Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-04-26
THE GRANGE
Conducted by
J. W. BARROW. Chatham. NJ r..
Editor Of the NetU York State Grange
RerfetD
ON SOLID FOUNDATIONS.
State Master Gardner Has Built q Good
GRANGE Platform

Grange Platform.
That we shall recognize the great
present need Of agriculture for encour-
agement and shall endeavor to meet
that need by every means within the
power of this great farreaching organ.
ization, by legislation, by appropria-
ton, by education, by cooperation, to
the end that to the farmers them
selves greater realization of the dig
nifty and honor Of their calling may
be brought, and to all other classes
new appreciation Of how vitally essen
tial to the very existence of life is a
prosperous and growing agriculture.
That we shall recognize the right Of
the grange to champion rural interests
anywhere and at any time, in state or
national councils, and shall earnestly
accept our distinct duty to so cham
pion those interests, affording the lead
ership in constructive lines that the
exigencieS or the times continually de-
mand, relying upon the constant sup
port of every subordinate and Pomona
grange to sustain and advance that
leadership.
That we shall recognize the supreme
need of rural affairs today as a feder-
alton of rural town forces for its own
elevation and improvement, the power
of church and school and home and
grange and the enlistment of all rural
capacities. individual and collective, in
broad n two
pose for the betterment OF all things
in that particular locality. And that
the grange shall supply leadership
where leadership is lacking or with
equal cheerfulness shall furnish sup
port for other leadership when support
is the greater need.
That we shall recognize that the i'm
provement of the rural community, the
farmer and the farm must come from
within rather than from without, and
that to develop latent or unused capac-
tiles is far better than to import them.
In this respect the grange strikes the
very keynote Of the rural problem in
trying to do with the rural people
rather than doing for them, while H.
lustrations are furnished by the score
Of what rural communities can do for
themselves, by themselves, when once
aroused to a realization Of their own
capacities by a capable and effective
leadership.
That we shall recognize that the
future of the town, the state and the
nation depends upon its young people
and that to their best training and de.
velopment we may well seriously adj
dress ourselves. Every effort made
for them. every cent expended in their
behalf, every thought for their welfare,
every plan for their future a golden
investment certain to yield dividends
beyond human estimate, the grange in
this respect alone possessing an oppor.
tunity of unparalleled magnitude.
That we shall recognize that the only
organizations which have withstood
the test Of time are those which have
rendered to their locality and genera.
ton service larger than that measur
ed by purely personal advantage to
their own membership, and behold
herein the grange avenue to perma
nence through distinct and definite
community service, along the practical
lines so much in evidence the past few
years and which must be further ex-
tended and intensified.