Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 47, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1874 — The Order in Ohio. [ARTICLE]

The Order in Ohio.

, 'At tlie first annual Aestival of the Pa- ’ tcdne of Husbandry of Hancock County, Ohio, held recently at Findlay, 8. H. Ellis, Worthy Master of the State Grange, delivered an address from which wetake theTollowing extracts: It Is agraUfying sight to see four thousand earnest faces before me, men and women, who come together to have a good time and to ■ testify* their faith in the noble Order of the Patrons of Husbandry. A wonderful change this from what I witnessed here one year ago, when some nineteen or twenty men who heard of this reform movement met In an office over in your town and there plied me one whole afternoon with questions concerniijg the Order, and afterward spent the better part of the night in organising your first Grange, went homeward, many even yet thinking a little that they had been investing in a’ patent churn or something of that sort. The day of doubt has passed and you are in the enjoyment of the fullest faith in the goodglory of the work in which you then engaged, with your county and your neighboring counties fully alive and thoroughly organiaed. To-day, in our State, we have at least a round thousand active societies, of which your Hancock Grange one year ago was No. on the list. Not Only is the change astonishing in the number of Granges but far more in the number of the membership in each Grange. We are now, to-day, throughout tlic State familiar with an Order that two years ago was almost said to be a mere myth. Why, then, this rapid gathering of a class of people who never before have been aggregated togetherfor any purpose, pertalni ire strictly to themselves? What powerful impelling motive brings you here? Our ' interests demanded union and we have therefore, united. A gentleman said to nreiii few minutes ago that the farmers need drill and discipline. That the town fellows would not find themselves assembled without the needful preparations being first fully made. This is true. They .are used to these things; wc are not. They can mass forces and use them to forward their interests, while we, as a rule, come together by mere accident and act in isolated and disorgunized bodies. We have much to learn from the organized forces of the people who are trained. I have no fault whatever to find with the town people for using their power in a skillful way. In fact, living closely together, they have social intercourse —have advantages almost wholly unknown to the farmers. These advantages were telling on us in a fearful manner. Fanners had eome to seek for leaders among the trained classes, and to a degree look to them as the common people of other lands look to the aristocracy for teaddrs. ' Our young men and young women felt this more than our older persons. The chasm —between faint and toan is too widi/. Social culture requires constant study’ and practice, just as intellectual culture. The farmer works very hard on his farm all the week and rarely meets his fellow-laborer, except by chance at the blacksmith-shop or store, and then only when too much hurried to spend time to talk, or at the church, and there is no place for social intercourse. In the whole system of farm life in America no regular adequate and inviting arrangement has been made for the meeting together of the people. There have, for the last few years, been heard throughout the land charges of corruption in places high and low. In fact, these charges have been, as a rule, too palpably true. Neither—no party—was free from men who betrayed their trusts, and who robbed th« people”. Happily the farmers have been, to a great extent, free from charges of official corruption, because they were not as largely in the ring from which officers have been chosen, and they have remained comparatively pure and free from taint and are head and shoulders above any other class,in moral honesty. It is therefore a mercy this class be now felt in polities. We want more honesty in polities. We must have it or we are ruined as a government and a people. Corruption is abroad in thfc land. I find that in nearly every county in Ohio offices are bought and sold. Thus says the aspirant to the men who manage the nominating conventions: “I’ll contribute tldO or <I,OOO toward the expenses of the campaign if you will give me the nomination.” ” ~ ~ A few weeks ago I stayed with a gentleman just out of the treasury of one of the wealthiest counties in Ohio. He is now the Master of a Grange. He told me that when first a candidate he had given his check for SBOO to the Executive Committee of hispmrty, and he was duly elected. The next time he would give but SSOO, and he was not elected. Where, I ask, is there any Republicanism or Democracy in all this, when only men of wealth can become office-holders? It is a mercy that the farmers have awakened to the danger Of the , hour. We had all along depended o'n what our leaders told us, and taken no pains to inform ourselves. We were run by politicians just like mere machines—and we were little better. The old political organizations, in themselves, do very little to inform the people of the real principles. They labor for mere partymonopolies, as a rule* Something beyond this is needed —and that something is careful investigation" and thought oii the part of every man who dares to vote. Yet your Granges are-not- places.in which the discussion of political questions are tolerated, although they include men of all shades of political opinion. 1 asked an old 'Shaker, not long ago, whether they, in taking in a new member in the church, required him to subscribe to any creed. “ Nay," he re- ■ plied. “ Then how do you get along?” "Ifei man will conic und4ive witli us, and-eeHferm-to our rules, he will come to believe just as wc do.” With us every man can believe as he pleases, and vote as he pleases. No mail dare ask another why he votes so and so. We believe that honest men shall be in office, and you will see theeffect of this belief. -•-■<-*• When our Government was formed there were three branches co-ordinate in power—the legislative, the executive, and the. judicial., New there is- the—fourth, w hich overshadows all—the lobby. It is the power to which railroads and other great corporations never appeal in vain to get whatever' they waqt—a power in which railroad anil other corporations pay greater tribute than it will ever cost to run the entire Grange of the United States. All changes in laws which affect railroads, etc., are modified and controlled by the lobby, so that legislation is to a great extent made in favor not of the people. I will not propose that we counteract these things by sending up another lobby, but .we can send honest men to Congress, and when we find them there keep them in power. Our influence must be a moral influence. Men —our public servants—in standing Up for us, and fighting corrupt- rings, must know and feel tfiat the people, that the Granges, will* stand Uy tlicAsi and not let them be sacrificed at the dictation of any ring or party managers, who are reallyinfluenced to destroy tile honest" Servants of the people by the lobby managers who failed to corrupt them. I say that our influence on politics and politicians must be a moral influence—the influence which numbers always commands. Should any one of vou tender a railroad conductor three cents a mile fare and refuse to pay more, he might eall his brakemen and put you off. But, should 500 get aboard the train and tender this, and refuse to pay more, you would probably go ahead. Should all the farmers demand reform, or encourage their.servantsJo light-corruption, itis very likely they will be heard. We come with 20,00 Q Granges—a grand moral power. , The sectional differences in our countryhave been rather with the leaders than with the laborers, so that to-day we find a most friendly feeling existing between the North and the South. It was the leaders who were ruling—running the machine. We, as laborers, propose no further quarrel, but as brothers to live together in harmony, ignoring the wild and terrible leadership of ambitious men who would make us war with each other. The laborers of the country are exercising a moral power that is being listened to and telt. If we are true to ourselves, a reformation as grand ns we <are ask will te 'burs. All is in <tur power, add wc are accountable for our failure. I believe that God has called the -farmers to stop the torrent of corruption that wib overflowing our land. Let us, fellowrntrons, see to it that we exercise this power ■wisely and well. To what extent co-operative arrangements ni&y be entered into, depends wholly upon each subordinate Grange to determine for itoelf. Many thousands of dollars have teen saved to the farmers In buying. \ *■ - We have no . quarrel witli the middlemen. 'As business was conducted heretofore they, were necessary. The manufacturer could On ? rcttc ’ l consumer by or through agents, and that at an expense which was very great. Now we go direct lathe manufacturer, let our

wants be known, and buy so as to dispense with the expense of agents. We had io foot the bills before. (The speaker here enumerated amounts saved to the farmers in various counties, showing a valuable work done.] It is left to each county and each Grange to say whether these benefits shall be theirs. The amount of reduction we get would surprise many persons. But right here I desire to caution the Patrons. Many agents of manufacturers who have not made terms with us will not unfrequently offer to sell to you as low or lower than you can purchase through the Grange. This they do in order to break down your manner of operation. Do not buy of such agents, even though they sell at a third of what it costs them to manufacture, for in doing so you demoralize the operations of the Grange, and you will thus destroy the very thing yon aim to build up. The system of agencies had become a great and” powerful one, and it may require much patience and some ineonveniencelo substitute,; a better system for it. Though in your individual Granges you may not seem to be accomplishing much, yet remember that alt over the United States a great reformation is being worked out, that was not dreamed of a year ago. So powerful, so determined, so well-disciplined is becoming thjs Order of Patrons of Husbandry, that to-day anything within the scope of reason and right that they desire to accomplish can be done. Our work is a work of social elevation—the bringing up of the maSses to adiigher scale. The hope of the country is that the ladies—the wives and daughters—arc to-day found in this organizatitin. A Grange witli the ladies left out is a sad failure. Men cannot manage them alone. A few months ago but few women would teeomcmembers" of the Order; now they are crowding your Granges and taking an active and earnest part in all the work of the Order—freely, fully and well participating in discussion. The old *’ apple-parings” and “ log rollings” were famous among the farmers at an early day, and many a joyous night they had of it. Well, indeed, do the old ones love to reflect upon and talk of these days. But they had become things of the past—nothing in t’hc routine of farmers’ lives was substituted for them until now. But the Grange presents all the advantages and pleasures of these gatherings with none of their disadvantages.