American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-08-24
d" Patrons Of Husbandry."


bandry" is attracting the attention
of farmers throughout the United
States, and we publish the follow
ing article from the General Depu-
ty for the Southern States, in order
that the farmers of Madison coun.
ty may have an idea of the nature
and object of the organization
Oranges are rapidly organizing in
the South. One has already Or
ganized at Central Academy and
two others will follow Immediately,
one at Madison Station and one at
Hickory Grove. Any information
concerning the Order may be had
from w. L. Williams, State Sec'y,
Rienzi, Miss, or E. G. Wall, Jack
son:
The Order of Patrons is a secret
association of persons, males over
eighteen years of age and females
over sixteen, interested in agricul-
tural pursuits, and bound together
by mystic ties for the purpose of
mutual benefit and protection. The
organization consists of subordinate
or local Oranges, State Oranges,
and National Grange. The word
Grange, derived from the Latin
GyaniMna, simply means farm with
all it's outfit, buildings, lots, and
fields, and is therefore more APP
propriate and symbolical word than
either club or lodge.
1t proposes to further the inter
ests of agriculture in every possible
way. The organization of a Grange
in any locality induces a community
of thought, thereby increasing the
sociality of the neighborhood and
improving it intellectually. If the
Order did nothing more than this,
who could measure its advantages
to the people of this Union, vast
majority of whom are agricultural
lists? And, throughout the South,
this feature of the Order should
commend itself as a sort of quicken
ing spirit divinely appointed for
we are all interested in agriculture,
and at this moment society seems
to be rapidly segregating, and child
rem by the thousand are growing
up in ignorance. To check this dis
Indignation, to Danish ignorance
from our doors, to elevate the farm
er intellectually, and to teach him
he has mind as well as muscle, is
one of the grand objects Of the Pa
irons of Husbandry.
But it gees further. 1t proposes
to impress upon the farmer the
mournful, but long since patent
truth, tl.at he has heretofore been
the pack horse for all other parties
that he has been the dupe, the very
scape-gOat, of spectators and mid
dle-men of every shape, size; color,
and description that he has rights
which, from ignorance, he has never
dared maintain that if he has the
energy and patience to labor dill
gently, from seed time to harvest,
he certainly should have the intelli-
gence to know what he has never
knOwn-tbe true, proper marketa
ble value of his bard-earned pro-
ducts; that if in ANTON there is
strength, so in this organization ends
may be aimed at, and effects p o.
duced which, in the future, will re-
lieve the farmer from that industrial
thraldOm to which he has been sub
.jected in the past. These, and many
other similar lessons, practical eve
~ whit, and profitable to the purse
as well as to the mind, do the Pa
irons of Husbandry teach to those
farmers all over the Union who will
unite with the Order; and where
fore should any farmer refuse to do
sol
The advantages accruing from or
need not be discussed in
this article; they are trIte to every
rejecting mind. Were 1t otherwise,
we would seldom hear of Boards of
Trade, Chambers of Commerce,
Trades Unions, and the like. Mer-
camille men, commercial men, pro-
fessiOnal men, and mechanics Of
every kind appreciate fully the val
ne to their respective vOcatiOns Of
union, concert, and singleness OF
purpose. But farmers everywhere