Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1875-08-14

I 1GlDItu Si1Cc Jul idot S'07''h, SpN
wear ago. During February we
reached the highest number of subor-
dinate oranges organized in any
month since the foundation OF the
order, viz: 2239." just think Of this
for moment. Not 2239 members,
but an increase Of 2239 oranges in
one month. Further along in his
report the worthy secretary says :
During the past five months, the
work of organizing has settled down
to an average of 392 oranges per
month"
/ Now, we can very well afford to
throw away the extra %. and say
that should we, during the next
twelve months, continue to increase
at the rate of 800 oranges per month,
we will, by the fall Of 1876, number
considerably over one million male
members: aud when we add to .hese
the mighty influence of our female
associates, who can compute the
power of the order?
! In his last annual address, deliver
ed before the National Grange, the
/ Worthy Master, speaking upon this
subject, says: The work has spread
from ocean to ocean. The winds
have waited the sounds across, and
now they come back like echoes from
the other shore, asking us to extend to
other peoples Il helping hand This
uprising and organizing of a great
and scattered interest has not paral-
lei in the history of the world. 1t
has burst upon US with the .suddenness
of the erratic comet, yet promises to
remain with the brilliancy and perma-
nence of the sun. 1t found the agri-
culturists of the nation unorganzed,
weak, plodding, and their voices
virtually urheard in the counsels of
the land To-day they are organized,
united, strong. thoughtful, and duly
respected aud recognized as one Of the
great powers that be-"
Now, what is the design Of this
institution? For what purpose was
it created, and what is it intended to
accomplish? From the gigantic pro-
portions which it is beginning to as
sumo, it is destined to WELD an i'm
mense influence for good or for evil in
the land.
As q great conservative and puri-
! fying element Of our order, ,ron,an,
the purest and best gift of God to
mau, has been admitted to our coun-
sells; and we feel duubly assured that
the great reformation at which we
aim will be accomplished, inasmuch
as it has the encouragement of her
| potent influence.
Our objects are moral as well as
material. The great principle which
is the underlying substratum of the
order is Faith in God" We seek to
eleva ate and refine the character Of our
members by the purest teachings; to
eliminate every thing having the
slightest tendency to the grovelling,
and to inculcate the loftiest principles
of human action, in all our dealings
with each other and with the world
at large. While doing this, We aim
to delise means which shall! accom-
plish the great result of securing to
the husbandman an adequate reward
for his toll and his labor. In other
words, our objects may he succinctly
stated to be-" To develop better
aud higher manhood among ourselves;
to enhance the comforts and attrac-
tions of our homes and strengthen
our attachments to our pursuits; to
buy less and produce more, in order
to make our farms self-sustaining; to
reform, by cooperative effort, COM
mercial abuses, restore integrity in
dealing, get rid of unnecessary mid
dle-men, and to secure to productive
industry ats due re,card."
This last proposition, which we
have not taken from our own declara.
ton Of purposes, but which We have
extracted from the platform Of prii ci-
pies Of kindred order in Great
Britain, expresses more perfectly, in
u few words, the great material object
Of our order than anything i have
seen; and it should he printed in gol.
den letters upon the walls Of every
grange hall throughout the land; for
aside from the moral elevation which
We aim to promote, it embraces, in its
comprehensive sweep, the grand pur-
pose Of the order. Let me repeat it :
"To secure to productive industry its
due reward" As we said before, as
matters now stand, every other indi.
vidual or class Of individuals who
handles or trades iu the products OF
the plantation or farm derives froul
them larger profit than the planter
or farmer himself. This thing ought
not so to be. Upon this subject, we
: extract from the annual address OF
our Worthy Master to the National
Grange in st. Louis, February, 1874.
He saws: when the first subordi.
nate oranges had been organized. one
Of the first and most proper subjects
for discussion was how to make two
blades of grass grow where one grew
before. During these discussions, the
fact soon became prominent that, how
to sell crops was fully as khotty a
question as how to grow them. Ii
came TO the conviction of members
that we received so cents for q busbe
of wheat, while the man who ate il
paid 81 go for it. We were selling
corn at 20 cents per busbel, while the
consumer was paying 80 cents for it
In what We bought, there was the
same discrepancy between first cos