Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-02-16
NATIONAL GRANGE
Forty-fifth Annual Session Held
at Columbus, o.

Over Four Hundred and Fifty New
Subordinate Oranges Organized the
Past Year-The Total Resources of
the Grange Are ,eo3-Some of tho
More Important Features and Facts
of the Session Given.
Especial Correspondence
There are now twenty-nine grange
states, and every one was represented
by delegates at the forty-fifth annual
meeting at Columbus, o. 1t was an
unusual record. National Master n. j.
Bachelors address was an admirable
statement of the conditions of the Or
der and of its plans and purposes
The secretary of the national grange,
| G. NJ Freeman, reported that there
had been 453 new oranges organized
for the fiscal year ending Sept. 80. 1911,
and sixty reorganized Ohio is ac-
credited with the largest number of
new granges-namely, fifty-six-and
Washington fifty-one, Oregon forty-six,
New York forty-three and the other
states with lesser numbers. The re-
ceipts OF the secretary's office were
$13,752.85.
National Grange Resources $113,9o3.
Mrs. e. S. Mcdowell. treasurer, re-
ported that there was on hand Oct.
1. 1910, $21, 243.40; receipts at secre-
tary's Office the past year, $13, 1925;
received as interest on account from
Farmers Loan and Trust company,
| int n
payment on notes. $6,376.2j; interest ON
bonds, $1,S25; sundries, $29O.01 re-
ceipts from state oranges for dues,
$25,216.13. ct may be noted here that
Pennsylvania leads all the states in the
amount of dues paid-namely $5,110.37.
New York is next with $4,616.S4, Maine
$2,s00.91, Michigan $2,292.5S, New
Hampshire $1S10.91). Thus the total
of receipts. with the amount on hand
Oct. last year, amounts to $71,5S3.O6;
expenses for mileage and per diem
at the forty-fourth session of the ma
tional grange, S5,713.20; pension o. II.
Kelley. $1,000; printing proceedings
forty-fourth session, 81 1875; sundry
I expenses forty-fourth session. $1.793SS;
| genera supplies and printing for
the year. $32G9.29; grange extensions,
$4,000; lecture account. SLOT. So dep
| uty fee fund. S2,40O; salaries of officers,
$1,000; expenses of officers. $1,97979;
expenses of executive committee, ST.
/ 14G.G0: expenses of legislative commit
/ tee, 81 .9G4OS: account National Grange
Monthly, S2G71.95; for protecting repu-
/ tatiOn of national grange, its officers
and members, $2,729.93: deficit the ma
/ tiOna grange organ. postage ard sun
dries, S3.G11.70. The total resources of
/ the national grange, oct. /. 1911,
amounted to S113.903.04.
Report on Agriculture.
Beginning with the statement that
/ the fad of today is back to the land;'
that the press is full of it; the agri-
cultural colleges emphasize it; that
special agricultural trains are oper-
ated. all carrying the gospel of better
farming. The committee signifed
their approval of these agencies. But
more is needed to he done. We may
indulge the hope, they continued, that
remedial legislation needs no further
spur than the evidence of existent
wrong. but the manifest duty of the
national grange is to demand a sub
stantial and immediate downward re-
vision of the tariff.
On the question of good roads the
committee urged that the money now
wasted in military and naval eXpendi-
ture be used for the purpose of i'm
proving our highways and conserving
ha
nation on the part of congress to fur
nish immediate legislation in aid of
good roads. postal reform, in tariff re-
duction, was commented upon, and
the committee recommended that the
legislative committee continue their
work to concentrate the influence of
the order on their representatives in
congress until they secure the legisla-
ton needed The committee suggest
ed that a representative be established
at Washington during the session Of
congress. whose duty would be to
scrutinize with interest all bills touch
ing on the farmers interest and report
at once to the legislative committee.
Grange Legislative Committee.
The legislative committee, which con-
sists of n. J. Bachelor, Aaron Jones
and II. G. Atkeson, gave an account of
their stewardship during the Canadian
reciprocity campaign. That issue made
1t impossible TO secure consideration
of any of the legislative policies IA
vored by the grange. 1t obscured all
other issues The committee believed
that the proposition to establish as a
national policy a new principle of free
trade for farm products and the pro-
auctions of manufacturers was Of so
great Importance to the farmers that
the other questions were comparative
ly insignificant. The committee says
that. with the sham reciprocity bill
dead and buried the field is now open
TO bring to the front in the national
90