Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-02-28
THE STATE GRANGE.

harmonious throughout. We give
below synopsis Of their proceedings
The Constitution will be submitted
to the Subordinate Oranges, and re-
quires three-fourths vote of these
last for its final adoption sa' dili
WORTHY MASTERS ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Worthy Master Maxwell delivered
his annual address, In which he said
that the great foundation principle
was. in the declaration, Individual
happiness is dependent upon general
prosperity" To carry out this princi-
| pie the declaration of purposes, Of the |
| National Grange, unanimously adopted
at its late session in St. Louis, was
submitted Herewith as a proof of
what their general purposes were.
They had assembled In this their
! new relation as brothers and sisters,
with the progressive idea prominent,
and BY them reduced to practice, that
man and woman had no separate in
terest; and the combined wisdom and
experience of all must be brought to- !
4
they recognized the fact that their OBJ
jects and aims in this world We're the
same. Upon these principles they had
grown from 50 subordinate Oranges in
this State, to 500, which had now as
sembled through their delegates of
men and women, to inaugurate. the
plans that, in their Judgment, would
be best calculated to carry out these
general purposes. All eyes were upon
their Order-self-constituted tribunals
in every relatiensin business pursuits
4 of life, were sitting in Judgment upon
them. They should bear this in mind,
and be careful not TO do anything in
word or deed that did not contain in
it the idea which was most prominent
among them, do good unto all, and
to do this, they should remember that
cooperation and concert of action was
their watch word. They should never
lose sight of the idea that, theory re-
1 duced to practice, their work was ac-
/ complished. To devise ways and
means looking to that end, they were
assembled. Education becomes the
first means-they. were educating and
had educated. ....
They had been taught by experience
that they had not the means of supply
ing all their necessary wants, and but
few, if any, of the Injuries. Observa-
ton had taught that as husbandmen or
! tillers of the soil, they were the pro-
ducers of the supplies and wealth of
the worlJ. Investigation showed them
; that IL was not the fault of others that
they had failed to realize their just
compensation and the reward that was
due to labor, but it was their system.
or rather want of system in transact,
) ing business, that had placed them
thus. And the complaint, if any, lay
against themselves for this want Of
system. That other parties reaped re-
wards and shared the greater part of
wealth and luxuries of the world was
not their fault, nor were they to be
Justly blamed for it. That other par
ties could live in lll-U sa-.iaH H 1-'l
PALACES AND BROWN STONE FRONTS
surrounded by all that could make
home attractive, instructive and love-
IL was no just cause of complaint for
them. The reason they did not possess
them was simply because they did not
transact their own business. Because
they had given it up entirely TO others
and encouraged them in it, they had,
little by little, accumulated to them
selves the difference between what they
had received for their products and
what the consumer paid for the same
article. The difference between what
the manufacturer had received for his
implements and fabrics, and what they
paid for them, they could see that
neither the producer nor manufacturer
had realized wealth, ease and comfort,
{ but that the energetic Industrious party
' between the producer and maDufac-
, turer .s. ...
' SPORTED IN THE LUXURIES OF LIFE.
{. This was no fault of his, it was the re-
5 suit of a want of cooperation between
J the producer and the manufacturer.
Change that old system and brown
stone fronts and palaces and luxuries
3 we're theirs, and above all, the luxury
e of having done the greatest good to
. the greatest number. This luxury
they would share to themselves as re-
ward in time and eternity. They had
$ no cause of complaint to urge against
e the manufacturer, and he had none to
make against them. r....-.
He advised them not to take up the
: cry of condemnation, and thus perpet-
: uate
THE CRY AGAINST TRANSPORTATION
> .--. COMPANIES
! that was the hue and cry raised by their
enemies to bring them into disrepute
among the many honorable men who
y were engaged in that business, both
upon the land and the sea. This was
4. a legitimate business, and one that to
- all Of them was a necessity, and they
: could not afford to do without it. That
!; individuals might do wrong in bust
ness was admitted, and was to be de-
: plored, NEVERTHELESS this business was
legitimate and necessity. What they
;. need was
TO CORRECT THE ABUSES
: of the system, not to condemn the bus
:. mess. These abuses could only be cor
rected through education. First learn
what were the legal rights of these
companies, then learn what were their
e obligations to their customers, aud
$ they should bear in mind that they
: were the only real customers they had.
: Then learn the abuses of the franchises
: they had-then by concert of eo-opera-
+ ton it was their duty to correct these
e abuses. Some of the legal rights
guaranteed to them had been learned
by committees appointed by the Ameri-
can Cheap Transportation Association,
e and reported in printed documents,
e presented to committee of that Asso-
q citation, assembled in Washington City
. on the 14th day of January last, in
which their Order had representa-
t tive in the person of the Master of the
: State Grange, who was received and
accredited as member of that honor
able body, by virtue of commission
> from their Executive Committee. 1t
e Was developed in that convention that
D cooperation could correct many of the
} abuses to which they were subject,
such az
HIGHER RATES THAN THE LAW AL
LOWED,
and in cases of the loss of stock, to
which many had been subjected. and
no return or recompense made. 1t had
:, been said to many of them, when their