Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1874-02-18
A Good Declaration.

The National Grange of the Patrons {
Husbandry, last week in session in s.
Louis. put forth declaration that we Civ
in another column, and which is one {
the most sensible political documents tha
we have ever been favored with in thi
country. 1t is political in the stateman'
sense, not in the politicians and if the OF
der sticks to the men who act upon it
principles, it will certainly be of great ben
eft to the nation.
Farmers have been rs class considered
to say the least, as frugal and law-abidin:
and Industrious as the men in any othe
department of Labor While the agricul
tural community could always be g de
pended on" it labored under special dis
advantages of isolation. Men get knowl
edge, it is true from books. and work, an,
thought. and many man socially almos
hermit, surprises by the accuracy anC
clearness of his thought. But there is al
education of the brain, and still more ont
of the heart. that comes Of intimate socia
relations with ones fellows. If reading
makes q full nun, writing an exact one
and speech ready one, still more does
continued contact of the mind with anoth
er mind embodied in a live man, make f.;
larger and more symmetrical man. $50
lation does not give one knowledge Of hu
man nature whatever it may do for hi:
knowledge of the soil.
This National Grange then, we believe
suggests great possibility in the way of Il
better education, in its second article OF
faith" The reduction of expenses can be
made and with II strong effort we doubt
not will he made. but we have no fear that
it will be in the lines of such expenditures
as really subserve the common veal. The
more of consultation there is among far
mers. the more we expect to see them Civ
ing in COOL works, the more we expect t..
see them willing to pay for education in
the state. and the more we expect to see
them demanding their moneys worth in
good schools and getting what they de-
mInl too The men who remain farmers
on or Vermont hills are Of like stock as
those who 90 to the cities or 90 West and
who fail or succeed us their destiny is.
Like influences must have on them like eff
fects, and association will enlarge the
views of many; and while they remain the
law abiding class they have always prov
ed, there may come more interest and care
rs to what the laws are which they obey.
The third section of their declaration is
one containing no wrong demand. Wher-
ever II mi.ldlemln' subserves no purpose
but to put money in his own pocket he is
not wantel. Wherever he brings producer
and consumer into proper relations with
each other, (when their own time can be
better spent in their own proper businessl
he is benefit. and we understand that
this platform" is not antagonistic to the
merchant who does Il fair business, to the
mechanic OF to the carrier. Where an ac-
emulation of capital draws around it AZ
rOgance and dictation, and disregard of
public and private interests, simply be-
cause it can do as it lists, it is time for a
powerful body to rise up and break the
monopoly.
As to the statement that the Grange is
not political or party organization, we
take tito be true in the commonly accepted
use of the term But as we have said, no
organization reaching so far, numbering so
many, and with such great interests can
do otherwise than have great influence
in shaping the channels in which legisla-
ton shall run. The broad denial in the
platform is followed by statement of du-
ties to good government, which, if per-
formed faithfully by every Granger, will
make the party machinery that under
our present ways "runs" the government,
grind responsive to the will of the many
rather than of the few. We wish there
were some influence that would bring hon
est men in body, in whatever walks of
life they may be, to take an active inter-
est in the means by which the officers who
control our affairs are really elected: for
time and again the "inccptive stage is
the one that controls the ultimate result.
The large number of patrons in the
west and south ought to soften somewhat
the asperity Of feeling between lately
opposed sections and do much to cement a
common Union
The disbandng of the Boston Grange
and the action taken by which a strict con-
struction is pat upon the term those
interested in agriculture" show that it is
the intention to keep it farmers organi
cation. and We should not wonder if GER
tain politicians who have inserted them
selves in it, soon begin to discover indica-
tiOns that they are in strange garnet. A
contamination devoutly to be wished for.
The Ohio temperance movement contin-