Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-04-10
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GROWTH OF THE CHANGERS.

GROWTH OF THE CHANGERS.
The Order of Patrons of Husbandry,
finding its first firm foothold in the
great agricultural regions of the West,
and thus established upon basis both
broad and solid, has worked its way
onward and upward, until its inhu-
ence is felt by the farming interests
of every producing district of territory
within the limits of the Union where
its agencies are operatively adaptively
adaptable to the necessities of the peo
pie directly derived from the eultiva-
ton of the soil. And there is 10 won
der that it is sc, for of the millions of
men, in their various vacations, and
with their different thoughts and the
cries, ends and aims, in industrial life,
there are none not recognizing that
common maternity in old mother
earth, which, whether or not it leads
them, each and all, to look upon the
ground as at last the real fOunda-
ton on which every superstructure
rests, enable the workers of the
ground to WELD a power that could, if
it would, hold every other power help
less in Its hands.
Houses and ships, manufactures and
comerce. stocks of all sorts, trade of
every description, business in all its
branches, industry in all its ramifica-
tions, if they could by possibility be
ASSOCIATED with agriculture in fact, as
they are too often in the fancy and the
folly of some men engrossed in art and
fOrgetiul Of nature, would vanish like
fog or frOstwork for the want of the
means by which they were brought in
TO existence to hold them up and sus-
tain them. The finest fabrics fashion
ed for the votarieS of fashion, the rar-
est wines for the voluptuary's palate,
would cease to be known the diamond
even would lose the charm of its lus-
ire, if no seeds should be gathered in
the fields away back beyond the woods
out of sight of the great cities; the
machinery of the factories is as easily
stopped by the failure of the crops as
by the failure of the water or the steam
acting as the immediate motive power
10 propel it; the ships on the seas
would be as useless and as worthless
without agriculture as they would be
if the ocean were to disappear and
leave desert in its place In truth,
the land, the soil the field of the far
mer' 5 labor, is the great source of ev-
erything that contributes to the main
tenance of man, and makes up the ma
terial for the employment of mind and
muscle, for the luxuries, as we'll as the
necessaries of life-for the progress
and the prosperity of the world. Of
all men the farmer is the man, upon
whom others depend, and who should
himself be least dependent. Hence
we say we do not wonder at the growth
of the Changers.
The pursuits ofrural life naturally
lead the mind away from a contem-
plation of things and rings" by which
money is made more through the
agency of mind than muscle, and men
are enabled to utilize to their own ad-
vantage the labors of their fellow men,
Agriculture is isOlating, and in a
certain sense unsocial in its nature and
its tendencies. There is little of the
struggle and strategy of the ordinary
LATHE of life in other fields about it
1t has heretofore been SO much SO that
it has suffered, and suffered seriously,
from an absence of that community,
not Ofinterest, but Of action-that CO.
operation of individuals engaged in a
common cause of industry, by which
in other vocations men Of inferior en-
ergy and intelligence have often made
fortunes while the farmer was but bare
ly managing to make a living. The
Order of Patrons of Husbandry is de-
signed, among other practical and prof
itlb BILE ends at which it aims, to remove
this serious obstacle In the way of
agriculture, to bring about a general
association and sympathy among the
farmers of the country, to institute,
and extend, and improve, such organi-
cation among the producers as will en-
able them to promote their own well
fare, sssert their own rights and pro-
tect their own interests. 1t is embark
ed upon q great mission, and we can
only wonder that it did not come into
existence earlier. 1t has among its
members in Virginia and everywhere
else, we suppose, numbers of the best
thinkers, the most clear headed, the
most enterprising, the most influential,
and the most intelligent. We have
watched its advance with solicitude,
and observed its increasing power with
the gratifying reflection that our far
mers, at last, are not only moving IN
the right direction, but are animated
with a spirit that must succeed
We have had one apprehension,
however, and with the growth of the
Changers. for some time to come at
least, there will be more and more
reason for it. We refer to the danger
of the strength of the Order being di-
verted to personal and party uses by
politicians who think more about poll
ties than they do about farming, and
who, in the eagerness Of their own am
bition or the aggresslveneSs of preju-
dice against other interest, may some
times counsel a policy of antagonism
where there is not only no good reason
for conflict, but where reciprocity
would bring better results.
Virginia being peculiarly an agri-
cultural State, she has a deep interest
in the Order of Patrons of Husbaudry.
And we are always glad when we see
that 4 new Grange has been organized
in the State Oar farmers are having
4 hard fight of it against their misfOr-
tunes, but We are rejoiced that they are
not so bowed down by their reverses
as to take no interest in providing for
the general advancement of agricul-
ture. Let them fight on with forti-
tude We trust they have seen their
darkest hours.-Richmoad Wing.
VIII Van TRY IT.