrons of Husbandry. We
wish The Georgia Grange every success.
The Co-Operative Plan.
The St. Louis Republican explains the
co-operative plan of the Granges of the
order of Patrons of Husbandry. They
propose, through agents,to deal directly
with wholesale merchants, and thereby
save the percentage hitherto paid to
the country storekeeper. In some lo
calities, the Grangers have - their own
stores, conducted by an agent, who is
paid a salary to transact their business
for them. But co-operative stores are
not numerous at present. All business
transactions through the medium of the
officers of the Granges, must be for
cash. The manner in which the Granges
propose to buy their supplies of sugar,
1 coffee, tea, hardware, implements and
machinerv, is to pav into the hands of
the agent the money when they give
the order for the goods. The agent takes
the orders and the money, with ten per
cent, added to the market quotations,
to serve as a margin to cover fluctua
tions in price, and once every month or
every two months, as the circumstances
of the case demand, he consolidates the
orders on hand and goes into the mar
ket to purchase by the package the
goods to be divided among the con
tributors. This plan does not contem
plate the establishment of regular co
operative supply stores, but simply the
purchase of supplies necessary for the
communitv when needed.
■ . .
Several large planters in Spalding
county, according to the Griffin Star,
have had their stock levied on, cribs
nailed up, and cotton seized by the
Sheriff for debts due their factors.
What an eloquent commentary is
this upon the foolish, suicidal credit
system which our farmers have allowed
themselves to suffer from, for so longa
time ■
Cannot they lean on their own stout
arm and a free crop, instead of liening
their crops and their very existence upon '
speculative money lenders and Shylock •
middlemen r
The Patron’s Retrospect.
As members of the Order of Patrons of
Husbandry let us briefly review the ac
complishments of the old year, and the
aims and hopes of the new. Writers of
heathen mythology were wont to sing
peans to an imaginary Jupiter, because
springing full-armed from Minerva’s
creative brain. While recognizing not
the orthodoxy of the obligation to chant
praises at all to earthly gods, yet are we
not unwilling to confess to hearty admir
ation at the Jupiter-like growth of our
Order in our grand old Commonwealth.
Born, not of high estate nor with pride
of pageantry, but of humiliating neces
sity, this child of a solitary summer has
waxed strong with manhood’s strength.
The dawn of the old year broke unher
alded upon his halls with no glad echo
to footfalls of life and promise. Quietly,
but resolutely, did a few stout hearts
lend sympathy and support. To-day
marshalled hosts surround this young
champion of the rights and duties and
interests of the agricultural world. But
has full fruition attended the advent —
have the anticipations of supporters been
realized ? Candor compels a negative
response I What are the obstacles ? Why
partial disappointment; and what the
remedies ? May we not ask, has it not
been from want of proper conception of
aims and principles ? Did you not, Fel
low-Patrons, enter the ranks with “ fears
within and foes without ?” You were
contemptuously asked by those preju
diced and uninformed of the beneficient
purposes of our Order, “ What can illit
erate farmers do for themselves ?”
“ What can paupers effect in defiance of
intelligence and organized capital ?” Did
you not take counsel of your fears and
become doubting Thomases, and thus
counteracting just that measure of con
fidence and support which was due the
Order? Were not a few of us lured to
affiliation by hopes of instant and boun
tiful wealth? That Utopian dream has
not been realized—hence disappointment
and consequent lukewarmness! But
has the order failed —will it fail ? Has
hope lost anchor to a happy and fruit
ful future ? We emphatically answer,
never, never, never, if we be true to
manhood and our common altar ! What
had the Order to contend with—what
material to organize and discipline?
Why that class of our fellow-citizens,
which looked to none other than the
great God above fur guidance, and to
the “ early and latter rain” for increase,
yielding to no earthly director, their own
brain their only chart—planting and
planning in consonance with their own
whims in beaten ruts, and the supposed
demands of their own hearthstones—
“ Lords of all they survey” it should not
be expected that they become, in an
hour, schooled to mutual and systematic
effort and harmony.
Unrelenting war impoverished and de
moralized us, and tore down the fair
fabric of good-will and confidence be
tween man and man. The Grange, the
faithful custodian of her melancholly
ruins, comes in the hour of our need,
woos to active embrace of these divinely
appointed p inciples, and entreats our
aid in again erecting this honored tem
ple. Then let us practice and cherish
her cardinal tenets, and mutual confi
dence between brother and brother will
be restored, willing discipline, rendered,
and thorough and harmonious organiza
tion of true and tried men be secured.
Then will the fruits of fraternal co
operation in every material and social
aim lie known and felt. Then, with due
diligence under the Divine favor, may
you confidently expect golden harvests of
plenty and peace.
That Golden Pen.
Gentle reader, was your kind heart
made glad at the reception of a Christ
mas souvenir ? We sincerely hope so.
But if not, then you don’t know how
good we felt when that wee bit of an
express package was brought into our
sanctum, and was found to contain an
elegant gold pen ! Well, wait; that is
not all. We have often tried to find
gold pens, with which this club fist of
our’s could write, but they were always
a little too long, or too short, or too
stiff, or too limber, or too —cost too much
or too something else, and we didn’t!
But this pen —this golden pen—is per
fection ! Nobody except that big-1
hearted friend, Bright Lundy, of Bibb,
could have thought of such an appro- j .
priate and appreciated gift. Thank I
you, Bright ; and may you live a thou
sand years, if you want to, and pens, *
legions of pens—golden pens—do trib- j
ute to your clever memory. |,
Sulphate of lime is said to be a fine 1
agent for resisting the spread of decay ' 1
in potatoes affected with potato disease. ' c
Interesting Announcement.
A SERIAL STORY FOR THE GEORGIA GRANGE. »
We take great pleasure in announcing <
to our readers, that the Grange Pub
lishing Company is engaged in negotia
ting with an accomplished an gifted
lady of Georgia, ‘.for the purchase of
the manuscript of an interesting story,
to be published as a serial in The
Georgia Grange.
The authoress is a member of one
of the subordinate Granges, and her
work is dedicated to the Patrons of
Husbandry in the United States.
This will be an additionally attractive
feature of The Grange, and we earn
estly urge Patrons and clubs to forward
names of subscribers without delay,
in order that all may receive the initial
chapters of this work of genius by a
lady Patron of Georgia.
The Partisan Press.
Neither the sneers, gibes, or direct
insults of the political party press
can make the people swerve from the
plain path of duty, which the organiza
tion known as Patrons of Husbandry,
have pointed out to them. The duty
of self-preservation is permanent, and
the will-o’-the wisp lights, which the
? paid organs of faction are using in
order to mislead the people, and cause
them to enter the quagmires and moras
ses of partisan politics, will fail to ac
complish their nefarious work.
The intentions and purposes of this
farmers’ organization, have nothing at
> all to do with the individual political
? opinion or bias of any one of its mem
bers ; it is simply a self-sustaining ef
fort to overcome the oppression and
, selfishness of monopolies—a determin
ation of the producing classes to break
, down “ rings,” and the moneyed auto
( cracy, which ignores the rights of others.
The Georgia Grange and the Monroe
Advertiser.
The Monroe Advertiser, of the 6th
. inst. has the kindness to embody in its
editorial column the address of E. Tay
lor, Secretary of the State Grange, to
( the Patrons of Husbandry, in behalf of
The Georgia Grange.
We would have been better able to
> appreciate the gratuitous advertise
ment of the address were it not for the
, rather uncharitable, and certainly un
( necessary, remarks which the writer
in the Advertiser has seen fit to append.
As it is, he has perverted the article
from its legitimate intention, and
changed a harmless compliment to a
deceptive “Trojan Horse,” full of sinis
ter insinuation, and covert malice. The
writer says:
“We present it (the address) to our readers
that they may judge for themselves the propri
ety of such a journal being conducted and
owned by one of the leading officers of the
State Grange and other prominent members.
We call attention to the pertinent fact that the
address is written by an officer who has con
trol of all the patronage of that body so far as
relates to advertisements. We offer no com
ments at present, but desire to await the “de
velopment of events.”
We doubt whether any sensible man
would so far ignore common sense, as
to consider the honest management of
any legitimate public enterprise an
“impropriety;” why, then, should it
become an impropriety because well
known gentlemen of the State Grange
are the promoters and conductors of
one ? Had the writer appealed to the
common sense of his readers before
printing his absurdity, he would have
spared himself the humiliation of being
known as the author of published non
sense.
The other “pertinent fact” to which
he calls attention is a fact, but not in
the perverted sense he attempts to in
sinuate. The announcement made in
the initial number of The Grange,and
publicly reiterated before the Commit
tee, and in the State Grange Conven
tion, that the publication of official
matter, or of any advertisement what
ever in the interest of the State Grange,
or of the subordinate Granges, would
be published free, thus saving to the
treasury of our Order the usual heavy
expenses for advertisements, is the best
reply we can make. However, it is to
be deplored that a spirit of vindictive,
ness, very likely based upon personal
disappointment, should force any one
to the use of unjust insinuation, re
gardless fc of the truth of facts. His
naive statement, that “no comments
would be offered at the present time,”
is not to be regretted, because unpre- (
judiced persons will not require further < I
commentary from such a source. We i!
trust that “the development of events”
will have a salutary effect upon our
brother of the Advertiser, and induce Jrj
him to retract his ineffectual, unjust
and uncharitable, assault. ,3?