Norwich bulletin., 1909-09-11
A FARMERS TALK TO FARMERS
A Little Chat About Oranges and Grangers-Duty and
Performances-Wha the Grange Offers and What It
Might Accomplish What 1t Is and What Should Be.

! case of loss. Yet only about half the
members accept this economy. 1t also
offers the privilege of cooperative
buying in all domestic and farm sup
| plies. Yet less than a quarter accept
| this economy. 1t holds an annual fair
which affords vastly better opportuni-
ties for comparison of local products
and education in local expedients than
the more ambitious county and state
fairs can give Yet not half the mem
bers take any part in this, and all the
recurring work has to be done by less
than one-tenth OF the members year
after year. 1t offers semi monthly
training school for young speakers and
would be singers to practice. Yet i
know members who have never in fif-
teen years, got so far as to stand up
and say: 'Wcrtiy Master l agree with
Brother Smith" 1t is semi monthly
Farmers Institute or normal school,
in which personal farming difficulties
can be discussed and local emergen-
cies talked over and helpful sugges-
tions given or received. Yet very, very
few take advantage of this. 1t has re-
peatedly sought to unite producers
into a selling union, whereby better
prices and surer pay could be secured,
with less individual trouble. Yet all
these attmepts have, thus far, been
mere HaSneS III the pail
suppose most oranges are about
alike in these and other respects. But,
when you think of it coolly, doesn't 1t
seem a little weak to pay your fees
and dues IL AN lrganzatlon and wear
it's badge at picnics, and yet ignore the
savings and the profits and the other
opportunities it supplies? When you
work, isn't it good business to collect
&C. nav n
ey isn't 1t common sense to see that
you get your moneys worth? When 1t
takes you a hard days work in the
field to earn a dollar and you can save
one by ten minutes use Of your intel
ligence, which is the proper tool to
use, brains or Drawn?
And now. lastly, for the first CUES.
ton: Do you belong to the grange?
Perhaps you'll question If the grang-
ers generally act as I've been describ
ing them, what good it will do you to
join such a bunch. Well, in the first
place, they don't all act so blindly as
th' se I've been abusing. There Is a
mighty bright and useful and compan-
ionable set in every grange I've ever
known anything about-a set anybody
might be proud to associate with. It'll
do you Good to cast your lot in with
them. In many ways you will find
them ready and Capable of cooperation
with you in social, business and edu-
cational matters. You will find pres
ent profit and pleasure in belonging
with them.
But don't stop with a consideration
or your own profit or pleasure. That's
what the pigs do; men and women,
true men and true women, see some
thing besides their own troughs and
feel something besides their own hun
ger. We are AL dependent upon 9TH
ers in large degree; we all owe con-
slant duty to others; our contentment
and our prosperity are inextricably
bound up in the welfare Of others.
Whether we choose or not, we must
of value to the generation and to the
race. How can keep my line-fences
clear of brush il the other fellow main
tains a hedge-row a rod wide on his
side? How can / keep my fields free
of wild carrots and Canada thistles
and burdocks and dodder If my neigh
bors on both sides of me let their acres
run riot with the pests? It's only by
combining our i,uny individual weak
ne5ses into an organized strength that
we can joggle the world even a little
bit
There's no class If producers on the
earth's surface who need the benefits
or combination organization, Corpora
ton so much as the farmers. We need
them individually, we need them as
bunch. It is our duty and our privil-
eye to Do each his or her share to lift
up the standards and carry them for
ward Whether IL will pay US in dol
lars and cents is really a very minor
consideration. Whether we succeed or
fail is. likewise. Of small moment. 1t
is the passionate, bright endeavor"
which wins heaven and Immortality.
Do we think any less of General Put
nam because he was defeated at Bun
ker Hill? Or any less of ST. Peter,
because he was butchered by Roman
f1ends? Bunker Hill was followed by
Saratoga and Yorktown; indeed, Bun
ker Hill made them possible. And the
Rome which saw st. Peters shameful
cross shadowing its cruel hills now
thrones his successor, with more than
kinSly splendnr.
He's small man who sees only his
own acres; he's a blind man who
knows only today and tomorrow.
There's a wide world beyond our llori-
zons-and you and l are responsible
want to be or not. There's an eterni-
ty of future before Ius and the quality
of that future depends in some degree
upon what you and do to make 1T bet
ter or worse. It's because the grange.
in it's own fields, offers US the chance
to do something for those beyond our
horizons and for those who shall come
after us, that l think every farmer
should belong to It, and do his part to
make it of the service 1t might be.
TIIE