Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1889-08-02
Shall We Surrender Our Charter


Der Of Casky Grange was asked this
question, the answer would he en-
phatically NO. Some Of the best
farmers and some Of the best in-
formed men in Christian county are
members of this body. Men who
see the importance Of cooperation,
and who see every other class organ
izing and cooperating, and some of
them actually trying to keep farmers
disorgsnized that they may get the
benefit OF their labor; who see doz-
en- men get together in the morning
ani fix the price Of au article Of
common Use, with no standard but
their arbitrary will, and then notify
the people of this great free country
how much they shall pay for the
necesss ries oflife who see their in
lerests menaced with great dangers.
The fact Is the point Of intolerable
shame has been reached and will
continue to grow worse until the
farmers BY some concert of action
stop it; 1t is in their power to do 1t II
they will. But il Ia useless for me to
talk to you about the necessity of co.
operation, you know that as well as
1 do. w
Buyers, shippers, merchants, mil
lers and others are doing good and
profitable business handling the
fruits Of the farmers toll, while after
all the work in preparing the soil, in
planting aud cul,ivating, harvesting
and preparing it for the market, the
farmer has not received fair re-
ward for all his toll, for the labor
aud capital invested. The average
farmer must feel that this year win
not leave him an honest share Of
what hi, harvest yields. Why 10 it
they have so little left? Why have
those in other occupations prospeied
more than they? Because the Others
are organized, thoroughly organized,
and use their organizations to ado
vance their business interests.
Through organization they have Sc
cured favorable legislation; have
shifted the burdens upon the farmers
who arc not yet organized as they
should be. United they stand, di-
vided the farmers fall. Now with
these facts before us shall we sur
render our charter? I should dis
like very much for it TO be done, but
II we cannot revive an interest we
had az well do it. We have some
members who never attend, though
they feel an interest in the Grange,
keep their dues paid up, but expect
the rest to attend to the business
Then we have four classes of attend
ants: lst. would go, but there
VIII be plenty without me. God.
wouIi 60, but there won't be any one
else there. 81. If / do not forget
the day and everything Is convenient
will go. 4th. Who are very few
try to shape their business and ar
to 90 on the appointed
DAY. lA
have failed to attend but
Dne meeting this year and will con-
tinue the balance of the year IL we
can accomplish anything, II not then
I will i,in live Grange rs we have
several In the county. l would rath-
er ride 20 miles to a live Grange
once In three months than to ride
Two miles twice per month to q dead
one or not meet quorum, which we
have not had at Cssky during the
past three months, and we have some
very important business which
should have been attended to, and
twice We only lacked one of having
\ quorum. Since the County Grange
was organized we have only had one
delegate OF one meeting, while the
,iher Oranges Of the county would
Do well represented, with large, en-
.husiastic crowd In attendance. 1t
meets with us the Sd Friday In Au-
gust. I suppose we will have
srge attendance, as We always do
when we are expecting our visiting
and l hope every Granger
"A the county win come and enthuse
lew life into US, for 1t is q duty we
,we to our country and our children
hat we revive the interest of Casky
Grange. Il. GRAHAM,
Master.