The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-05-04
PREA NJ BILE.

nave large membership IN inns county.
GRANGE.
PREAMBLE.
Profoundly impressed with the truth
States should definitely proclaim to
the world its general objects, we hereby
unanimously make this Declaration of
Purposes of the Patrons of Husbandry:
GENERAL OBJECTS.
1. United by the strong and faithful
tie of Agriculture, we mutually resolve
to labor for the good of our Order, our
Country and Mankind.
2. We heartily endorse the motto:
'.In essentials, unity; in nOn-essen-
tials, liberty; in all things, charity"
SPECIFIC OBJECTS.
8. We shall endeavor to advance our
cause by labOring to accomplish the
following objects:
To develop a better and higher man
hood and womanhood among ourselves
To enhance the comforts and attrac-
tions of our homes, and strengthen our
attachments to our pursuits. To foster
mutual understanding and co-opera-
ton. To maintain inviolate our laws,
and to emulate each other in labor to
hasten the good time coming. To
reduce our expenses, both individual
and incorporate. To. buy less and
produce more, in order to make our
farms self-sustaining. To diversity our
crops, and crop no more than we can
cultivate. To condense the weight of
our exports, selling less in the bushel,
and more on hoof and in fleece. To
systematic our work and calculate in
telligently on probabilities. To dis
countenance the credit system, the
mortgage system, the fashion system,
and every other system tending to
prodlgality and bankruptcy.
We propose meeting together, work.
ing together, buying together, selling
together, and in general acting together
ment, as occasion may require. We
shall avoid litigation as much as pos
sible by arbitration in the Grange. We
shall constantly strive to secure entire
harmony. good will, vital brotherhood
among ourselves, and to make our
Order perpetual. We shall earnestly
endeavor to suppress personal, local,
sectional and national prejudices, all
unhealthy rivalry, all selfish ambition.
Faithful adherence to these principles
will insure our mental, moral, social
and material advancement.
BUSINESS RELATIONS.
4. For our business interests we de-
sire to bring producers and consumers,
farmers and manufacturers into the
most direct and friendly. relations pos
sibls. Hence we must dispense with q
surplus of middlemen, not that we are
unfriendly to them, but we do not neeo
them. Their surplus and their exac-
tions diminish our profits.
We wage no aggressive warfare
against any other interest whatever
On the contrary, all our acts and all
our efforts, so far as business is con-
cerned, are not only for the benefit OF
the producer and consumer, but also
for all other interests that tend to bring
these two parties into speedy and econ
omical contact. Hence, we hold that
transportation companies of every kind
are necessary to our success, that their
interests are intimately connected with
our interests, and harmonious action is
mutually advantageous; keeping in
view the first sentence in our Declara-
tiOn of Principles of Action, that ''Indi,
vidual happiness depends upon the
general prosperity"
We shall, therefore, advocate for
every state the increase in every prac-
ticable way Of all facilities for trans
porting chesply to the seabOard, or
between home producers and consul
mers, all the productions of our coun-
try. We adopt il as our fixed purpose
to ssopen out the channels Of natures
great arteries, that the life-blood of
commerce may How freely"
We are not enemies Of railroads,
navigable and irrigating canals, nor of
any corporation that will advance our
industrial interests, nor any laboring
class.
In our noble Order there is no CON-
munism, no agrarianism.
We are opposed to such spirit and
management of any corporation or en-
terprise as tends to Oppress the people
and rob them of their just profits. We
are not enemies to capital, but we OPP
pose the tyranny of mOnopOlies. We
long to see the antagonism between
capital and labor removed by common
consent, and by an enlightened states
manship worthy of the nineteenth CEN
tury We are opposed to excessive
salaries, high rates of interest and ex-
Orbitant per cent. profits in trade.
They greatly increase our burdens, and
do not bear u proper proportion to the
profits of producers. We desire only
self protection and the protection of
every true interest OF our land by leglti-
mate transactions, Legitimate trade and
legitimate profits.
EDUCATION.
We chall advocate the cause of educa-
ton among ourselves and for our child
rem by all Just means within our power.
We especially advocate for our agricul-
tural and industrial colleges that prac.
tical agriculture, domestic science and
all the arts which adOrn the home, be
taught in their course of study.
THE GRANGE NOT PARTISAN.
5. We emphaticaliy and sincerely
assert the ft-repeated truth taught il
our organic law, that the Grange
national, state or subordinate, is not :
political or party organization. M
Grange, if true to its obligations, car
discuss political or religious questions
nor call political conventions, nor nom
mate candidates, nor even discuss theil
merits in their meetings.
Yet the principles we teach undcrli'
all true politics, all true craftsmanship
and if properly carried out, will tenG
to purify the whole political atmos
phere of our country; for We seek thu