The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-04-08
FROM cALrroRNrA.
Tulare County.

! OF I1USBANDh1 SLIT NOiliHuEC ltS
visits occasionally, and they are al
ways welcome. Though / have so
Elong, of late years, been silent
locker on in the active field Of our.
Grange work, I have by no means
been an uninterested observer.
Though RETAINING almost entirely
because of private claims upon my
time from all active work in the
Grange, cause since the Chicago
session of tie National Grange in
1876, / have watched with deep
interest the varying phases of that
work as pictured in your faithful
and excellent paper and the Grange
Bulletin, and the. Journal of the
National Grange proceedings,
which Bro Ireland, our Worthy
National Secretary, always sends
me.
!, 1t has been a pleasure to learn
from these records, that though
death has removed such sterling,
earnest leaders as Bro. Allen of
Missouri, and Bro. Smith of Geor-
gia and others we might name, SO
many of the farmers of the North
west, the South, and the Southwest.
still adhere to the ever proud
Grange principles, as the .surest
means YET, found for agricultural
unity, CO. operation and advance.
ment. How any who have ever.
understood and heartily endorsed
them should have been willing to
| give up this organization for its
various true purposes is the only
wonder to me. 1t has been merely
the misinterpretation and mfsappli-
cation of these truthful principles
that have turned some from their
former faith in this organization
and in its full capacity, when right
| ly used, to~relieve our farmers eve
rywhere of the burdens under
which they struggle. .aa.a
1t has been no small satisfaction
to see how earnestly and well, so
far as they could devote their time
TO it, Bro. VIM. Maxwell and Bro.
John t. Jones, with the valuable aid
of your paper, have advocated and
directed the practical workings Of
the Rochdale system of co-opera-
ton throughout the Southwest,
where, it has always seemed to me,
that the greatest possible benefit
from its proper application and
support must accrue to our South
ern people. All experience with
business cooperation for trade and
manufacture in England or in this
country has proved that the more
nearly all such en- erprises have adj
nered to the strict and well estab-
| lished Rochdale system the greater
has been and will be their success
and permanence. Though fewer
farmers are united to-day in the
Grange work than there were six
years ago, in every State and coun-
ty where it once strove for farmers
rights and interests, there remain
lasting marks of the good it did
that great ''ground-swell" which
swept over our country from 1873
and 1876, and later. These evil
dences are seen and felt in cheaper
machinery and general supplies; in
a more careful selection of officials;
in some better laws; in new Con-
stitutions in many States, which
have engrafted into the fundamen-
tai statutes of these Common
wealths many of the leading prin-
ciples of reform advocated by the
Grange.
In almost every county in Cali
fornia we feel these effects; and
our new State Constitution, now in
full force, has embalmed many of
those reform principles, and has
brought us corresponding benefits.
One good result is, that in every
State in the Union, farmers wishes
and interests are more sought and
respected than they ever were be-
fore that uniform and truly grand
uprising of "the hewers Of wood
and drawers of water"
The inquiries and the spirit
aroused by our great organization
have no doubt been chief source
of the rapidly growing Anti Mo-
nopoly sentiment and movement
that have been spreading from New
! York to California, during the past
twelve months.
This is the political movement
following that powerful social and
business upheaval. By it our peo
pie are preparing to secure as speed
lily as possible by political organi-
zation and methods a more thor
ough enforcement of the soOcreien
10iI of the people. The self legisla-
ting. tyranizing and law breaking
corporations must be more effect
lively controlled, or, if need be,
abolished. Otherwise the boosted
liberties of free Government are
gone.
1t is these thoughts and feelings,
especially, that lead me to wIite
you now. These Anti Monopoly
views have been steadily maturing
among US in this large and rich
agricultural district of California,
where. as you know, we have been
made feel as practically and forcibly
as anywhere in the United States
the calling yoke which monopoly,
in its many forms, has been persist
entity, and too often under the guise
| E 4