Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-10-02
PATRONS AND SoVEREIGNS.


We recommend the article on the fourth
page of this issue, on the "Sovereigns Of In.
dustry," to the careful perusal of our read
ers. The Sovereigns and Patrons working
together, will mutually benefit each other
Heretofore, the Patrons in this part of the
country have worked under a disadvantage
in that while they could buy corn and grain
of their brethren in the West, or other anti.
ces Of the wholesale dealers, at wholesale
prices, they could only dispose of their own
products in the old way. Now, wherever a
council of Sovereigns is formed, the Patrons
can deal directly with these consumers in
making their sales.
On the other hand, the mechanics of the
state can relieve themselves Of heavy bur-
den which they have been compelled to bear
in the shape of high prices.
We do not consider the financial feature
the leading Recommendation Of. the Patrons,
by any means the benefit to be derived by
farmers from regularly meeting together and
interchanging ideas is probably greater than
any other derived from the order. The hu.
man intellect. needs culture, use, to develop
it. The more one sees and hears of his fell
lows the more capable does his mind become
of receiving and apprOpriating knowledge
of useful facts The farmer who has lived
a secluded life, seldom seeing or conversing
with his neighbors, land plenty such exist
needs mental culture to enable him to form
correct opinions of men and things. Meet
ing with his friends periodically, in the
grange, develops his brain, and sets him to
thinking, and this qualities him to form his
own opinions. He then does not need a eau
Gus of professional men in the village to tell
him for whom to vote he will form his own
opinions intelligenty, and n fearful smash
ing Of states will result. 1t is thus that the
Patrons affect politics. They set men to
thinking, awaken their dormant intelects
and fire them with the warmth Of mutual
friendly intercourse, and the result is felt in
all their acts, that Of voting at the ballot
box included. The results Of such an awak-
enlng among the farmers have begun to
show themselves in Vermont and the fact
was chroaicled in Massachusetts, daily pa
per the day after election in the words
There was any amount of wild voting up
in Vermont yesterday" The indirect but
salutary influence Of the order on politics
will continue to increase for some time yet.
Among the residents of village, such as
will be most likely to compose the principal
part Of the council, there is less need Of So
cial culture, as their occupation and habits
of life have thrown them together more, but
there is more need among this class for mu-
tual protection in making purchases. They
work for wages, and buy all the necessaries
Of life. They have been largely accustomed
to buy whatever they want of the grocer, OF
other merchant, and when pay day came
around pay the bill without asking any
questions. In most villages, and VIGOROUSLY
so in st. Johnsbury, prices have been gradu
ally showed up to afford means of livelihood
for an army of dealers vino were increasing
in numbers faster than the needs of the place
required, until these mechanics, upon look
Jog about them, find that they can combine
and save anywhere from twenty to fifty pei
cent. on the necessaries of life by purchasing
in that way. For this reason the inancia
advantages of the sovoreigns take a NOR
prominent place in the order than in the or
der Of Patrons, and for this reason also W
hope soon to see councils organized in al
the manufacturing towns of Vermont.