The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-09-13

OF our people depends the unity of our
nation. 1t plants flowers and fruits
around, and carries poetry and music into
the farmers homes. 1t makes the home
attractive to the children and thus keeps
children at home, SO that in after-life,
when they have grown to the estate of
manhood and womanhood, they will sing
from their souls as our choir here have
just sung of ''the orchard, the meadow,
the deep tangled wildwood, and all the
loved scenes which their fancy knew.
The Grange has done more to do away
with the credit system than any other or
ganization or individual. 1t has taught
us that it is not credit nor cotton, but
cash that is king. The credit system has
brought failures and bankruptcy to in
divlduals, states and nations
When travelling in Kentucky, found
every few miles a large well cultivated
farm for many miles. AS we came
to each of these superior, cultivated farms,
my companion informed me that they be-
longed to the Markey brothers. They
employ none but the best of farmers and
many of these are now tenants on the
very farms of which they were formerly
the owners. was informed these Markey
brothers would shortly own the whole
| county. They commenced selling to farm
ers on long credit at big prices, settled by
taking mortgages on the farms, after
wards on theirsunharvested crops, fore
closed their mortgages and bought them
in at one-fourth their value.
No granger can become tenant on
these farms. Eastern capitalists have
their clutches on the blue grass districts
of Kentucky, the same in Ohio and Indi-
ana. The enormous interest of eastern
capitalists is robbing our farmers of their
birthright through this wicked credit sys-
tenn. First they propose to seize the
property of the farmer and then his
vote, or entirely disfranchise him.
| Mills are run all of election day, where
men are inclined to vote for themselves
and not for the mill-owner, and they are
bound to work at peril of being discharg-
ed. If we are not careful we shall soon
find ourselves DISTINGUISHED, and in the
condition of serfs and slaves. Capital is
fast assuming control of our b1 DAD acres.
During the reign of William of Orange
the people owned the farms of England.
Now twenty thee men own nearly all
that territory, while but three own the
most of Scotland 1t is well enough for
us to shout aloud of our wealth and our
| SIOlJ WllilC )oNCIt 10 SIo" ulIlS OuI
hearthstone, and shame is enveloping us
silently in her mantle. We have been
warned to be watchful, to vote intelli-
gently-not as partisans. Let us "heed
the caution and escape the DOOM" Let
our intelligent action preserve us from
the doom that has visited all other nations.
Our security as people and a nation now
demand that the farmers pillow only with
thinking pillow shares. We must vote
with an educated ballot, we must send
men to represent us not necessarily farm
ers, but those we know will be true to our
interests-of course every class should be
represented. It is shame that the far
mers could not get $1,000 appropriated at
the last session of your Legislature for
the education of their daughters, and yet
ten times S., 900 can be appropriated for
military encampment of soldiers in time
of peace. We found in one State that
for some ten years the taxes increased
more than four times the increase of pop
uIaton. Democrats and Republicans had
been in power about equally. We made
the reduction of taxes an issue in their
year, and have reduced it 100000, we
have reduced interest from 7 to per cent
Let farmers all unite, and as our fathers
left our heritage to us, SO let us transmit
it to our children, we have no right tt
squander it. The speaker ended with
most eloquent peroration, after which
speeches were made by several other dis
tingushed gentlemen, which we have no
space to report.