The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1876-02-05
AN INAUGURAL ADDRESS,
DELIVERED BY THE MASTER OF ADVANCE
GRANGE P. OF H., JAN. 26, 1876.

AN INAUGURAL ADDRESS,
DELIVERED BY THE MASTER OF ADVANCE
GRANGE, P. OF H., JAN. 26, 1876.
At the commencement of a new year, it
seems especially desirable to take a retro
spective view of the past in the workings
of our organization, and the practical re-
suits that it has accomplished, and to meas
ure as well as we may the objects that pre-
sent to our sight in the neac future.
Having, by your rartialty, been called
to preside over the deliberations of this
body, it has also been made duty to guide
those deliberations as we'll as to suggest
topics for discussion, and to bring all mat
ters that may be brought before you to a
proper termination. If, in the perform
ance of this onerous duty, my previous
years of drill in like business can be made
of any service to you, l shall endeavor to
use that knowledge thus acquired, for the
benefit of all, and hope that no decision
that may be given may be influenced by
any personal bias, or taken in personal
sense by any one.
The declarations of principles of the
Order with which we are connected have
| been published to the world, and have COM
mended themselves to the better judgment
of all intelligent citizens. Originating in
the mind of one man now living, the idea
of a national organization of tillers of the
soil was slow to disseminate itself among
the farmers of the land until their necessi-
| ties in the Western States of the Union
compelled them to look about them to see
what could be done to better their condi-
| ton. A teeming soil had induced rapid
emigration into lands far removed from the
centers of trade and manufactures, and a
combination of causes had raised the price
of grain so that a mans profits were in
exact proportion to the number of bushels
he could produce, and with virgin soil
| that needed no manure, the temptation to
increase acreage was constantly before the
settler. Hence they added field to field,
and borrowed money at high rates of inter-
est to purchase new lands when those they
I now had were not paid for, trusting to the
march Of improvement to enhance their
value and the raising Of grain, and grain
exclusively to pay off interests. The pro-
ducton of large quantities of SO bulky an
article so far from market, necessarily made
a large carrying trade. The railroad be-
came an imperative necessity, and the new
States, to promote a rapid occupation Of
her distant fields, granted special privileges
| to railroads, and these again offered extra
| inducements to settlers, and thus in short
time we had large sections of country not
only controlled by the railroads, but abso-
lutely dependent upon them for a market
| for all their products. They being close
corporations controlled by few individ
uals and handling a vast amount of money
we're enabled by union of interests, to
either control legislation for their own
| ACKNOWLEDGMENT, or to fix their own rates
of tariff to suit their own objects in def
ance of law and justice.
| A combination thus powerful, which,
though working under charter privileges
granted by the States, now refused to be
governed by State law, could only be met
| by counter combination that should be
stronger than they. The farmers found
that they. were paying extortionate rates
for freight, in all places where there was
no other outlet, to the railroad companies;
that the officers of these companies were
rolling up immense fortunes in few years,
while, with the decline in prices since the
close of the war, they were not receiving
enough for their crops to pay the cost Of
| production. 1t was natural that they should
look about them for a remedy. Individual
action could do little, or was too slow to
meet the evil The organization known as
| Patrons of Husbandry that had been slowly
working its way into favor, here doomed up
as the thing adapted to their wants. 1t
grew with amazing rapidity, and turning
its attention among the first to relieving
the community from unjust taxation i'm
posed by the railroads. the Order soon be-
came notorious in the East by the disturb
ance it made among the railway corpora
lions. The prominence given to this idea
induced many to believe the organization
gotten up to break down the railroads or
cheaper freights merely. But this object
having been settled by proper legislation,
the higher purposes of the organization
now began to assume their position.
The idea was frequently advanced by
those who were opposed to the organiza-
| ton in the Eastern States that the cheaper,
| &c g. t. So
but the result has not justified their fears.
The price of our grain is fixed by foreign
demand and not by the freight from Chicago.
This combination of the agricultural pop
ulation, who are the largest customers for
the manufactured articles has also had the
direct effect of destroying the fictitious val
ues of many articles now in every day use,
especially machinery, the selling prices of
which has heretofore been fixed 50 as to
allow heavy profit to several agents,
amounting in a number of cases to several
times the first cost of manufacture.
The price of these things is now cut down
to living profit merely. and the change in
a majority of cases, can be traced directly
to the " Changers" This reduction has
benefited all alike, but the members of the
Order still have the inside track, and will
continue to have it while they work in con-
cert. We war on no honest industry, but
rather strive to build up every legitimate
business that will be a benefit to the whole
community.
Agriculture is the basis upon which all
real wealth is built, and with its handmade
manufacture, produces all that is necessary
for mans comfort or happiness. All trades
and professions must draw their living from
these, and
"Come good or ill., what ere befall
The farmer, he must feed them all.
A bountifuI harvest to the farmer means
more comforts for his family, more trade
to the store keeper more work for the car
penter more to the coachmaker, more to
the laborer, and moro to the railroad and