Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-02-19
Patrons of Husbandry.

Par0ns OF Husbandry.
A writer who has been in attendance on
the convention Of the National Grange, at
Charleston, 5. c., and who appears to have
had access to the official figures gives some
curious statistics on this point, after sketch
| ing the history of the order Of its founders
| he says that " but two of them knew "A turnip
from tomato, and of these two one was an
| insolvent farmer, and tho other AN invalid
gardener" Of the seventeen high officers
| elected in 1873, the District of Columbia
where there is scarcely farmer, has the
| secretary, the secretIrys wife rs " Pomona.
whatever that is, and the wif1s sister AS lady
assistant steward. That would be called
nepotism in the old parties, particularly the
republican. The financial facts, however,
are more interesting. 1t appears that the
state oranges receive ten cents dues per head
from the subordinate oranges. On the first
day OF january, 1873. there were 1862
| oranges, equal to 65, 900 members. The dues
should have been $65O0. Iowa alone paid
Sl,075.96, and there were 10 other state
oranges to hear from. Yet the total dues
received from the state oranges for the year
ending Dec. 81, 1872, amounted to but
Sl,O72.96. Five-siXths of the money went
Into somebody's pockets, where it did not be-
long. The following year the leakage was n
great deal worse. The dues which should
have been about $4,000, really turned out
only 1926, or one-hLlf OF one mill per head
instead OF ten cents. As to the National
| Grange, the receipts in 1872 were nearly
S2l 600 Of which the District of Columbia
secretary, referred TO above, took IN the
shape of salaries and expenses, $Il, 500. 80.
In 1878 the finance committee reported that
including all arrears, so, 900 would meet all
the expenses of the National Grange for the
year, and yet il was fourd ut the end of the
| year that $24, 557 were needed to cover the
nj aai, .l..taa.
Editor Of Farmer:-I find the above arti-
Gle travelling around the country in many So
called reliable public journals" and wish
TO cal their attention 10 the misrepresenta-
lions contained in it, and request those that
have published the false 1" to now publish
the "true story"
Passing by the Islander about the founders,
who were honest men as well as farmers
while the writer of the article above is nei-
Their cae nor the other, the secretary, pomo.
| ma, and lady assistant steward are elected
and not appointed, and never solicited their
offices from any ono In any manner what
ever. They ARE not and never have been
residents of the District OF Columbia eX-
cept 50 far as their official duties call them
W ltoluS tuNlts ". H. htltty u ~ CltlACu vi
Minnesota. and WAS called to Georgetown,
ID. C., m 1872, to attend the duties of secre-
tary of the National Grange. aud in 1873 re-
moved his head quarters TO Washington, d.
g. The next MEASUREMENT shows either an
utter ignorance of the facts on the part of the
writer or willful niisstatcment. He says Jan
|. 1873, there were 1869 oranges in the nation
| A. oE l..
paid into the National Grange treasury dur.
Ing 1872 S6500 and really only 3 l072.96 wa,
received, hence the conclusion is drawn that
| the balance WAS stolen. The facts are tina
In Jan. |, 1872 there were only 257 grange!
in the nation, with n membership of abou
5000; at 30. 10 each, $500 to be paid on tn,
me mbership that existed Jan l. 1872.
! Of the ll05 oranges organized during 1877:
the larger proportion were organized during
the fall of 1872. No dues are sent to tn,
state grange during the quarter In which
grange is organized, and none to the Nation
nj Grange during the quarter in which tn,
state is organized, and only few stat
oranges were formed until the spri ng o
1873, hence only small amount of dues wa
due the National Grange except upon tn,
MON bershp of 5000 which belonged to tn
grange Jan. l, 1879. The writer of the arti
Gle intends to represent that $500 member
paid dues, 10 cents each, during 1872, Will
the facts are that Jan. /, 1872, there wer
only 5000 members, and the very large pro
portion of the increase to $4,000 was mad
during the fall of 1872 and no dues could b
claimed by the National Grange until tn
close of the quarter ending March l, 1879
and then only from Jan |, 1873.
A similar misrepresentation is made wit
tho statistics of 1873, taking the membership
Mt the close of the year to compute the due
upon instead of the actual membership eli
giblo to pay dues to tho National Grang
during tho year. Then comes the salar
falsehood. We have no " District of Colun
bin secretary" If the secretary of the M
tional Grange, o, II. Kelley, is referred t.
his salary, expenses, &c, &c, amounted
; only $500 instead of Sll ,s6O.33.
have lying before me- tho finAncil
statements of treasurer and secretary Of tn
National Grange" and can authenticate m
statements fully by enumcrating the item
, and several amounts paid to HIM. The
follows the statement concerning the financ
committees report and estimate of expenses
made in February, 1873, for tho year 1877
IL was based upon tho membership Of 65, 0O'
and an increase sufficient to double III
|, membership. At tho close of the year III
organization numbered nearly 100000
members and the expenses Were actual
considerably higher with 100000 member
than with IS, 900.
Numberless absurd statements like tn
: above are travelling around in so called r.
liable journals, but not word printed in re
utation of them though they are frequent
> shown TO be false by writers in "reliab
, journals" which are willing TO publish Ill
refutalion MS well ms the accusation.
Some journals show an utter ignorance @
the part Of the editors of every principle
grange law, and publish statements so d.
void of truth that even those willfully bin
, and vicious will not believe or circulate Il
!. ridiculously apparent absurdities when pul
lished. D. +. Is.
II is the deliberate opinion Of the Chicag
Inter Ocean that Judge Poland has "stulI
a fed" himself, and that his Arkansas repo