The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1914-01-02
GRANGE HISTORY.
A Glance Backward Recalls For
gotten Events.

Tho Order Of Patrons Of Husbandry, q
EraternaI Organization, Shown by
Its Contributors For the Rst;af of
Suffering Farmers In the Early G@ys
of the Order-An Es'ucationsi yen-
ture In North Caroline.
In April, 1874. the Mississipni river
overfowed it's banks. carving .isssser
and suffering to Il large nunifar Of
farmers in Louisiana and Al;shsraa I,
many Of whom were Patrons Of fEns
bandry. The executive coalsn .tt.Aa IT
the national grange sent S1.Nn Of the
grange funds to relieve the stricken
farmers and later expended about 81
600 in purchasing -four and baron.
which were distributed to the suffer
ing Patrons through the masters OF the
state oranges. Nearly every grange
state contributed to their needs, some
giving as much as $4,000.
Added to this calamity to the farm
ers came the grasshopper plague, and
again the national grange sent about
S11, 1000 to the masters of state oranges
in Iowa, Minnesota. Dakota. Kansas
and Nebraska to relieve the. wants Of
Patrons. Later $1,000 was sent to Ar
kansas Patrons and $1,000 to the Kan
sas state grange to enable it to pay its
dues to the national grange. During
the following year other contributions
were made which brought these fra
ternal gifts up to $4,000 for the year
following.
In 1876 the state grange of South
Carolina received from the national
grange treasury the sum of $1,000 to
aid sufferers from prolonged drought,
and a special loan made to the Ne
braska state grange amounting to $50
coo was made donation on account
of the continued distress in that state.
The contributions of the Ohio state
grange along about this period amount
ed to nearly $4,000.
These We're the days when the ma
tional grange treasury was plethor1c,
and it was so because of the rapid In
crease in the number of oranges. In
January. 1874. 2.119 new oranges We're
ORGANIZED: in February, 2.239; in
March. 1924; in April 1,4S7. and from
that time on the decline was notable.
On Jan. 1, 1875. there were 21.697
granges in the Tinted States.
The grange has always given it's
best efforts to the advancement of ed
vocational interests. notable illus
tration occurs in the history of the Or
der in the southern states. where the
grange was at one time stronger In
numbers than in any other part of the
country. But in the southern states
schools were very inadequate. The
state grange of North Carolina rec
commended that the subordinate
oranges interest themselves in estab-
fishing local schools, and if found prac-
ticable it was advised that primary
and even high schools be established
in connection with county and sub
ordinate oranges. The national grange
proceedings Of 1882 state that grange
schools were established by subordi-
nate oranges in some parts of Louisi-
ana, North Carolina and Alabama and
possibly in some other southern states.
The grange fair, now SO deservedly
AS early as 1872 local grange in Mis-
sissippi held grange fair, and in
1875 a state grange fair was held in
Alabama. Grange fairs were early
very popular in New England. as they
even now are. A grange crop report
ing system was organized in 1874, au-
thorized by the national grange, but
as the oranges did not respond very
actively it was not continued after
1875, although the reports were said to
be of very considerable value.
The stamping grounds Of the Order
in 1874 and 1875 were the states of In
diana and Iowa There the great bat
ties of the grange in its various activi-
ties were fought: railway legislation,
grange stores. grange business agen-
cies and cooperative schemes and poll
tics, each and all had their times of
greatest success, and then came dire
failure. These states had about the
same number Of oranges. the high wa
ter mark having been reached in Janu-
airy, 1875, with about 1900 oranges in
either state. There were 100, 900 men,
bers Of the Order in Iowa at that time
Missouri was also In the 2,0OO grange
class, though with somewhat fewer
members. AS early as 1872 Iowa had
gone into the business Of grange CO.
operation on large scale. According
to the published proceedings Of the
Iowa state grange of that year, a third
Of the grain elevators in the state
were either owned or controlled by the
grange. It is said that 100000 bush
els of grain and immense numbers of
hogs and cattle had been sold in Chi
cago by grange agents, and in the pur-
chases Of farm implements it is said
that the farmers of the state were say
ed 1866, 900, and it was reported to the
state grange that year that the agent
Of the Order had done a business of
$5OOO,OO0 and effected saving OF Is
per cent on family supplies and 90 Der
cent on agricultural implements.
But the past is only Of benefit to the