The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1880-08-05
AcURsE TO FARMERS.

The Grange has now about died out except
here and there in small spots, and its results and
accomplishments are no longer matters of speeu-
Iation. 1t must be written down a curse to the
farmers of America. just seven years ago, it
spread like wild-fre throughout the country. 1t
had been started a couple of years previously,
bu. did not make much headway. The intention
of its founders may have been good; but the
probabilities are that the original plan was to
organize the farmers into a power to be used by
designing demagogues for their own political
and financial aggrandizement But in lt73, an
unlucky streak struck the farming community.
series of drouths set in; the grasshOppers put
in an appearance, and remained for several
years; the financial revuision pressed npon them
severely, as most Of them, during the previous
prosperous years, had made improvements, and
run into debt. These combined misfortunes
placed the farmers in bad plight. Atthis juno
tnre, the Grange was truInpeted throughout the
land, rs the panaeea for all their ills. The hard
times were laid altogether to bad legislation,
which, il was said, had been all for the benefit
of monopolists, and against the farmer and labor
ing man. Farmers were exhorted to band them
selves together for their mutual interest By
be irresistible. They would not only take the law
making power into their own hands, do away
with monopolies, and regulate rates Of transpor-
tation, but they would also abolish the middle
men in business, ship their own grain, thereby
saving the profit 10 themselves, and buy their
implements and goods from the manufactur-
ers, at wholesale prices In short, they were
going 10 have the profits both ways-on what
they sold, and on what they bought. To facil-
itate this, Grange stores were organized, by
mutual or joint stock arrangement, for the pnr-
pose Of buying goods at wholesale, and selling
to farmers at original cost. The farmers were
made to believe, in fact, that they could reach
the top round of prosperity by lifting themselves
up by the seats of their brceches.
Well, the Grange was organized in every Coun-
ty, Township and School District. 1t took
like wild-fre. To make it more attractive, it
was a secret order with its initiatory ceremony,
its degrees, its regalia and badges, its signs,
crets, mysteries tokens, and wonders. Politi-
clans stood in awe of the new power. Designing
demagogues, who had never been guilty of per-
forming days work on a farm, became mem-
bers. Office-holders hailed the Grange as the
salvation of the country. Thousands upon thou
sands Of dollars were paid out for charters, for
initiation fees, and for dues Meetings of the
local and County Oranges were held several
times in a week, and about half the Summer was
taken up with Grange festivals and picnics
Men neglected their farms to engage in this TOM
foOlery, and every farmer was n politician, with
a full knowledge of the mysteries of finance and
government. They religiously believed that the
tIa
ly believed that he was the particular man the
Office was seeking. Where did their thousands of
dollars go tot Into the pockets of the big-bugs of
the order, who We're squirting on, and bleeding
the embarrassed farmers. Noreduction was secur-
ed in rates of transportation; and the managers of
Grange stores, in most instances, either put an
extortionate profit on their goods, or '.absorbedr
the capital, and let the stores go down. Work
was neglected, money spent, and of course there
were poor crops and increased debts Most of
those whose farms were not mortgaged before,
had come to it by this time.
From the Grange, the next move was the
Greenback party. OF that craze it is not neces-
sary to speak, as il is but now on its last legs,
and will this Fall give its last kick. But from
the organization of the Grange to the last grunt
of the Greenback party, the farmers have been
the victims of conscienceless set of siysters
and demagogues, who have fieeced them, and
left them helpless. Scores upon scores of farm
ers, who went into the Grange and then into the
Greenback party, to remedy their misfortunes by
dabbing in politics, have lost their farms, and
now working as day laborers, or have gone West
as homesteaders, and are now numbered among
the destitution sufferers of that region. Had