The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-12-12
Grand Masters's Address before the Ma
: - tional Grange ut Richmond, Va.

9. Worthy Brothers and Sisters Our de-
won't thanks are due the Great Father of
I Mercies for the blessings of life and
lleslth, insomuch that we are permitted
TO come together in annual session from
all parts of q common country to labor
in the cause of humanity.
Over considerable portion of our
fair land the Death Angel hes spread his
BLACK. wings. Towns, cities, and parishes
have been depopulated, and many have
fallen prey to the beetle and the worms.
This terrible scourge has afforded an
ample opportunity for the exercise of the
:, heaven-born principles of sympathy,
. charity, and love. Compassionate mes
: seugers from the North, the East, and
the West have fastened away from
health, homes, and happiness to relieve
distress, to comfort the sick, to feed the
hungry, and 10 bury the dead. The
question, "Who is my neighbor" has
not been asked. Sectional animosities
have been obliterated. Breathing the
pestilential atmosphere, these heroic men
and women have gone into the very jaws
of death-not for wealth, not for honor,
not for fame, not for reward. save the
approval of their own conscieucies and
!; the appreciation of Heaven. Alas many
of these noble-hearted philanthropists
have fallen, pierced with the fatal shafts
of the relentless destroyer. Truly for
these are the crowns of glory which fade
not away, but endure forever. Whatever
measures of relief can be devised by the
National Grange with reference to our
members in these plague-stricken local.
tiles I trust will be done during this ses-
sion.
In regard to
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE,
the Master says it is presumed that the
Worthy Representative OF the National
Grange to the Dominion Grange of Can
ada will be able to give q hattering ac-
count of the order there. 1t may be
questionable whether Americana Grange
seed can be utilized and made to bring
forth hundred-fold in foreign countries,
and whether the character of the seed
will not be such that the climate, soil,
and atmosphere will be unfavorable to
its introduction and propagation wher-
ever attempted. The time may come,
however, if the Grange is true to its
mission in this country-if education is
disseminated, and religious intolerance
dissipated in Europe-if absolute mon.
arches become more liberal in form and
in fact-if the internal spirit of commu-
nism is overwhelmed and annihilated by
a noble, rational patriotism, that our
peaceful society may gain a permanent
foo.hold, and spread its benign influences
over lands now benighted with super
stition, bigotry, serfdom, and despotism.
sEcRETARY's OFFICE.
The adoption of the recommendation
of the Executive Committee by the
National Grange at the last session SIM
ply making "the secretary responsible
for the archives of the National Grange,
and allowing him to locate his Office at
such place as will be most convenient
for him." was, in my judgment, grave
error. The word "archives" can be con-
strued to mean only the records, and
hence by the action above recited the
secretary was no longer the custodian OF
or accountable for the other property
belonging to the National Grange. 1t
matters not that the merchandise was of
little or no value, or that supplies nova
days are furnished almost entirely by
State secretaries in many States, the
fact is, nevertheless, that so long as there
is National Grange there always will
be applications made to the secretary for
information and for needed articles, and
he should be able to answer limited de-
mands or to impart such knowledge
where appliances may be had, that the
humblest member residing in the most
remote part of our country may be reas-
onably satisfied. To-day we have an in-
cubus binding and weighing upon the
National Grange till January l, 1882, in
the shape of lease of building in
Louisville, and we have contracted to
pay rent according to the terms of the
agreement, amounting to nearly three
thousand dollars, for which no benefit is
received-and yet we have no headquar-
ters, no home. The secretary's office
should be located at some central point,
accessible to the Master, Executive Com
mittee, and the members of the order
generally. Exigencies might arise when
the records should be examined by prop
er authority-when changes and correc-
tions in the manapemept of his Office