The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1897-12-17
Meeting of the State Grange.

The annual session of the Maryland
State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, be-
gan Tuesday at the Maltby House Balti-
more, and ended Wednesday. Every coun
ty in the State was represented. The first
days session concluded with in address
by Mr.. H. 0. Devries, of Howard county,
master of the Grange Wednesdays
meeting concluded with an address by
Gen. Roy Stone on good roads. General
Stone is the head of the United States
Good Roads Bureau, and his address led
to discussion of the road question and
to a definite action looking to an improve
ment of the highways of the State. Officers
for the ensuing year will be elected.
In his address Mr.. Devrics said "A
little reflection must bring us to the con-
clusion that agricultural has not sustained
the position to the business world as a
prime factor which its Importance de-
mands or that il held in former times
Numerically, the farmers hold the balance
of power in our country, but they do not
receive proper recognition in our law
making bodies. A comparison of our
present lawmaking bodies with those Of
former times, when farmers were in the
majority in our natio nal councils, is not
only suggestive, but points with unerrng
Certainty to the Indifference of farmers to
protect themselves. Governor Hastings,
of Pennsylvania, stated stubborn fact
few days since at the public reception
given the National Grange when he said
if farmers did not get what was their
right, no one was to blame but themselves
At first thought it is suggested that all
industries, including capital, should be
interested in the success of the wealth.
producing classes. In sense they are,
but their concer is secondary in its nature
and naturally SO. Capital is under no
direct obligation to do for US what We
can and ought to do for ourselves, and it
| is correct. Relations which we can con
troll. if we would, through this organization
| should, to be successful, 90 hand in hand
with education and cooperation.
| "Ours being an agricultural county,
on which the success of almost every
other industry depends, it seems reason
able that agriculture should have Il fore
most place in all of our institutions OF
| learning, yet the fact seems to be that but
few books, if any, can be found in thcil
curriculum on practical and scientific
agriculture, except in agricultural colleges
under State auspices, they being usually
limited in their capacity for want OF
adequate support. In every agricultural
college, farmers institutes and grange
work should have a prominent place. The
day of haphazard farming has passed, not
to return.
"Lcgislation shapes the destiny of IA
tions. The power which creates thes'
bodies is responsible for their action
Farmers compose the most numerous
class, consequently cast the most votes
They are, therefore, chaigeable with eX
listing conditions for the time being
whether for veal or woe. How impor
tant, then, that the popular class awake
to the right appreciation and response
bilities of citizenship as they relate to thu
body polite generally. To do this w
must educate both by prccept and example
on scientific and practical issues. Boil
are essential, the latter eminently So"
A meeting of stockholders of the Mary
land Grange Agency was held Tuesday ant
Il dividend of p per cent declared. The
following were reelected directors II. o
Dcvries, of Howard county; Henry NJ
Murray, of Anne Arundel county; As;
Stabler, of Montgomery county; Geor@
Merryman, of Baltimore county: f. l.. +
Hardcastle, of Anne Arundel county
and John G. Clark, of Baltimore city.