The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1880-08-26

we are and have been laborlng, and, sir
1 believe yet it would have been great
power to ourselves, of good and not OF
evil, had it been kept pure, no unworthy
membership sanctioned and no departure
from its noble principles and lofty aims
been permitted. Many of us watched its
tremendous mushroom growth with won.
dering establishment; like the great Mis-
sissippi that has its beginning in so many
little streams high up the side of the
Rocky Mountains, looking in the dis
tance like so. many silver threads as
silently they wind their way down to the
valleys below, gathering strength as they
come, larger and larger until it sweeps a
majestic current to the Gulf below; so
from ten Oranges formed in the far
Northwest in 1868 it spread southwark
and eastward until in 1875 it numbered
10000 Oranges and 100000 patrons.
Well, why to certain extent has it
failed? Ithas never failed the farmers
failed, that was all. 1t WAS simply q
name for farmers when they came to-
gether to try and learn something about
their calling and to improve their society,
and they were not equal to the occasion ;
that's just all and nothing more. One OF
the drawbacks was the case of those who
went into it to make money as they
thought. With that class when it first
arrived it was very popular, there was
no trouble about getting the charter
members. The tidiDgs went abroad, O
ye! here is an order come down from the
far West; they want you to join; they
have got all the corn, -four and bacon,
and they want to almost give it to you.
Come ore, come all, and buy wine and
oil without money and without price
Well, A came up and joined. He was
financially, morally and socially broke ;
he had failed to pay his honest debts ;
time and again he had run off his cotton
when there was lien upon it; he had
his land so settled on his wife and chill
dren that lis creditors could not get it,;
his credit was entirely gone, and he was
in bad old way, but this Grange was
the God-send; his troubles would soon
now all be over; 80 he was put through
so he got certificate from the Grange
that he was in good standing; his dues
all paid; had it signed by the Master
and Secretary, and, of course, this would
make his credit all right, and he would
60 to the store and trade, but when that
merchant rolled up the whites of his
eyes, spit upon the floor and said he did
not see what use he could make of that
collateral, A went out and joined the
cormorants who sitteth on the goods
boxes at the street corners and damneth
the Grange. Others thought that all
they had to do was to join and all things
would be we'll; nothing more 10 do.
Some how, or rather could not exactly
tell why, but somebody, way out yonder,
was going to tend to everything, all you
got to do is to pay your dues, 10 cents a
quarter; and yet, if you had asked that
man when he bought plough or hoe, if
he didn't just take it home and throw it
over the fence into his field and 60 away
and leave, he would have thought you
considered him fool. They looked for
great advantages from the Order, but
they never seemed to have realized the
fact that they would have to work the
advantages out for themselves. Now
there was one thing these members did
think that they had to do, and that was
that they had an eternal war to wage on
all merchants, lawyers, in fact all pro-
fessional men and all railroads; the
whole concern were set of internal ras-
calls and to be eXterminated root and
branch, whereas the fact was we really
had no fight for any one. If we were
attending to our own affairs we had no
time for those other things. We wanted
to buy from that merchant with whom
we could make the best terms, and when
you had the money there was no trouble
about trading. When it came to our
staple goods, we could combine our Or
ders, concentrate our business, and even
here at home we would get the advan-
tage of wholesale and car load rates,
knock some middle men from taw and
cut off some commercial excresccnces
that were feeding too much upon you.
AS said before, we had no war to fight
with any merchant, or anybody else !;
they had their line of business, which
was just as essential to society as ours,
and more than that, they being entirely
consumers and help to create the demand
for all our produce.
But in my humble opinion the crown.
ing work of this Order was to reform our
moral and social evils, and to give us a
pure, refined and cultivated society
among onr country people as could be
found in our towns and cities. You
know how it is generally considered that
country people are thought to be set of
clodhoppers, and there is no one to blame
but ourselves. Did not our late war
leave its heaviest footprints here? DO
you not find the tongue of slander keener
than two-edgcd sword? Does not self
ishness reign supreme? Is not golden
evil caressed, while humble virtue is un-
observed?
There seemed to be mania to possess
our people to want to get money any how
or any way. Everybody gazes with ad-
miration at the rich, while they turn
away from virtuous poverty. Let man
make ten thousand dollars, no matter
how, and lie is gentleman; everybody
has kind word for him; but be poor
and honest and no one knows you. Men
and women have heard of your name,
and you may live at their elbow: but
they are not very certain about it, and
yetif you will show me the man who
desires to make every one around happy,
and whose greatest solicitude is never to
give cause Of offence to any one, and |
will show you a gentleman by nature and
practice, though he may never have
worn suit of broadcloth nor ever heard
of lexicon, and am proud to say for
the honor even of our SO called clodhop-
per, that there are those amongst their
number in every throb of whose heart
there is solicitude for the welfare of
mankind and whose every breath is per-
fumed with kindness. 1t was in this
Order that the ladies of the land could
and would have a benign influence for
this was the onl order of man in which
she was equally received. and all who
noticed it were forced to see that her
presence cuts off all vulgarity and black
! oot;r,. on6 n