Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1877-05-12

ION o. Kerneysyille, Monday even
;,o Nav II, at 7 - o ciocA'
,s~ The Stockholders of the Duff
fields Grange Store will meet Saturday,
lane 2nd, at 9 o'clock, A. NJ. All will
please be preseD1jn person or by proxy.
DG~ The County Council will meet
at Witshire's School House, Saturday,
Nav 26lh, at 10 o'clock A. NJ. An ad-
dress by Col. Baylor is expected.
From The American Farmer, Baltimore
The Order of Patrons Ofslusband.
ry-lts Aims and Purposes.
A largely attended public meeting
of the farmers of Carroll Co., Nd. was
held in the courthouse at Westminster
on the Sth February, and among others
the iunion editor of the .7nericaa fHr-
m.r was invited to deliver an address
ON the above topic, and the same having
been published by request IN the conn-
ty papers, we take from the following
extracts: y, IL
Won all have long heard the Old, old
story OF the isolation OF our farmers; OF
,beiy dependence on men OF other pro-
fass;ons.of their indisposition to change;
tLI;r adherence 10 the ruts of prece-
dence and prejudice; that they are the
beasts Of burden of society; taxed on
al SIDES; the fair prey OF every other
class. and that their hard-earned gains
oo to fiji the already plethoric purses OF
the merchant, the manufacturer, the
miner, the transporter, and that there is
great need, pressing need, for their com
bining and acting together. There is
a good deal OF exaggeration, but alas
still too much truth 10 the premises.
This necessity for cooperation OF
acriculturists, admitted on every side,
presented, in practice, difficulties too
great to be surmouuted, and the thing,
which all acknowledged to be commend
able and desirable, fell through OF Its
own weight, and was never accomplish
ed at all. Farmers Clubs came into
favor, Agricultural Societies were es-
saved, County Unions had trial, and
ali were us.ul in their day aud genera
ton; but neither etfectual nor perma-
nent. Now, to quote, not prolanely,
1--WE show unto you more excellent
way" We offer plan by which the
farmers Of this neighborhood, OF that
section, a handful here-a handful there
-powerless of themselves, their inter
ests distinct from or even at variance
with those of districts almost adjoining,
or separated by an imaginary line, may
bring themselves into direct communi-
ton, connection and cooperation with
over million of other farmers all over
this broad land, who. escaped from
leading strings, have begun to think
and act Tor themselves, and who invite
all who have the welfare OF agriculture
at heart 10 enlist with them in thu
great war for independence-a war no
Of aggression, not of conquest, nor Of
ACQUISITION, bnt for defence and self
preservation; n war waged in the cause
of iustice-ot humanity itself: war
against debt and credit; against ignor-
ancc and prejudice. :,
The agricultural class, as you well
know, forms in this eountry the MAORI
~ of our population: this preponder-
ance varying in different States, and
being greatest in the South. 1t is sup
erhuous TO add, that as class, the
farmers are al least the peers Of any
other IN their moral worth, their order
" lives and law-abiding habits AS a
rule, intelligence is diffused, and proper
~ fairly distributed. If cases OF grea:
wealth are few, instances Of extreme
penury are far rarer.
Has this great division of our people,
possessing these traits, had then its In
tluence In the direction of atfars-have
its rights been respected as becomes SC
important factor in the body polite
has its voice been heard i'll State and
National councils-has legislation beer
framed to promote its progress-have
transportation companies and CONNER
.cial associations considered in dealing
with it, not only what was possible
but what was e4uitabie'
Such questions need no response
In the face of the powerful organiza
ton of other classes aud professions any
effort of farmers was useless. Aud why
Because among them there was no con,
cert of action-no tie to bind them to-
rether-the common interests of their
profession made only rope OF sand
Against them on every side was that
system which makes handful OF men
organized, the masters of a thousand,
of ten thousand, who without order,
without leaders, are at best but mob.
Such was the state OF things before
our late war. Such a condition con-
tinued after it, till cloud arose i'll the
West no bigger than a mans hand; and
which, surprising any expectation OF
those who saw its gathering, has spread
till it covers the whole horizon.
An organization whose numbers and
growth are unexampled in history, COM
posed of farmers, with no adventurous
aids, no appeals to human passions, no
indictments of spoils of war or office,
stirred by no religious frenzy, free from
any dominion of political bias-now
extends over more than forty States
and Territories and stretches its arm
across the broad Atlantic and shakes in
a fraternal grasp the hand Of the stall