Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1876-03-04

FALLING WATEP.s.
M2rch = Io-o

Excuse me, l Eoow, and, per-
haps, you know that the com.
munication oftNo Granger from
which | glote as above, is as abb
surd aud nousensical as any con-
tributjon you were ever called
upon 10 receive and publish;n
absurd from its fallacies, nonsen-
steal from its unfounded conclu-
sions.
He asks you in the second clause
of the article, using very bad Eng
lish for the conveyance of the
question, whether you "under-
stand thoroughly the principles
and motives of action of the
Changers ?"
What was the use of such ques-
ton, Messrs. Editors ? Itinvolved
a mere waste of time and space,
since only those who are initiated
into the degrees of our order are
supposed Thoroughly to understand
the principles that actuate the
Grange. He next condemns the
rules which have been adopted by
the State Grange, without speci-
flying a single error therein, and
siurs therefrom to the end of the
subject, jumping to the conclu-
sion that "selfsliness is the grand
motive power of their organiza-
ton ~ Would not the above make
a fine example in logic? Sell
FIsHNEss !! Let us see. Is it
selfish in us to desire an en-
joyment Of the legitimate rights
that should accrue to us as produc-
erS and consumers? Is it selfish
ness that induces us to resent the
tyranny which has so long kept
the farmer beneath the heel, as it
were, of other classes? Is it selfish
in us to propose to claim the right
of selling eur produce at rates of
valuation conscnant with our la
Der and trouble? What if we say:
here is our butter at 80 cents, our
potatoes at so cents, our wheat at
81 %, our land at so much an acre,
we will not part from them at less.
Do we dispute your right to de the
same? Do we refuse to pay the
lawyer, the doctor, the merchant,
the price he asks for his fee, his
attendance, his groceries?
And what if we propose to pur-
chase by the wholesale, in combin-
atoms, instead of by the retail, in
dividually, don'tthe merchants do
this, and accumulate profits On
many articles at an exhorbitant
advance above cost? Why, / knoa0
man who made very derirable
competence by selling toys that
he had bought in Baltimore at
five and six cents piece, for the
nominal prices of thirty and forty
cents in the country, and there are
many merchants who do mot
scruple to buy up feather-beds
from the fever hospitals of the
South, for mere piitances, and,
after imperfect renovation, to sell
them out by parcels to customers.
An instance of that kind came
under my personal observation in
one of the metropolitan cities of
our great republic. The citation
of such instances may not be very
pertinent to my subject at large,
but it goes to show that selfish
ness should be guarded against in
one place as well as in another.
AS far as the worst feature" of
our organization goes-the exclu-
sion of all save landowners-"No
Granger" must admit, that had
the farmer needed no protection
the Grange would never have been
organized. Were the bondholder,
the lawyer, the agent, the country,
admitted, it would be no longer
an agricultural combination, but
the United States, in toto.
If the paying of those five hun
dred dollars in taxes prove so gall
ing q duty to mo Granger" why
does he not reduce them by invest
ing his monies in two or three
fine farms, entering the Grange,
and so demand share in the i'm
munities We are anxious to intro
duce or, if he be afraid of the
ominous black balls, let him fern
combination of $500 taxpayers,
and send on for his -four, his coal
oil, his salt, in clubs; see if he don't
get them cheap as the Changers.
The merchants will tell him that
the reduction on goods is in
ratio with the quantity purchased.
Why, Appleton, Lippincott, or
any publishers will forward their
Journals to clubs at greatly reduced
rates. The Cumberland Valley
coal depots will send you a car
load of coal at a discount that
would amaze you, if you are in the
habit of paying for your coal by
the single ton.
The Changers are only doing
what other combinations have
done, without all this hue and cry;