The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1873-10-23

Iron tho Galveston .SeEsl
The history Of enthusiasm IS an instruc-
tive book. Periodical popular excitements
seem to be as natural as the fits Of passion
exhibited by tame elephants, or heated terms
in the weather. We might fiji a page Of this
paper with the instructive history Of certain
great political and religious epidemics, but
NC cannot spare the space. Just now pop
ular outbreak has arisen from the want Of
cheap transportation By the farmers Of the
Great West, and it has taken the name at
the head Of this article. As the Odd Eel
lows and Know-Nothing organizations had
origins entirely too obscure TO have war
Tanted their ultimate importance, so We
suspect that this so-called farmers move
ment may, as is now claimed By its leaders,
have started from others than plain. practi-
cal farmers, and that the leaders may have
had other objects besides reducing the
freight on a bushel Of corn.
Il Is reported that there arc already 5000
Oranges established, mostly in the States Of
the West. Indiana having about 500; Illi-
nois, about 600 Iowa, nearly 1000; Kansas,
about $50; Minnesota, about 400; Missouri,
nearly 500; Nebraska, nearly 400; WiscOn-
sin, 200; and many in the South, with an
aggregate of half million members. In the
meantime, the central organization at New
York Is doing q lively business in selling the
honest yeomanry charters at fifteen dollars
each, authorizing them to establish lodges,
and swearing them not to tell what they
know about Oranges.
Now, what puzzles us is that there should
be any necessity for secresy in the advocacy
of such measures, and that the farmers and
their self-styled patrons or leaders should
OILY be interested in the good work The
merchant the mechanic, the laborer, the
professional man, and all who are interested
in cheap food and easy transit, are alike in
VOWED, so long as their interest in great
corporations and monopolies are not greater
than that embraced in expenses from high
rates of. transportation and the profits of
monopolies.
A promoter of the Grange movement
writes that ''politics had nothing to do
with the organization of the order, and all
political discussion is excluded from the
Oranges" but the devil got into Paradise,
and this advocate of the Oranges admits
that careful as the founders were upon this
subject, they could not prevent that class
of politicians who seek only for place and
Its emoluments from seeking to enter the
Oranges, and absorb support from them by
a seeming zealousness in their cause. This
IS the old story, we suppose, in regard to all
good works:
mo sooner doth the Lord erect house OF prayer,
Than Satan surely comes and builds chapel there.
We do not object to the ostensible, or, so
far as they have been avowed, real objects
of the Oranges, which are represented, in
addition to those above indicated, to be the
intellectual, social and moral improvement
of their members, by libraries, lectures, and
the interchange and discussion of opinions;
to spread useful information and assist the
members in guarding against the efforts
of the inscriptions and designing, who
seek to gain advantage over the unskillful
and unwary in their exchanges, and to so
apply this knowledge that it shall tighten
labor and secure protection to its produc
ton"
While we sympathize with our agricul-
tural friends in many of the objects they
hope to attain by the Grange organization,
we apprehend that they are likely to find a
number of obtrusive rats in the meal tub
before they come to the expected feast of
good things ostensibly set before them.
They will be called on to entertain a large
number of amateur farmers whose other in
terests far outweigh their interest in agri-
culture. They will find that as political
organization party consisting exclusively
of farmers viii never succeed in doing JUS
tice to its members and to the mercantile,
mechanical and professional classes at the
same time. Whether the Oranges undertake
to lead or follow, or to divide their power
by contract with other political parties, they
will find it difficult either to act as O unit or
to obtain the full recognition and faithful
of their claims by politicians
recognizing the higher claims of party allie
glance in regard to national and State ques-
tions. Those who do remember the specious
claims to favor set up by the old native
American and Know Nothing parties, the
uneasy yokes which they placed upon their
members, and the short allegiance the lead
ers could impose on the freemen of the
country, will be slow to pledge themselves
knowingly to any similar organization, and
prompt to relieve themselves of their obi
cations if they find that they are expected
to yield blind obedience to their leaders,
and barter away, in advance, their rights of
suffrage and opinion on measures material to
the public interests. Secret political organ
izations are not only incompatible with the
spirit of our government, but they are also
repugnant to the sentiments and habits of
the people. They arc neither necessary nor
polite.
No secret political society can live long
in this country. The American idea of
freedom revolts at secresy and concealment,
to say nothing of pledges to the blind sup.
port of men and measures nominated and
dictated by those assuming the lead,
whether they be called Patrons of Husband
r. or by any other name implying superiori-
ty over the great body of the people.