The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1913-11-07

/ c..re+ary Giles of the New YORK otate
Grange Believes That the Farmer
u.s an Important Duty to Perform
In statecraft.
The grange was founded to exploit
regeneration. Seeing agriculture d1nin-
isb and wane led the founders OF our
Order to establish an organization that
Nv thorough and hearty co-opera-
tion between those of kindred interests
MIGHT ameliorate many Of the adverse
conditions that confronted agriculture.
IN that foundation the grange has
grown until it is recognized as power
in the nation. AS yet the field OF CO.
oneration has been but slightly titled,
| and vet the yield in results has Jusu-
fed the effort and shown promise OF
most abundant yield when the field
shall have received that careful tillage
and thorough culture to which 1t Is en-
| titled.
Co-operation in buying has saved
thousands of dollars to the farmers OF
! New York state, and yet but small
per cent of the grange members are
| making use of its good Offices. 1t is
| but an indication of what it may do
and what we fondly hope it will do.
Cooperation in selling farm products
has not received so much attention or
been the object of so much thought.
/ but is well under way and has bril-
liant and successful future before 1t.
Cooperation in government or states
manship, either through party policy
or public interest, has had but little
attention, but it is the promising field
of future usefulness. Selfish interests
| within the parties or between the par
ties has controlled, and the result in
state and nation has not been for the
greatest ultimate good of either state
or nation. Parties have been divided
into factions, and the factions have
warred upon each other and forgotten
the nations needs. Appropriations
| have been made or withheld not for
the states good, but for the possible
future effect of party or faction of par
ty. Men have risen to position of lead
ershp within their party who have de-
! liberately sold the states welfare to
maintain their positions of leadership,
| forgetting the supposedly great princi-
pies that held their party together and
preferring to be leaders of defeated
party rather than factors in success
full party. True craftsmanship ignores
these tactics and looks rather to the
public good even though another party
gets the credit.
three principal parties contested for
the leadership, and of course but one
could win. The winner, while he
might not have been your choice or
mine, was nevertheless the chosen
leader and is entitled to the support
and good wishes of every right think
ing citizen of any party. President
Wilson in his inaugural address used
words that proclaimed him the states
man. They were bid for the hearth
| est cooperative support of all. His
| inaugural address was not boast OF
party success or an exploitation of my
policies" but, rather, in modest and
unpretcntious words, a dedication Of
self to a great work. In that address
he used these words: II summon all
honest men, all patriotic men and all
forward looking men to my side, and,
God helping me, will not fail them
| if they will but council and sustain
me-" This, my friends, is an invita-
| ton to you to forget the strife of party
mi 70 vU3f In
| the great and important work he has
in hand. Surely we all like to be
classed in one or the other of these
lists. Let us deserve it, then, by
hearty acceptance of his invitation
and, In so far as it is in us, demon
strate the power and efficiency Of true
cooperation in craftsmanship.
| oh, that the fact Of our country's
peril and our country's needs may
produce such an impression upon every
thoughtful citizen as shall lead to
the loftiest action in the use of every
power to defeat those who desire to
succeed in nothing but subversion Of
good government! In this magnificent
work the farmer has an important part
Of the farmers thought, should add to
its other branches Of cooperative effort
the cooperation Of craftsmanship
to wrest the power from other worthy
interests, but to cooperate with them
should be our highest motive What a
noble mission to reproduce statecraft
and reinstate statesmen!
Farmers, there stands before us an
opportunity to become an important
factor as saviors and builders Of our
nation. Shall we not, then, realizing
this high prerogative, bend our every
effort to the establishing Of this high
est and noblest type OF true co-opera-
uon-the cooperation Of statesman
ship? w. N. GILES.
a $500 Pound Cheese.
On July 10 cheese weighing $500
pounds was made at the Gowdy cheese
factory in the town Of MarffushnrO