The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-03-06
EROM TENNESSEE.

rrrER FROM PAST MASTER MAXWELL.
|. Editor Patron. 1t has been pleasure
to me to meet the noble representatives
and visitors of the Tennessee State Grange
aoain in session in the city of Brownsville,
whose noble hearted citizens offered the
Inequalities of their homes to members IN
attendance through that energetic Patron
w. H. Armstrong. True, few members
saw proper to accept this generosity, pre-
ferring to pay their way at the hotels.
The delegates left with feelings OF the
strongest ties of fraternity and brother-
hood towards the entire membership OF
Haywood county.
There was strong desire in every del
egate present to push the work and per-
petuate the Order in all of its principles
and purposes. While most were hopeiui,
! few were respondent. The little teellng
of dependency exhibited seemed to grow
| out of the fact that members OF the Oroer
at home were uniformed as TO some OF
| the details of the past work OF the Order.
| The financial expenditures OF the state
and National Oranges have not been fully
understood, and many members, busy
with their daily labors, have failed to read
and ascertain what has been done with
the money sent up to the National ana
State Oranges, every dollar OF Whlch mas
been fully accounted for. By reason OF
This IGNORANCE, many Patrons often charge
| that the money has been expended in tat
/ salaries to a favored few. s.
/ have not the official reports before me to
/ extract from, but will say that am person
ally acquainted with nearly every othcer
and business agent of the National Grange
and with nearly all of most of the State
ORANGES. to whom salaries have been paid
! o,- allowances made for services, and-in no
instance within my knowledge have any
| of these parties received any more tor
| their time and services than they could
have obtained in some other service or In
their privare business. And more than
that: many of these have given their time
and talent to the Order without pay at all,
while some of them have spent their own
money in the interest of the cause.
| In this State Grange, as well as IN 9th
ers. most of the money in the treasury has
been paid out for printing, to delegates
for mileage and per diem, to the Exece-
| utive Committee for attending to the bust
mess of the State Grange, and to the two
Secretaries, neither of whom received a
/ dollar not ordered to be paid to him, and
neither receiving as much as he could
have made by serving the people of his
county in public capacity. -
| Thus it is in this State. Men have
| worked for pay and some without pay,
and thew have saved for members of the
Order, and for people not members, mil
lions of dollars, and they are doing ityet.
One business house reported saving to
the people of Tennessee within its reach
in one year of $4,000, by the trade ar
rangement effected with it through rep
resentatives of the Order. And millions
can be saved every year if ,nen were kept
in the field by little present liberality by
members or by Oranges. The only need
is to keep men at work who have studied
YOUR wants and what will meet those
wants.
AS to the National Grange, for three
wears its Master and Secretary were paid
handsome salaries, but they did good
work. Since that time, their salaries have
been reduced, till the Masters salary is
now $500 and the Secretary's in proper
ton The Executive Committee, who
were required for several years to hold
uarterly meetings, and the interest of the
Order demanded that they should meet
got their per diem and mileage. The
meetings of the National Grange cost for
several years, in mileage and per diem to
Il
, to $4,000 Soon after money had accu-
mulated in the National treasury, serious
disasters occurred to the farmers of Loui
siana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Iowa and other
Northw estern States, and from $500 to
81 900 were donated to the suffering far
5 mers in each of those States by the Ma
tional Grange, and afterwards $4,000
; were donated to the Oranges of the diffe-
! rent States.
: And in all these transactions, but one
single instance of Misrepresentation now
occurs to my mind, and that was recov-
cred In some instances, State Oranges
have paid out some money to State Change
! agents, appointed in the great commercial
5 cities, whose offices were unfortunately
used more as intelligence offices by mem
| bers to learn the prices of goods and nipple
ments, than as business Offices But that
plan, while it did enable Patrons directly,
: and those not Patrons indirectly, to save
millions of dollars, was failure. The
, agency system is not cooperation, but
concentration. It has, however, served to
: educate in the true plan of cooperation,
Cooperation meets all the necessities of
the case and of the times. It makes the
people masters of their business, in place
of being servants to the man of capital
or his clerk. 1t secures to those who
, practice it independence in purse and in
), person. Fraternally, WIN. maxwell.
/ Brownsville, Feb. %. 49, 2'i.