Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-11
City to Be Host
to u. S. Grange
continued from Third Page.)


asked permission to publish the text o.
it in the daily papers, SO he and Kelley
could buy some extra copies and thus
circulate the proceedings of the meet
ing. The resolution was adopted by the
convention and the papers were printed
and distributed among the membership
There is much in common between
the grange and the Department OF Ag-
riculture. A clerk in the department
conceived the plan of the grange ano
later the grange was influential IN ele-
waiting the department to CABINET RANK
which was effected February 9, 1889
D. WYATT Aiken, then Representative
IN Congress from South Carolina. and
a member of the executive committee
of the grange, led this movement in the
House, But he died in 1877. two years
before the measure he sponsored was
enacted into law Norman j. Coleman
appointed first Secretary of Agriculture
by President Cleveland, was master OF
Potomac Grange, No. l. There was a
division of agriculture in the Patent
Office as early as 1886, but it was minus
authority to carry on any activities.
An INDEPENDENT Bureau of Agriculture
was established in 1862 with Isaac New
ton as first commissioner. He sent Kelley
into the South to check up on agricul-
taIral conditions. The first agricultural
appropriation, $1,000, with which to as
semble data and distribute seeds, was
made in 1889. The agricultural appro-
priation for the fiscal year beginning
July l, 1929, including Federal aid to
States in highway construction, totals
more than $l40,000,000. The grange
always has favored adequate approprla-
tons for the department. in order that
the farmers might benefit as much as
possible thereby.
X * X
THE purpose of the grange can best
l. be stated by quoting the following
extracts from the declaration of prin-
ciples:
I'VE shall endeavor to advance our
cause by laboring to accomplish the
following objects:
ITO develop a better and higher man.
hood and womanhood among ourselves.
To enhance the comforts and attrac-
tons of our homes. and strengthen our
attachments to our pursuits. To foster
mutual understanding and cooperation.
To maintain inviolate our laws, and to
emulate each other in labor, to hasten
the good time coming. To reduce our
expenses, both individual and corpo-
rate. To buy less and produce more, In
order to make our farms Self-Sustaln-
ing. To diversity our crops and crop
no more than we can cultivate. To
condense the weight of our exports,
selling less in the buShel and more on
the hoof and in the fleece, less in the
lint and more in the warp and the
wool. To systematic our work and
calculate intelligently on probabilities.
To discountenance the credit system,
the mortgage system, the fashion sys-
tenn, and every other system tending to
prodigality and bankruptcy.
I'VE propose meeting together, talk
ing together, working together, buying
together, selling together, and, in gen.
eral, acting together for our mutual
protection and advancement as occa-
sion may require"
The grange recognizes mo North, no
South, no East no West" and it is the
abiding principle with the Patrons Ito
relieve any of the oppressed and suf-
fering brotherhood by any means at
their command"
Although the grange is distinctly q
farmers order, and, in the main, re-
Styicted to rural sections, its Specifica-
This definition always has been:
ANY person engaged in agricultural
pursuits and having no interest in con-
fiict with our purpose, of the age of IA
years, duly proposed, elected and COM
plying with the rules and regulations
of the order, is entitled to membership
and the benefit of the degrees taken"
From the beginning women always
have been admitted to membership on
an equal basis with men. The grange
policy with respect to them is signifi-
cantly stated in the ritual as follows:
THE grange door swings inward as
readily at the gentle touch of woman
as to the ruder knock of man. She
is conducted not to a silent and humble
seat in the congregation, but is given
shares with her brother its most ex-
allied honors."
From as early as 1876 until it was
finally enacted into law in 1920, the
grange actively supported the nine
tenth amendment.
X X X X
~ MOTHER unique feature of the
grange membership lies in the
fact that from the outset the age limit
was placed at IA years, thus providing
an opportunity for the training and
development of young men and women
that was valuable both to them and a
big asset to the organization. But
even younger folk come in for grange
attention. There is no more fascinat-
ing feature of its part in rural COM
munity life than that embraced in the
juvenile grange. Boys and girls of
grange parents down to the age of S
are enrolled in more than 500 of these
units distributed over "a States. Mrs.
E. A. Eckert of MaScoutah. ILL.,, is ma
tlonal superintendent of the juvenile
grange.
No age limit in the other direction
ever has been set. The organization
points with pride to many energetic
workers still in harness after passing
the threescore and ten milestone. A
recent candidate, when his application
was being voted upon, was entertaining
a party of friends at his home in the
observance of his Tooth birthday. Com
menting on his admission to the order.
he remarked that, although he had
been a little slow getting into the
grange, he hoped in time to make a
fairly useful member"
Maj. William King of Ballston. Va.
who celebrated his ninety-sixth birthday
october 5, is an outstanding example of
an active old-timer. A feature of the
occasion was the planting of an ever
green spruce, a gift from the Depart
ment of Agriculture, by fellow grange
members who gathered to felicitate the
major because of his longevity and use
fitness.
He joined the grange at st. Louis in
1872 and has been an ardent worker
ever since. Formerly master and
treasurer Of Potomac Grange, No. l, he
still is Spry enough to attend most of
the regular meetings, picnics and other
gatherings of the membership. Mai,
King was associate editor of Farm and
PRESIDE eight years. He also served IS
years IN the Department of Agriculture
as chief of the Seed Division and as a
clerk in the Bureau of Statistics.
nofe of