The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-12-27
Maine State GRANGE.

lWdlIlt Otdlt VI dllgt.
The 33rd successive annual session
of the Maine State Grange, Patrons of
Husbandry, was opened in Augusta,
Dec. 18th, by State Master Obadiah
Gardner of Rockland with very large
attendance. Waldo county was repre-
scented by .27 delegates. This county
has 30 Oranges with a membership OF
1867, gain of 80 members during the
year All the counties show gains ex
cept Androscoggin which lost 93 mem
bers. Washington county shows the
largest gain, 1922. The net gain for the
year was 4036.
The order now is believed to be
stronger in every department OF grange
work than at any time in its history III
Maine and doing better work upon a
higher plane. The total membership
on November 1st was 81, 1886 There are
4OS subordinate oranges, of which num-
Der 16 were organized and six reorgan-
lied the past year
Five new grange balls have been
erected at a cost Of S21 900. Three
hundred and fifty-tive oranges own
their OWN halls. The aggregate value
of the buildings and furnishings is
SSS7. 900 There are 26 Pomona oranges
holding regular meetings. The three
patrons fire insurance companies, rep
resenting business of S16,000,00O, fur
nish protection at a cost of one-fourth
of one per cent. according to the grange
reports. The receipts for the fiscal year
at the secretary's office were 81 $40. 50.
The call of the roll required about an
hour and a half, which consumed nearly
all of the Tuesday forenoon session. In
the afternoon the reports OF the secre-
tary and lecturer, summarized ABOVE,
were given, and State Master Gardner
delivered his annual address. lie ap-
proves the following program of legls-
! lation endorsed by the national grange:
1. Election of United States Sena-
| tors by direct vote of the people.
| ,. To provide for postal savings
| banks.
;, TO continue the existence of rural
free delivery.
J. To submit an amendment to the
constitution. granting the power to
| Congress TO regulate and control all
corporations and combinations, pre-
venting monopoly and the use of their
corporate power to restrain trade, or
arbitrarily establish prices.
|
| I. Enact pure food laws.
| s. Provide for the extension OF the
markets for farm products equally with
manufactured products.
| 9. The speedy construction of ship
canal connecting the Mississippi river
with the great lakes, and the great lakes
with the Atlantic ocean.
| 10. Revising the fees aud salaries OF
all federal officers and placing them on
| a basis of similar service III private
| business.
II. Provide for parcels post, tele-
phone and telegraph in the mali ser
| vice.
IL. Provide for national and State
aid to improve the public highways.
He notes that two of the objects fol
which the grange has contended have
been enacted into legislation, VIZ, ex-
tension of the power of the interstate
commerce commission and removal OF
the tax on industrial alcohol, and to
these is to be added the pure food law.
| He considers that the present system
of spending money on the roads should
be pat by with the sickle and the SPIN
ming: wheel, that the State should un-
dertake road construction and that to
that teul the taxes should be increased
on tie classes Of property that pay only
a State tax.
This suggests the wild land and the
public service corporations. AS to the
former, while he considers that they
escape paying their fair share of the
taxes, especially since they are IN
creasing in value, Mr.. Gardner does
not think the way to do it is by amend
ing the constitution so that the Wild
lands would be obliged to pay the
average rates of taxation in the State.
This he does not regard as equal taxa
| ton, inasmuch as the local taxes are in
| large part for local purposes. His view
is that ''all property should be assessed
for all public benefits such as support
of schools, public highways, care of the
poor and unfortunate, and in fact for
all general pnblic benefit. 70 bring
this about. ''he continues, would of
necessity increase the State tax, but at
the same time it would decrease the To-
cal taxes in many of the cities and
towns of Maine. Should this principle
prevail, | believe we would get, under
the constitution as it now is, as near to
equality in the tax levy as we can rea-
sonably expect" He opposes the sys-
| tenn of taxing railroads on their gross
earnings and advocates increased taxa
ton of manufacturing corporations
and express, telegraph and telephone
companies.
The Congressional distribution OF
free seeds is strongly attacked as a
! costly and useless expenditure of about
100000 for each Congress, not want
ed 10y the farmers, opposed by the
grange and which would build 667 miles
of good roads for each Congress. He
understands that the agricultural COM
mittees OF both houses are opposed to
the continuation of this waste o.
money, and indeed with the farmers
against it there would seem no excuse
to keep up the practice.
The State master congratulates the
grange that the principle of the initia:
tive and referendum has been endorsed
in the platforms of the Republican and
Democratic parties and is therefore
morally certain of being enacted into
law. AS to the prohibitory law, the
master says that the grange is tenn
perance organization as shown by its
bylaws that members who sell intoxi
eating liquors forfeit their member
ship, but he says that, being non
partisan organization it cannot take