Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-02-26
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Patrons of Husbandry.


Patron" in his idea expressed in an article
on the first page that il is the duty Of men,
bors who have the success and progress Of
the order at heart to give all the support
they may be able to the financial feature, wo
must not lose sight Of the other equally i'm
portant features, the social and politio-
al bearing of the order. We do not
agree with some who expect that the immedi-
ate fruits Of this movement will be most
plainly seen and felt in the social life Of the
farming people, but we do regard this fea-
ture of the work of the order as the most
important on the whole. The financial saw
ing through cooperative purchases is the
first influence of the grange which is felt and
makes itself noticed, because as soon as the
grange is organized generally purchasing
commences aud this feature bears fruit.
The feature felt next is the influence up
on the political world. Though tho discus
sion of partizan politics is prohibited in the
grange the discussions of means for better
ing the farmers is not and never will be pro-
h,bited, and chief among these means is the
correcting of oppressive laws, and the pas.
sage of needed laws to secure to all men
that equality guaranteed by the constitution
of the United States and made sacred by
every tradition which is held dear to the
American heart. If laws exist which de-
prive the farmer of anything which is his
just due, it is not simply the right but it
is the duty Of the Patrons at their meetings
to discuss the evil and the possible remedies.
This much is done, and il is for this feature,
which leads farmers to understand their po-
sition and the chicanery that has been re-
sorted to to keep them in bondage; it is for
this feature which teaches the farmer to
awake and realize his strength, aud, by unit
Ing, use it, it is for this feature, we say,
more than for any other, that the organs,
the journalistic tools of the ruling rings all
over the country, have eviuced such per.
feet and systematic hatred and persecution
Of the order.
We see column after column Of space in
these papers devoted to the hopeless task of
convincing this awakened Rip Van Wrinkle
the power of the masses which has SO long
slumbered-that only through the medium
Of the old party organizations can anything
political be accomplished. This senseless
bondage to party, which has heretofore been
such an auxiliary to the plans and schemes
of the " leaders" is now their only hope. If
only this new movement can be safely turn
ed into the party ruts, its purifying effect
upon politics will be satisfactorily neutral
lied and those who have been leaders,, and
filed their pockets out of the peoples money
while guiding the ship Of state, can remain
in their pleasant and lucrative positions,
while the plow-joggng farmer raises the
wheat and the beef for them to live upon.
But there is one serious drawback in the
the way of the success of this loud plea for
loyalty to the party. Those to whom the
cry is addressed see through it. The result
has been felt in past elections, but that is
but the beginning. In the future we look for
far greater political upheavals and smashing
of states than the past has revealed. In this
congressional district the independents, or as
the Caledoaian and other devoted mouth
pieces of the hitherto ruling ring choose to
call them, the " soreheads." in both parties
deserted the candidates Of both those parties
and elected third man. We reckon it
won't take very long when another election
approaches for those dear devoted party Or
gans to discover that they have particular
ly strong friendship for those &" soreheads'
We imagine we shall see "the party" open
wide its arms to receive again those prodi-
gal voters who have wandered from the fold.
And we imagine those arms will open in
vain, for the farmers movement, and the
general independenceof the hour have open
ed their eyes, aud they see. See their pow
er to obtain and maintain their rights see
how they have been made cats paws Of in
the past by designing politicians see how
easily the power of the old ring was broken
when they but partially exerted their power /;
and see that from this hour forward they
not only will have the power, but will use it,
30 that the majority shall be represented by
the vote at the polls.
We have been. speaking of this district
simply as au example. The whole country
is similarly situated The producers of the
worlds wealth are taking counsel together,
and as a result corrupt rulers aud pc tentates
totter and fall.
This is the position the grange movement
occupies IN relation to the politics of the
country, and who shall say it is not proud
and noble one ?
But the grange has greater power for
working good to the farmers of America.
The financial and political workings of the
order are the plainest to be seen to-day but
the social and educational feature, while
quietly and unostentatiously performing
greater work than either of the former, at
tracts but little attention from outsiders The
weekly, semi-mOnthly, or monthly meetings
of the grange, the county unions, tn c pic
MICS, the suppers, the many social gatherings
springng out of the order, are all exertiug
their subtle influence to make of the farm
ing class more intellectual, more cultured,
better, truer, nobler men and women. The
intellectually developed by these social
meetings, to which the farmer has been too
much stranger, will also strengthen his
hands in the political aud financial battle