Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 August 1913 — WHY THE GRANGE EXISTS [ARTICLE]

WHY THE GRANGE EXISTS

National Master Oliver Wilson's Re-1 cent Address Makes Clear the Purpose of Organization. ' No clearer statement of why thof grange exists, nor what it seeks to doj has ever been given than m a recent ad-l dress by National Master Oliver Wil-j son of Peoria, 111. Mr. Wilson is not! only a strong speaker, but has a rare! faculty for concise statement and off getting quickly to the heart of thef subject, which he is discussing on| this occasion. Mr. Wilson said: “The great fundamental and underlying principle of this organization is education. We believe the farmer today needs education more than anythings else. When I say this I want to be understood that he does not need an education any more than the other fellow, because, in my ex-f perience with farmers and others, I| say today, without fear of contradic-| tion, that there is no class of men that) is better informed on the great topical of the day than the farmers of the United States. This has been brought about by an organization that he himself has made. “There are other farm organizations in existence. The grange believes in working hand in hand for the bettering of agriculture, and working with all organizations that have for their aim this object “It proposes bringing about a better system of education. We believe that the country child has the same rights and should have the same advantage! to a practical education as has the| boy or girl who was unfortunate; enough to have been born in the town or city. We believe it is possible to do this. If the grange does what it is intending to accomplish, it will show to the farm boys and girls thatj they have the same advantages for an J education as if they had learned a; profession and hung out their shingio* in the top loft of some city structure. They may read long articles; they may exhaust all energy in solving this question, but there is only one thing! to my mind that will do it. That) is to show to the boy or girl, theyoung man or the young woman, that! the same chance for success Is open) on the farm along the various lines* as if they were in the city, and the conditions on the farm so prosperous that all the boys and girls who are* born there should want to remain there. If they did, God pity the cities.. You go to the great centers of trade,! go to the great business houses or that city, and you will find that about* 90 per cent, by actual count, of the) business men you will find, spent the, first 16, 18 or 21 years of their life* on the farm, and so we have an Inter-* est in these institutions, and we must| keep them up, but I do maintain that! we must- make agriculture so pros-, perous and advantageous that we can* keep the best boys and girls on the farm. There is where they are| needed. f “There is one fact I want to im-i press upon your younger members, and that is that in the 47 years of the existence of this organization, IL has never gone before the people with] a public policy, unless that .publicpolicy has been enacted into law, on we are still working to attain that* end. It has never had to retract one* single policy or act, and it is for thia reason that it stands today an organ-1 ization that is both safe and sane. This is why it is exerting influence! as it does in every principle in which* it takes part. The grange organization is working in the interest of all classes. “If I understand grange doctrine, it> Is not to increase the cost of farm, productions to the consumer. When we take up the reports of the agricultural department today, and find; that the producer is receiving from 30* per cent to 40 per cent, and it takes 60 to 70 per cent to distribute the product, we know there is something wrong. So this grange comes forward to try and find the reason for this, and they have discovered that great corporations are charging freight rates, based not only on the actual value of their stock, but on double, treble and in some cases quadruple the amount, and from that we are led to believe there is something yet for the grange to do along that line. “It is probable that there are too many peopleohandling these products. A system should be brought about to remove as far as possible, the distance from the producer to the consumer. I am firmly of the opinion that there never was such a thing a» overproduction, but in underconsumption, and the grange should rise to meet these great questions, and bring about a system of social and economic conditions so that the people may be brought closer together, and bo enabled to consume more of what the produces.