Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1886-01-30

THE GRANGE.

EDITOR lNTELLIGENCER:- AS your
paper is for the most part read by the
grangers, and farmers Of this county
who ought to be grangers, 1 deem it
the proper medium through which to
call attention to the fact that there will
be a meeting of the county grange held
in MAYHEM sometime in February,
timely notice of which will be given, at
which a new departure in grange work
in this county is to be inaugurated.
Some members of the order feel or
seem to feel. that because through the
fundamentally of the grange the oun
ty Indebtedness has been adjusted, and
because though the same instrument
atty the granger laws were enacted
cents per mile on all railroad travel
and a sum much greater in freights and
warehouse charges, together with a re-
duction of one-half in the price of fence
wire, and many other things of equal
value, not only to the granger, but to
all classes whether friend or foe, that
the grange can afford TO rest upon its
good deeds.
Others may say why should we fight
the battles alone while the larger por-
ton of the farmers remain out of the
grange and do not lend a helping hand
when they receive equal benefits and
bear none of the burdens?
But it must be remembered that it
was ever thus with every good work
ever undertaken.
1t must also be remembered that the
grange in the nation has in the last few
years added twenty-five per cent. to
its numbers and more than one hum
dred to its strength and usefulness. 1t
has demonstrated, in some degree, the
power of organization. 1t has shown
to the world that a nation, with all its
interests, are safe in the hands of an
organized agricultural people, ss evinced
by the willingness of the labor organ
izatlOns to come to the grange to secure
fact that the merciless corporations who
felt themselves masters of the situation
and that no power could restrain them,
now see that they have been sowing
the seeds of their own destruction. and
that their only help is to come from
what they had once supposed to be
their worst enemy, the grange.
The power of the grange is due to
the fact that it is both local and nation.
al. The local organization ia indispen-
sable to the national organization.
Hence the necessity for strong local Or
g%anization and it is to this end that the
national grange is turning attention
and for this reason il is desirable that
every patron in the county who can,
should attend and give their presence
and their council to the promotion of
this end.
1t can be shown to any thoughtful
mind that the grange organization has
already saved to the people of America
in dollars and cents, a sum equal to the
national debit addition to all, the hen-
efits in q social and educational point
of view. That it is in possession of
the means whereby the country can rid
itself Of the oppression Of corpora
tons, remove the causes which pro-
duce strikes, ameliorate the condition
of the laboring classes; in short can
restore our country to its original puri-
ty so that American liberty will not go
down to posterity as a hiss and a
by-word.
Let no one who feels an interest in
making the grange more useful in fu-
ture than it has been in the past, fail to
be in attendance. Look out for the
call. NJ. NJ. GLADIsH.