Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1877-02-09
THE SENTINEL.
The Objects of the Crane e.


The following is the substance Of an address
delivered by VIM. B. Sands, ESQ., Lecturer of
Glencoe Grange, No. 100, on the occasion OF
the public installation of ito officers, January
18th, at the Grange Hall, in the 9th District
OF Baltimore county We give place to it
with great pleasure, as the objects Of the
Grange are not as well understood BY the
community generally as they ought to be.
Mr.. Sands said:
Worthy Master, Brothers anil Sisters
of the Grunge, Eadies and Gentlemen:
| have doubts as to the propriety of my
consuming your time when there are here TO-
day distinguished visiting members Of our
order who can occupy 1t to much greater
profit and interest than ! can hope to do but
called upon TO speak for Glencoe Grange, it is
duty J cannot avoid, and it may not be
amiss, since we have present many strangers
friendly outsiders no doubt since other
wise they would not have favored US by their
Rttendance-to present short view of the
objects and general progress of the Grange
an institution whose aims are often singularly
misunderstood or misrepsented.
''Grange' Is French word signifying
farm, therefore very appropriate in its appli-
cation to an association Of farmers and their
families. The principal object of the order is
TO bring farmers together and unite them for
the maintenance Of their professional interests,
for protection in pecunary affairs, and to
give opportunities for social recreation. Moth
Fng in this involves, as is sometimes assumed,
any idea of hostility to other classes. Farmers
are the last people in the body polite out of
whom to make consprators against the public
peace or the general Welfare. Constituting,
ne they do, the great majority in every organ
lied community, al least in our country, they
were too long mere hcwefs of wood and
drawers of water Without the advantages
belonging TO numerical superiority, or those
pertaining TO class of more than average
moral worth and patriotic instincts, they were
too long separated from each other by the cir
cumstance of their vocation, and, beyond that,
by the lack Of any bond of union cemening
them together and were led about to an I'M
natural degree by minority composed of men
Of other callings-merchants bankers, lawyers,
poiitieians-each separate branch of whom vas
organized and compacted for mutual pro,ec-
ton and common effort.
Against such combinations, for lawful pur-
poses. there were no lawful objections 10 be
urged Merchants have long had their Ex-
changes, Boards of Trade and Chambers oil
Commerce; mechanics Of every trade their
Union, and every profession It's association for
comparison of views and the promotion of the
general good-all, | say, except the farmers.
They, isolated, widely scattered, and ! might
almost add in the line of the poet
I" Remote, unfrended, melancholy, SlO0, ="
were bound together by no ties of concurrine
interests no community or association, with
one neighborhood pulling ono way, the rest
adjoining another; one section OF the country,
or even one part of the State, widely sepa-
rated, agriculturally, from the other; no har-
nionizng influences operating; no common
centre; no standard Of uniou no concert Of
action, and. as n consequence, no strength
Here, then, was at once the necessity and the
opportunity for the association now known as
the Grange-the Order of Patrons of Hus-
handy.
Originating scarce ten years ago, from q
beginning of the merest handful, its progress;
unparalleled in the history of any organization
the world has ever seen. with nothing 10 ex-
cite the imagination, with no appeals TO re-
ligious zeal. patriotic fervor or party enthusi-
aem, spreading till it numbers now over a
million Of members, this order must have fairly
met the want so long, so widely, and so deep
ly felt.
The farmers have come, 10 short, TO realize
their own importance and their own strength,
aud having experienced this awakening rs 10
ing, what do they do? Do they combine to
declare that henceforh the laws Of the land
shall be made and Administered in their favor
that farmers alone shall ill all posts of honor
and emolnment, or, If not all, then at least
such a proportion of them as would equal the
ratio of their Numbers TO the whole popula-
tion2 Do they exempt themselves from taxa
ton and lay all the burdens on other classes
and pursuits?
al. IL,
tions Of the order is that it shall have nothing
TO do with party politics. II renounces and
opposes class legislation. and the discussion Of
political measures or candidates in the Grange
is forbidden entirely.
Primarily, Que of the main designs OF the
order was to make social organization, but
its founders " builded better than they knew. "
and very soon this was subordinaied to the
more important and wde-reaching principle
of cooperation and union for business pur-
poses This, be il understood, not for ag-
qression, but for protection.
And how2 By insisting upon the ahate-
ment Of excessive charges and exorbilant prof
its: by combining for buying and selling
attaing in the formt re advantages accruine
TO Wholesale purchase in the latter prices
secured by heavy offerings; upon the abolish
ment OF superRuoas middemen, who taxed
the consumer and failed to benefit the
producer. Do not understand that he Grange
proposed to do away with mddlemen entirely
The laws and the necessities of trade, the re-
quirements OF distribution, are too fixed and
stringent to permit this, and the wants Of civ
ilized man in the nineteenth century prohibit
return to the DAYS Of barter. 1t is those
who cumber the ground; who take tithes Of
the products of the earth and the productions
OF the factory and mill who weave not nor
spin, that il sought TO do away with.
Another cardinal object Of the Grange is the
replacement of the cash for the credit system,
change which, once consummat ted. will do
more than anything, or all things else, 10 set
the agricultural interest on its feet for here,
MS in every other, perhaps more than in any
other, walk of life the trle philosophers stone
is still found in the homely little motto OF
pay MS Won go
But aside from these principles Of action ac-
tuaing the Grange, which involve the money
idea, there is another, around which, with
The former, the whole system revolves, and
this is the ameloraiion and building up Of
agriculture. The accomplishment of this /,
sought by agencies of threshold nature
These are the social. he educational and III,
moral features Of the Grange.
In sections like ours the value Of the soeia
Is less appreciated, perhaps than that of thu
other elements. In a community thickly set
tied with passable roads. accessible by rail
WAYS convenient to churches, aud with man,
facilities of intercourse among ueighbors tn
Grange may not have, in this respect, III
charm Il possesses TO farmer and farmers wive
in new aud thinly peoped sections wher
there are few opportunities for the comming
ling of friends in social Intercourse. Yet it |
one OF the most important and beautiful o
the many attractive features Of the institution