Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-09-25
SOVEREIGNs OF INDUSTRY.

The order of the Patrons of Husbandry |
has proved the means of great good to the
farmers of America already, though we hope |
and believe the good results of the order are
only in their beginning, and that what we
have seen may be taken as a token of what
is to come The evils which this order has
been formed to do away with are as broad |
as the world and the trembling among the
hitherto powerful rings, the defeat ofregular
party candidates in the Western states by !
independents, the overthrow of caucus nomi-
nations by means of bolts where no independ
ent reform party has an apparent existence,
and the growing disposition among the peo-
pie, from Maine to California and from the
great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, to come
around at election time "poking their noses
into their own business" much to the disfg-
uring ofparty states, as well as the praise
worthy though weak efforts of the last Con-
gress at seli-purifcation, are all the result
Of the same spirit of reform and dissatisfac-
tion at the present state Of affairs which has
given birth to the Patrons
Prominent among the recommending fea-
lures of the Patrons is that Of financial saw
ing by cooperating in sales and purchases.
Thousands of dollars are saved every month
to members of the order in this way alone,
while the social and educating advantages
thus secured have value which cannot be
named in dollars.
This organization is composed solely of
those interested in the cultivation of the soil,
but there are millions of aborers whose in
terests and wants are the same as those of
the Patrons, and who are debarred from
participating in the benefits Of the order.
These men organized and formed the order
of the Sovereigns of Industry in Massachu-
setts and from there the order has spread
into fourteen of the other states. The Sow
erelgns and Patrons 60 hand in hand WHEREBY
er they exist together, feeling that they have
common cause.-the raising up Of the
moral and social standing of the toiling mil
lions, the securing to them of the rights of
which they have been deprived by those
classes who live on the fruits of others toll,
and the publication of our governmental and
other public institutions through the intel
lectual and social elevation of individual
members of society.
All classes of laboring men aud women
are welcomed to the council of the Sover-
eigns, but this is not supposed to include
those who labor with the yard stick and the
grocers scales. The order gives more i'm
portance to the advantages secured through
cooperative trading than do the Patrons. We
make an extract from circular recently is
sued by the National Council
The "Sovereigns of Industry is an order
seeking to combine all toilIng men and wo-
men in an organization for the purpose of Sc
curing to themselves increased material. So
cial and intellectual advantages. The Pat
rons of Ilusbandry have demonstrated the
practicability of such II plan by uniting the
farmers in oranges throughout the land
We seek to complement their work by invit-
ing to our councils all classes Of id60riRg mcR
and UOneH, without regard tn race, creed or
nationality. The order is spreading rapidly.
Several state councils have already been
formed and we have subordinate councils
in fifteen states-many of them numbering
from 100 to 300 members each. At the last
session of the Massachusetts State Council,
held in July, their secretary reported an av-
erage saving to the members, in the pur-
chase of the necessaries of life, of fourteen
per cent In Springfield there are 1900 per-
sons belonging to our order, and they are
saving at least $1,000 per week in their pur-
Chases,
st. Johnsbury has had the honor Of being
the birthplace of the order Of Patrons in
New England may she not be the first
town in Vermont to organize council oil
Sovereigns2 There are workmon enough
here, who would be only too glad of an OPP
portuntY to unite for mutual improvement
and profit. The prices Of the necessarles of
life are held at such extortonately high
rates that it is next thing to an impossibility
for the average Of mechanics to support their
families and keep out of debt, much more
lay by anything for old age.
We understand an effort is before long to
be made to form council here, and we feel
confident the mechanics of st. Johnsbury
will give it their hearty support, and profit
thereby. The presidents OF the four couu
ellis in the city of Springfield, Mass certify
that the families represented in those couu,
ellis are now making saving Of fifty dollars
each per annum on the necessares Of life, by
buying of the local dealers at special rates
They believe greater saving might be
made by making large cooperative purchases.
Why cannot the same thing be done here
We believe it can, and a0W. The average
Vermont mechanic is a man who can "set
with his eyes," and it will not be astonish
ing il in year from now there should be a
council in every manufacturing village o.
any considerable Importance in the Greer
Mountain State. With the farmers in the
grange and the mechanics in the council
working in harmony for the common good
and cooperating with each other FIR relie