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PROCEEDINGS

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STATE GRANGE s ILLINOIS,

AT THE

FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION,

HELD IM THE

^j GITY OF CHAMPAIGN,

IDecerciloer 1-i, IS, IS, 17 arid. IS, IBTB,

rtBM ft KIBSLLL. PRINTERS, IBS AND IM CLARK ST., OHICAOO.

L I E) RAFLY

OF THE

UN IVERSITY

or ILLl NOIS

PROCEEDINGS

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ft^feit^nilt}|lllii0fe

FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION,

UBLD IS THB

CITY OF CHAMPAIGN,

HDecezanloer l-i, 15, le, 17 axid. IS, IQTS.

FISH ft KISSCLL. PRINTERS. 186 AND 186 OLARK ST., OHIOAOO.

OFFICERS

OP THE

State G^'rcLJ^ge of Ulinots.

Master— A. P. FORSYTH, Isabel, Edgar county.

OvEKSEER— JOHN DOWNEN, Industry, McDonough county.

Lecturer— ALONZO GOLDER,. . .Rock Falls, Whiteside county.

Steward— JOHN ODEL, Cliampaign, Champaign county.

Assist. Steward— R. R. FIELD, .. .Tompson, Carroll countj'.

Chaplain — L. F. FARNHAM, Warren, JoDaviess county.

Treasurer— J. S. ARMSTRONG,.. Sheridan, LaSalle countJ^
Secretary — J. M. CHAMBERS,. ..Freeport, Stephenson county.
Gate-Keeper— J. F. RANDOLPH,.Canton, Fulton county.

Ceres — Mrs. L. D. EDWARDS, Franklin Crossing, Rock Island co.

Pomona— Mrs. B. J. VANC0URT,.O'Fallon, St. Clair county.

Flora— Mrs. W. C. TROTT, Bloomington, McLean county.

L. A. Steward — Mrs. P. L. MYERS,. Assumption, Christian county.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR 1876:

Ghairman — A. J. Alexander,

Oilman, Iroquois Co.
Secretary — D. N. Foster,

Sterling, Whiteside Co.

R. M. Guy, LeRoy, McLean Co.
C. N. Anderson, Champaign, g

Champaign Co.
A. P. Forsyth, Isabel, Edgar '^Co.

PROCEEDINGS FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION

r

OF THE

State Grange of Illinois.

Champaign, Illinois, )
Tuesday, Dec 14th, 1875. J

The State Grange of Illinois met in Barrett Hall, in the city
of Champaign.

Worthy Master A. Golder in the chair, and opened in form
in Fourth Degree at 10 o'clock A. M.

Motion made and carried, that the Master appoint a Com-
mittee of five on Credentials.

The Master appointed as such Committee:

Sangamon county — A. B. McConnell.
Crawford county— W. H. Joseph.
St. Clair county — B. J. VaaCourt.
Whiteside county — A. Woodford.
McLean county— W. C. Trott.

The Grange took recess till 2 o'clock P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

Grange called to order by Worthy Master.
The Committee on Credentials reported the following list of
delegates entitled to seats in this Grange:

pZS'l^

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Adams county — B. C. Sterritt and Mrs. B. C. Sterritt.

Bond county — J. Riley.

Boone county — O. S. Achols.

Brown county — H. Burgesser.

Calhoun county — D. Wurtz.

Carroll county— B. B. Field and B. Gillogby.

Coles county — E. G. l^atterson and J. W. Kirkpatrick.

Champaign county — J. M. Morse, E. J. Clark and Mrs. A. M. Fauley.
" Christian county — A. Bowman and Mrs. A. Bowman.

Clark county — J. B. Shipley and J. W. Boatmess.

Clinton county — H. M. Almy.

Cass county — G. Mason.

Crawford county— 1?. Condrey and W. H. Joseph.

Cumberland county — David Neal and David Green.

DeWitt county— S. M. Sharp and Mrs. S. M. Sharp.

Douglas county — S. Wadell and A. Mann.

Edgar county — O. Eldrige and T. E. Laufman.

Edwards county — J. Skavington.
■^ Fayette county— h.. H. Wing and Mrs. A. H. Wing.

Fulton county — J. Farry and John Prickett.
~ Ford county — Wm. Lewis and Mrs. Wm. Lewis.

Franklin county— C Fulkey.
Gallaton county — Francis Moore.
~ Greene county — J. M. Russell and Mrs. J. M. Russell.
Grundy county — Wm. Pearce.
Hancock county — L. L. Wilcox and S. Starkey.
Henderson county — B. W. Richey.
Henry county — A. Sykes and L. W. Turner.
Iroquois county — A. J. Alexander and G. W. Burgess.
" Jackson county — Freeman King and Mrs. F. King.
JoDaviess county — L. F. Farnham.

'Johnson county — G. B. Boomer and Mrs. G. B. Boomer.
Kankakee county — H. S. Bloom.
Knox county — Thos. Collins and A. C. Clay.
■ Lake county — N. Vose and Mrs. N. Vosc.
• LaSalle county — Wm. Pool and Mrs. Wm. Pool.
Lawrence county — J. A. Fylfe.
Lee county— W. A. Judd and L. G. Fish.
Livingston county — G. L. Kirkpatrick and E. W. Pearson.
Logan county- J. A. Critchfield and Samuel Reed.
Macon county — D. P. Keller, M. G. Warren and Mrs. M. G. Warren.
Madison county— F. W. Berger.
Marion county— A.. I^eeper and B. Bowman.
MarsJiall county— Q. G. McAdams.
Mercer county— GrahAm Lee.
Mason county— B.. O'Neal and Thos. Huscroft.

I

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

AfcDonough county — G. W. Reid and Mrs. G. W. Reid.

- McLenn county— B. B. Campbell, W. C. Trott and Mrs. W. C. Trott.
Afontgomery county— io\\n D. Wallace, W. B. Linxwiler and Mrs. W. B.

Linxwiler.
Morgan county — J. L. Wyatl and Mrs. J. L. Wyatt.
Moultrie county — H. Y. Keller and E. W. Boney.
Macoupin county —,] . Craggs, J. F. Nifong and Mrs. J. F. Nifong.
Ogle county — G. W. Slu'cley and A. B. Ackin.
Peoj'ia county — A. Edwards and Sister Burdelt.
Perry county — J . Brown.
Pike county — W. H. Johnston.
Piatt county — A. C. Varner and J. HoUoway.
Pope county— Henry Lewis.

Putnam county — Bcnj. Sutcliffe and Mrs. Benj. Sutcliffe.
^Randolph county — J. K. Burke.
Ricldand county — H. Coen and J. L. Monroe.
Rock Island county — L. D. Edwards and Mrs. L. D. Edwards.
Saline county — T. J. Upchurch.

Sangamon county— .John A. Barbre and A. B. McConnell.
Schuyler county — II. Allpine and J. Bovey.
Scott county — J. C. Buchanan.
Shelby county — C. W. March and Mrs. Robertson.
Stark county — H. S. Stone.
V St. Clair county — B. J. VanCourt and Mrs. B. J. VanCourt.
Stephenson county — F. B. Walker and J. F. Strunk.
Tazwell county— A. W. Ball and G. "W. Patton.
^Vermillion county — W. A. Moore and Mrs. W. A. Moore.
Wabash county — J. M. Stewart and Mrs. J. M. Stewart.
Warren county — J. D. Porter and Angus McCoy.
Washington county— W. W. Hutchins.

- Wayne county — J. L. Irvine and Mrs. J. L. Irvine.
White county — F. M. Charles.

Whiteside county — A. Woodford and P. B. Reynolds.

Will county — J. M. Thompson.

Williamson county — J. T. Hill and P. Brown.

Winnebago county — W. Osborn and C. A. Starr.

Woodford county — C. J. Hitch. j/^

This Committee made several supplementary reports at various
times during the session, recommending that the following
named persons be admitted to seats, which were adopted:

Ford rounty—BrnWicr Wm. Lewis, Sister Lewis.
TjnSalle crninty — Brother W. M. Reid.
McDonough county — Brother W. H. Green.
JoDaviess county — Brother G. W. Curtis.
Fayette county— Brother M. A. Harris.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Motion made and carried that Bro. Curtis, of JoDaviess
county, be admitted as a delegate.

Motion made and lost that third delegates from LaSalle
county be admitted.

Yeas and nays called on above motion and lost.

Motion made to reconsider. Lost.

Motion made and carried to recommit the matter of third
delegate from LaSalle county.

Motion made and lost to add Bro. W. H. Green to the dele-
gation from McDonoLigh county.

Motion made and carried that the report of the Committee on
Credentials be adopted.

Worthy Master delivered the following annual address:

Brotliera and Sisters of the State Grange: — Another anniversary of our
State Organization calls us together in fraternal assemblage. The year
that is past, freighted, as it undoubtedly has been to all of us, with toil
and care, has also presented to us, as Patrons, manifold blessings, for
which I hope we are truly thankful.

The history of Grange work in our State justifies, in a large degree, the
confidence and hope of its usefulness expressed in my last address to you.
Peace and liarmony reign within our borders. Tlie mass of our member-
ship are true to the fundamental principles of our organization. None
are less impressed witli the necessity of organization, union, and labor for
the improvement of the agricultural class, than they ever were. If this is
largely nianifested in a patient, trusting and waiting for the hoped for
good to come through this organization, and if too little is done in self-
help, it the more fixes upon this body the great responsibility of devising
tome means of stimulating the masses composing the Subordinate Grange
into that kind of exertion through which alone this good can ever come.
The executive officers are chosen from among you. They are like your-
selves in knowledge, experience and wisdom. Wherever their efforts
have fallen short of the measure of their duty, as of the requirements of the
occasion, it is now your mission and it is your duty to supply the defi-
ciency— to apply the remedy. I trust you will carefully study the situa-
tion of the Order — study your own responsibility toward it, seek to know
what ought to be done, and to do your work boldly, wisely and well.

The reports of the Secretary, Treasurer and other Executive officers will
give you detailed information relating to their respective offices.

I am charged with the duty of presenting, for your consideration,
important amendments to the Constitution submitted by the National
Grange for adoption or rejection. Most of them I heartily approve.
They indicate marked progress in adapting that instrument more per-
fectly to our wants. I shall take occasion to speak more particularly of
these amendments when they come before you for action.

STATE GRANGP: OB^ ILLINOIS.

The By-Laws of our own State seem to me to need some changes. I
hope you will appoint a committee to consider this subject and to report
upon it.

The money loaned by the National Grange to this State, and now in the
bands of the E.xecutive Committee, has recently been donated in full; and
is now fully under your control.

Information in regard to the organization of mutual insurance com-
panies under State laws has been prepared, and distributed to those
requesting it. I feel like urging this plan of insurance upon the Subor-
dinate Granges, as vastly cheaper than ordinary insurance, and fully as
reliable as the average farmer is likelj' to secure. I am satisfied that not
two per cent, of the insurance money paid for insuring farm property is
ever repaid for losses.

Co-operative stores for buying and selling, and for the transaction of
any business that can be done clieaper than by the ordinary middleman
agency, h&vc been quite numerously established in other States and a /ew
in this. They are proving eminently successful. You will have a report
on this subject during this session, which I hope you will carefully con-
sider, with a view of making recommendations of some kind to Subordi-
nate Granges. These institutions, when discreetly managed, accomplish
a great pecuniary saving to the farmer class, and are also educational in
their influence, b}' disseminating information in regard to operations in
trade and finance. The secret of this success is the adoption of the ca«h
principle of trade, by which the frequent turning over of the capital in trade
is accomplished, as well as the saving of expense which is inseparable
from the present mode of doing business. There are many other topics
and suggestions which crowd upon me for notice, but I have resolved to
be brief, and to leave to your fruitful minds to supply any requirement
I have omitted.

In this my final address to j'ou as your Master, I am moved to express
to you my heartfelt thanks for the uniform kindness and favorable con-
sideration shown me ; and through you I desire to say this to the brothers
and sisters all over the State: when I took up the gavel in a Subordinate
Grange, I had no purpose, no ambition, extending beyond my neighbors
and my own towns-people; but Providence has led me forth by a way I
knew not. I had long been sensible of the burdens resting upon our class,
and thus upon all industry. I had witnessed the gradual impoverish-
ment of our prairie soil to build the mansions and business palaces
arising from the present extravagant middleman system of doing business.
I had, without the proof of statistics now supplied, been sensible of the
gradual but sure transfer of rural wealtii to city hands. It could go on —
it can continue to go on, only with the repetition of those scenes of
misery, debauchery and vice, both public and private, which have char-
acterized the downfall of nations of other limes. With an honest pur-
pose, which the judgment of my advanced age sanctions, if it does not
make wise, I set out in my feeble way to do battle for the rights and the

8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

be?iefit of the great working class. If I am permitted to lay down this gavel
of the Master of the State Grange of the great State of Illinois, accredited
on your part with this purpose honestly conceived, steadily and unself-
ishly maintained, though not without mistakes, no doubt in this I shall
have ray greatest reward. May God grant to you, wisdom in your delib-
erations and give prosperity and growth in all that pertains to a true civ-
ilization, to all the great working class whom you represent.

Bro. Guy, of McLean, read an invitation from the Cheap
Transportation Association to send three delegates to their
meeting, to be held in Chicago, Dec. 15, 1875.

Motion made and carried to send three delegates to the above
meeting.

A vote of thanks was tendered to Worthy Master Golder for
his able and interesting address, and the Secretary instructed
to have it printed with the proceedings of this Grange.

Voted, That the Master appoint three delegates to the Con-
vention to be held in Chicago, December 15.

Bro. Alexander moved the following resolution, which was

adopted:

Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to prepare the minutes of
each day's proceedings in full, so that they may be read at the opening of
the Grange on the following day, and that they be thus read unless other-
wise ordered by the Grange.

Resolved, That the Secretary be instructed to procure the printing of the
minutes and have them ready for distribution as soon as the 10th of
January next. Carried.

Motion made and carried to reconsider the vote to send three
delegates to Chicago Convention, Dec. 15.

Motion made by Bro. VanCourt that we send one delegate
to the Chicago Convention. Carried.

A communication was received from Dr. G. M. Gregory, in-
viting the State Grange to visit the " Illinois Industrial Uni-
versity" at such time as would suit the convenience of the
Grange.

Invitation accepted, and the hour of 2 o'clock on Wednesday,
the 15th, fixed as the most convenient time, and the Brother
who presented the invitation was appointed a committee to
inform Dr. Gregory that the Grange will visit the institution
as above voted.

Worthy Lecturer, VanCourt, addressed the Grange at length
on the duties of the hour.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

List of delegates re-read.

The Worthy Mtister appointed Jiro. Guy, of McLean county,
delegate to Cheap Transportation Convention at Chicago,
Dec. 15.

Motion made and carried. That we take up fbr consideration
the amendments to the Constitution, recommended ])y the
National Grange at its last session, to-morrow morning (Wed-
nesday), at 9 o'clock, A. M.

Bro. Foster offered the following Order of Business, which
was adopted:

1st. Opening of Grange.

2d. Reading Minutes of previous day's session.

3d. Report of Officers.

4th. Petitions from sub-bodies.

5th. Resolutions.

6th. Report of Standing Committees.

7th. Report of Special Committees.

8th. Unfinished business.

9th. New Business.

Grange adjourned to meet at 8 o'clock to-morrow morning.

Wednesday, Dec. 15, 1875.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment.

Minutes of previous day's proceedings read and approved.

The Worthy Master announced the following Committees:

On MiU'dcje and Per Diem — W. C. Trott, McLean county;
W. A. Judd. Lee county: F. M. Charles, White county.

On Bi/-Lnivs—h. B. VanCourt, St. Clair county; J. D. Wal-
lace, Montgomery county; L. W. Lawrence, Boone county;
Graham Lee, Mercer county; A. B. MeConnell, Sangamon
county.

Auditing Committee — J. A. Critchfield, Logan county; C. W.
March, Shelby county; W. W. Hutchins, Wasjiington county.

On Finance — E. J. Clark, Champaign county; A. W. liall,
Tazewell county; F. B. Walker, Stephenson county.

On Co-operation — G. W. Curtis, .JoDaviess county; L. D.
Edwards, Rock Island county; E. G. Patterson, Coles county; G.
W. Reid, McDonough county; William Poole, La Salle county.

On Appcahayid Grievances— .1. F. Strunk, Stephenson county

10 • PROCEEDINGS OF THE

R. R. Field, Carroll county; John Downer, McDonouo;h county;

D. P. Keller, Clay county; L. A. Barbre, Sangamon county.

Bro. Trott offered the following resolution, which was

adopted:

Resolved, That all resolutions be put in writing, signed and read from
the stand, and referred to the appropriate committees without debate.

The following resolution was adopted:

Whereas, We believe it to be a duty we owe our constituents, and
believing that it is for the good of the Order, that we use every effort in
our power to dispatch the business before the Grange, therefore be it

Resolved, That we hold an evening session on Thursday evening, Dec.

16, 1875.

Signed by Ogle Co. Delegation.

Bro. Neeper, of Marion county, presented the following

resolutions:

Resolved, 1st. That some of the objects of the organization are to make
its members better citizens by teaching them the rights of citizenship,
and how to secure and maintain them.

3d. That as many of the rights are to be secured to us only by ap-
propriate legislation, it is therefore of the utmost importance that the
State and Subordinate Granges adopt such measures as will to this end
promote harmonious action.

3d. That a thorough discussion of all questions of political economy,
a knowledge of which is necessary to the administration of a Republican
form of government, is not only a privilege, but the duty of every Grange.

4th. That to accomplish these results it is necessary first to give the
order of Patrons of Husbandry a Republican form of government, by
making our representatives in the State and National Granges elective
and making all fourth degree members eligible to any office in the Order.

5th. That we need no very expensive National Grange. That more
than one-half of the expenses incident thereto can be saved to the Sub-
ordinate Granges by transacting the business of organization and co-
operation through the State Granges and reducing the representation to
not more than one from each county in the State Grange, and not more
than one from each State in the National Grange.

RULES SUSPENDED AND RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED.

Bro. West presented a resolution asking the appointment of
a commission agent in Peoria.

Referred to Committee on Co-operation.

Bro. Gruy arose to a question of privilege. He explained the
action of the Executive Committee in procuring addresses and
essays to be delivered and read at this meeting.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 11

The Secretary read his annual report:
To the Worthy Master and Members of the State Grange:

In view of the quite lengthy report of the Executive Com-
mittee, and it including about, if not all suggestions for the
good of the Order I think necessary, I consider it unnecessary
for me to make a lengthy report.

I am of the opinion that the order of " Patrons of Hus-
bandry" stands as well and is upon as good a basis now as at
any time since its existence.

It is true that the paying membership is not as large as a
year ago, but it is composed of members who have the interest
and welfare of our Order at heart.

Since the last meeting there has been fift3'-nine Subordinate
Granges organized, making the total number 1.592.

There has been 31 charters returned and by me sent to the
Secretary of National Grange.

Notice has been sent to all Granges who were in arrears for
dues to the State Grange.

The letters received and the condition of those who have not
paid up such arrears will be laid before the Master of State
Grange at the first opportunity, for his action. I had hoped to
be able to have done so before this meeting, but have not for
want of time.

As you are all aware, my term of office expires with this year.
I was elected to the office of Secretary of State Grange at its
organization, and was re-elected for the second term two years
ago. With what success or ability I have performed its duties it
is for you to judge.

There has been many pleasant features and incidents con-
nected with the office, and I have formed many acquaintances
that I shall remember with pleasure.

Before retiring from the office allow me to thank you all for
the uniform kindness with whicli you have always met me.

I ask you to overlook and forgive anj' mistakes 1 have made.

Referred to Committee on Finance.

The Secretary of the Executive Committee submitted the fol-
lowing report:

Worthy Master and Patrons: Your Executive Committee
do not deem it necessary, or even desirable, to burden the pro-
ceedings of this meeting with a detailed statement of all the
transactions of this Committee during the year just closed. The
minutes of our meetings are here, and can be consulted or read
if desired.

Much of our business is of such a nature as to present but few

12 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

attractions of a general character, yet requires careful consider-
ation and investigation.

While we do not wish to occupy too much of your valuable
time, it is our desire, as well as our duty, to report to you the
subjects of more general interest that have received our atten-
tion and the action of this Committee thereon. The dissolution
of the firm of Reynolds, Corbett & Thomas, left the Order with-
out commission agents of any kind in the city of Chicago.

Believing there was a strong desire for such agents on the
part of Patrons in this State, we appointed the firm of Hall.
Patterson & Co., at the Union Stock Yards, our agents to buy
and sell all kinds of live stock at reduced rates of commission.
These parties have made and executed a bond of $150.<»}. with
good sureties as we believe, for the faithful performance of their
duties as such commission agents, and the proper accounting for
all consignments that mav be made to them bv members of the
Order.

The power of the State Grange to enforce the penalty of such
bonds being questioned, we have taken measures to obtain the
opinions of men who stand high in the legal profession. All
seem to agree that if the bond is properly dratcn, it can be
enforced. As these bonds were designed to. protect a new
method of doing business, peculiar forms were required. The
Committee authorized its Secretary to employ the best legal
talent in making these instruments, and it is believed they are
as good a protection to every individual member of the Order in
this State as though they had been made between each indi-
vidual and these agents. It is expressly stipulated that not
only any Patron may sue alone, but that any number may sue
jointly and recover, until the amount of the bond is exhausted.

At the same time a contract was made with Z. M. Hall to sell
the various kinds of farm produce at a specified rate of commis-
sion, also to fill orders for groceries; an announcement to this
effect was made in confidential circular Xo. 4 from the State
Agency ofBce; but as he failed to comply with the requirements
of the Committee, the contract was canceled, and the article
referring to it in the circular erased.

In considering the work of the State Agency, your Commit-
tee found themselves in a very embarrassing position. They
found, by consulting the proceedings of the last meeting of this
Grange, that an agent had been elected with a fixed salary, and
this Committee required to assign him an amount of work
worth just §1.C>0C>. no more, no less: after giving the subject a
most thorough, careful and candid consideration, we came to the
conclusion that under the circumstances, it was impossible.
The agent was located at a point very poorly adapted for the
transaction of business.

f

STATE GKANGE OF ILLINOIS. Vi

There were no funds at our disposal with which to furnish
him a suitable place, or the means of doing a business of any-
thing near the extent that the demands of the State required.
The agent was telegraphed to meet us, the situation fully
explained, and a proposition made that he prepare a new cir-
cular containing price list, and such information as was of gen-
eral interest in connection with the business arm of the Order,
and that he should receive his expenses and two dollars and one-
half per da}' for all time actually emplo^'ed.

This proposition was generously accepted, and he entered
immediately upon the discharge of this duty. We are aware
that to justify this course requires a liberal construction of the
law defining the powers and duties of the Executive Committee,
but iis guardians of the general interests of the Order we felt
compelled to pursue this course.

Again, it might be urged that if the Committee were required
to assign the work of this Agenc}'. it should at least have the
power either to select the agent to execute it or be allowed to
saj' what it was worth.

In considering the subject of printing the proceedings of the
last annual meeting of this Grange, the Committee instructed
the Secretary to have printed only such resolutions, motions
and reports as were adopted. This was done to avoid expense
and prevent confusion, as well as to keep the volume in a con-
venient size for reference: hence the printed proceedings make
but a meagre showing of the actual work done.

The State officei^s still feeling the necessity of a more conven-
ient, cheap and expeditious means uf communicating with the
Subordinate Granges than the ordinary mode of epistolarj* cor-
respondence, and wishing to ascertain the views of the members
of the Order in relation to the establishment of a newspaper
conducted in the interests of the Order, we caused a circular to be
prepared proposing the establishment of such a paper, also
stating what its character should be, the price of subscription,
and how conducted. A copy was sent to the Master of each
Grange in the State, with a request that he bring the subject
before his Grange, ascertain and report the views of the Grange,
also the names of those who were willing to pledge one yeiu's
subscription. Only one hundred and twenty-seven Granges
reported and pledged between six and seven hundred subscrip-
tions. In connection with this subject, we would say that the
Committee, at its May meeting, appointed a sul)-committee of its
members, to a.*;certain if a contract could be made with the
"Prairie Farmer Co." to print sueh official matter as the officers
of the Grange might desire to have published, and to have one
copv of the paper sent to the Master of each Grange in the
State.

14 _ PROCEEDII^GS OF THE

The Company proposed to print such matter as we would fur-
nish gratuitously, and mail one copy of the paper to the Master
of each Grange, from the 20th of May until the 1st of January,
for fifty cents per copy, this being the estimated cost of the
blank paper and postage. This proposition was submitted to
each member of this committee; not receiving the approval of a
majority, it was rejected. We would submit for your considera-
tion, whether an arrangement of this kind with some paper
might not be beneficial as well as profitable to this Grange.

The National Grange, at its eighth session, proposed to loan,
without interest, from its funds, to such States as should make
application for the same, a sum equal to $2.50 for every Subor-
dinate Grange that had been organized up to January 1st, 1875.
We have pledged the fraternal good faith of the State Grange
to return this fund when called for by the National Grange:
made application for and received the amount apportioned this
State. Your Committee expecting to receive this money in the
early part of the season, made arrangements to have it used in
the interest of the business arm of the Order, but as it was not
received by the Committee until some time in the month of
October, — too late to be used as originally intended — it was
loaned temporarily, and is now subject to the disposal of this
Grange. We are happy to be able to say that since receiving it, the
National Grange has made it a donation. It is no longer a
loan, but a part of the available funds of the State Grange.

Brother Schoenleber, of LaSalle county made application to
this committee for a loan of a sufficient amount to cover an unset-
tled account which he held against the firm of Reynolds, Corbett
& Thomas. Believing that our fraternal obligations required
the State Grange to render all the aid possible, consistent with
its own safety, to brothers who felt aggrieved by the action of
our agents we appointed Bro. Fanning a committee to investi-
gate the matter, Avith power to act for the Committee — who
reported that he had made several attempts to see Bro. Schoen-
leber in the discharge of his duty, but had failed.

The Committee was discharged, and Bro. Golder appointed in
Bro. Fanning's place; but, before anything further was done in
the matter, we were informed that the claim had been satisfac-
torily settled. This has been the case, so far as we have been
able to learn, with every claim thnt Patrons held against said
firm. Unfortunately, the firm of Harris Bros, was placed upon
one of Bro. Frew's confidential circulars. This firm proved to
be, if not a swindle, at least, irresponsible. Bro. Tupper, of
Carroll county, who had sent $33 to them for a sewing-machine,
and lost it, applied to this Compiittee for relief; it appeared in
the evidence that this order was sent exclusively upon the rec-
ommendation of the State Agent, therefore, the amount of the

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 15

order was refunded, and the Secretary of this Committee notified
the Patrons of the fact that this firm was unreliable, and cau-
tioned them against sending orders to them. With the excep-
tion of this firm, we have not learned of any loss occurring
through any of the parties recommended in the circulars from
the office of this Agency.

The State Agency has cost the sum of ^828. 75 (salary, $514.15;
expenses, $314.50). While we are not prepared to say that
this sum has not been judiciously expended, that the Order has
not been, either directly or indirectly benefited by the Agency
to many times this amount, j'et we are unanimously of the opin-
ion that the continuance of the Agency upon the present sys-
tem will be neither profitable nor beneficial to the Order. The
experience of State Agencies in other States has demonstrated the
fact that agencies may be established upon plans which will
make them both beneficial to the Patrons, and self-sustaining.
Yet, in order to do this, they must be established in commercial
centres, and furnished with ample facilities for doing an exten-
sive business. We would submit for your consideration, whether
such agencies should not be established in the cities of St. Louis
and Chicago. It must be borne in mind, that not only as a
matter of policy, but as a matter of necessity, these agencies
must be self-sustaining, as the finances of this Grange will not
be sufficient to allow any funds to be taken from the treasury
for this purpose. The only sum that could possibly be used,
is the amount received from the National Grange as a donation.

The Committee upon Life Insurance, appointed at the last
meeting of this Grange, and instructed to report to this Com-
mittee, reported about the middle of October — too late for this
committee to take an}' action upon the report; if, indeed, it was
the intention of the Grange that the committee take active steps
to form the association contemplated. We caused the report to
be printed in the " Prairie Farmer," and copies sent to repre-
sentative men of the Order in the different counties, with the
view of bringing the suljject before the Subordinate Granges for
discussion, that the}' might instruct their representatives in this
body. We would ask for this subject your careful considera-
tion: whether it may not be a cheap, practicable and safe plan
of life assurance, and at the same time be an additional bond of
union in our fraternity.

The principle has been acted upon in the States of New York
and Wisconsin.

The Committee, at its September meeting, requested the Sec-
retary and Master to enforce the law in relation to delinquent
Granges.

The State Grange ha.s been obliged to pay over $1,000 dues to
the National Grange for Granges that have ceased to contrilj-

16 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ute to the funds of the treasury. The proposed amendments to
the Constitution allows State Granges to fix the amount of dues
from the subordinates; hence it will be the duty of this body to
fix the amount of dues, also the penalty for non-payment.

We would recommend that a decided expression be given of
the time a Grange may retain its connection with the Order
without payment of dues, and request the executive ofiicers to
enforce the penalty. The Committee deeming it desirable to
have an exhibit of the condition of the books and papers in the
Secretary's and Treasurer's ofiices, appointed Bros. Alexander,
Lawrence and Foster a sub-committee to make a thorough exam-
ination of said books and papers. This committee reported as
follows:

To the Members of the Executive Committee:

Your sub-committee appointed to examine the books and
papers of the Secretary and Treasurer, beg leave to submit the
following:

It was deemed best to make the examination as near the close
of the year as possible. A meeting was called for the 24th of
November, but owing to receiving notice from the Secretary
that his books were not in readiness, another meeting was
appointed for December 2d. The same reason prevented the
meeting at this time. Bro. Fanning informed us he would meet
us at Champaign on Friday previous to the meeting of the State
Grange, but owing to his failure to meet your committee at this
time, we have been unable to examine his books. Bro. Arm-
strong was promptly on hand, and we have carefully examined
his books and compared his vouchers therewith, and find all cor-
rect up to date. Your committee recommend this examination
of the Secretary's books and papers be made previous to the
first day of January 1876, and that in future the Executive
Committee meet quarterly at the Secretary's office, and examine
his books and vouchers at each meeting.

Signed, A. J. Alexakdek, for Committee.

Your Executive Committee would unanimously join in the
above recommendation, and would further recommend that the
Executive Committee consist of four elective members, and the
Master be ex-officio member. We would suggest that the Sec-
retary should not be a member of this committee. In view of
the present and probable future condition of the finances of this
Grange, we would also suggest the necessity of reducing the
membership of this body.

In relation to the business prospects of the Order, your com-
mittee have had very fine opportunities of learning the various
plans adopted in nearly every State in the Union, and the
results. The States that seem to have been the most successful

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 17

are Kentucky, Indiana, Iowa, California and Virginia. In Ken-
tucky the commission plan has been adopted. A large house
was rtMited in Louisville, and manufacturers who desired to deal
with the Patrons were invited to put in their machiner}'. The
rent of this building was paid In' manufacturers renting space,
with the exception of >>200.00. Have done a business of between
$200,000 and §«300,0(t0. with an estimated saving of from twenty-
five to thirty per cent, to consumers. This must be acknowl-
edged to be a very fair showing for the first y^ar of business;
still they are not satisfied, but are attempting to change the
plan to one of a salar}". Propose to raise a fund of §i2."i,000 by
issuing bonds in the sum of ten dollars each, bearing six per
cent, interest, and payable in five years. With this fund they
expect, by l)uying for cash and in large quantities, to be able to
sell at the ordinary wholesale rates, and save enough to pay
running expenses, the interest on the bonds, also to establish a
sinking fund with which to paj^ the principal of the bonds at
maturity, and be able to continue the business of the Agency.

In Indiana, the State Agent is paid a salary, and is allowed
to use $5,000.00 of the Grange fund. The General Agent sends
blank orders to the Subordinate Granges which are filled and
forwarded to the County Agents, and by the County Agents to
the State Agent, who aggregates the orders and fills them direct
from manufacturers.

Their business during the past year has amounted to $300.-
000.00. During the Fall their sales of boots and shoes alone
amounted to §2.000.00 per week.

In California the business is conducted by an association with
a capital of §1,000,000.

The general manager is paid a salary and one per cent, com-
mission is charged upon purchases and one and a half per cent,
upon sales which constitutes a sinking fund.

In Oregon, much the same plan is adopted.

In Virginia, the State Grange created a business bureau with
a salaried officer at its head, who appoints sub or local agents
upon the recommendation of the Count}^ Granges. The local
agents receive a commission. This plan is represented to be
working very satisfactorily. While this plan may meet the
wants of the Patrons in Virginia, we are satisfied it would not
be successful in Illinois.

In order to learn what has been done in our State, your Com-
mittee sent circulars to all the agents whose address we could
obtain, asking reports of their business. We desire in this con-
nection to return thanks for the prompt and full manner in
which these reports were made, the more especially as their busi-
ness was established and conducted independent of the State

18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Graiio^e, and so far as we were concerned, was a private business
of which we had no right to inquire.

Of those who reported, eleven were doing business upon the
plan of sending for goods when ordered, known as the Order
Plan. Every one of these are reported unsatisfactory, and many
are about to incorporate under the statute. Four are doing
business on the '' Sample Room Plan." These are reported even
more unsatisfactory than the first mentioned.

Eight have been incorporated; have been doing business, on an
average, nine months at the time of reporting. Have an aggre-
gate capital of $30,000, a large part of which was not received
until late in the season. Probably not more than half the amount
has been in use during the time covered by the reports. With
this small amount we could not expect to transact a heavy
business, yet sales to the amount of $210,000 have been made, and
in every case the business was reported on the increase, and the
result satisfactory. The more successful of these stores seem to
be those in Peoria, Stephenson, Coles, McLean and Cumberland
counties. While we would recommend this manner of conduct-
ing business agencies, yet we believe a fuller recognition should
be given to the vital principle of co-operation, which we under-
stand to be the division of the profits after paying the running
expenses, including the usual rate of interest on the paid stock
upon the amount of the purchases. By adopting this principle
competition as to prices is avoided, which is always annoying
and often disastrous to new enterprises, and the temptation to
conduct this business too much in the interest of the stock-
holders, who should receive the usual rate of interest, and no
more, for the use of their money is removed. With this principle
fully recognized, honesty and ability combined in the manage-
ment, we believe these enterprises may be undertaken with more
than ordinary assurances of success. W hen local co-operation
is secured in this direction, wholesale or distributing depots
will follow as a matter of growth. Thus may a thorough and
permanent sfjsfein of co-operation be established which will not
only become a means of relief to the farmer class, but another
bond of union in our beloved Order.

The condition of the Order throughout the State would seem
to require more active labor on the part of the Lecturer. We
would recommend that this officer be allowed a sufficient com-
pensation for his time, and that his traveling expenses be paid
by the Grange or Granges desiring his services. We believe this
plan will prove beneficial to the Order generally, and profitable
to the State Grange.

We have herein called your attention to only a few of the
many subjects of vast importance that will claim your considera-
tion. Trusting you will be able by your own personal observa-

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 19

tion, and through the reports of your executive officers to obtain
a true understanding of the present condition of the Order in
this State, that you will apply your wisdom with faith, energy
and patience, to devising such means as will inspire with new
faith, zeal and hope the great mass of our brotherhood, that our
beloved organization may crystalize to a solid, active, permanent
organization and take its place in the front rank among the
benevolent, educational and elevating fraternities of the age,
this report is fraternally submitted.

A. J. Alexander,

D. N. Foster,

R. M. Guy,
D. Dunham.
L. W. Lawrence,
0. E. Fanning,
Chas. Musson,

A. GOLDER,

Executive Committee State
Grange of Illinois.

Motion made to adopt.

Amended, that the report be divided and referred to the
proper committees.

Motion carried as amended.

Motion made and carried that a Special Committee be ap-
pointed on Executive Committee's report.

Bro. Hutchings made the following motion, which wa8
adopted: That a committee of five Sisters be appointed on
Temperance; and that all resolutions on Temperance be referred
to said committee.

The Master appointed as such committee:

Sister Pauley, Champaign; Sister Van Court, St. Clair; Sister Ed-
wards, Rock Island; Sister Trott, McLean; Sister Wing, Fayette.

Bro. Bloom of Kankakee, offered the following, which was re-
ferred to Committee on Credentials:

Wheueas, Each county is entitled to two delegates, and as Kankakee
has only one,

Resolved, That this State Grange admit A. L. Miner, Master of Grange,
No. 486, as such delegate.

Moved and carried, that the Committee on Good of the Order
be raised to five members. On invitation. Sister S. M. Smith
read a poem, for which a vote of thanks was returned, and a
copy requested for publication in the leading Grange journals.

On motion, a vote of thanks was extended to the Executive

20 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Committee for their endeavors to make this meeting interesting
and profitable.

The proposed amendments to the Constitution were taken up
for consideration with the following result:

1. Amend the preamble, under the head of " State Grange,"
by substituting the following for section 1 :

"Section 1. Fifth Degree. Pomona (Hope). Composed of the Masters
and Past Masters of Subordinate Granges, and their wives who are ma-
trons shall be lionorary members, eligible to office, but not entitled to vote ;
and provided that when the number of Subordinate Granges in any State
becomes so great as to render it necessary, the State Grange may, in such
manner as it may determine, reduce its representatives by providing for
the election of a certain proportion of those entitled to membership in the
State Grange from each county, and the members so chosen shall consti-
tute the voting members of the State Grange."

Adopted.

2. Amend the preamble, under the head of "State Grange," by
adding the following: " The wives of the delegates elected to the State
Grange as provided for in the preceding section, if matrons, shall be vot-
ing members of that body."

Rejected.

3. Amend the Constitution, under the head of "Organization op
State Grange," in the fourth line of page 4, by striking out the words
" not to exceed three."

Adopted.

4. Amend the preamble to the Constitution under the head " JSTational
Grange" by inserting between the words " Master" and "of," where they
occur in the second line of said paragraph, the words " Past Masters and
their wives," and also by adding at the close of said paragraph the words
following to wit: "Provided that only those members of the National
Grange who are Masters of State Granges, and their wives who are mat-
rons, shall be entitled to vote therein; and provided further, that Past
Masters and their wives who have taken the Degree of Pomona, and all
former members of the National Grange, shall be honorary members of
the National Grange, and eligible to office therein, but shall not be en-
titled to vote."

Adopted.

5. Amend article 1, section 1, of the Constitution by inserting the word
" District" between the words " State" and " or," where they occur in the
second line of said section.

Adopted.

6. Amend article 1, section 2, of the Constitution, by inserting between

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 21

the words " practicable" and " in," where they occur iu the fourth line
of said section, the words following to wit: "In the District Grange
annually at such time as each District Grange may determine."

Adopted.

7. Amend article 1, section 2, of the Constitution, by striking out the
word "three," where it occurs in the sixth line of said section, and insert-
ing in lieu thereof the word "two."

Adopted.

Some discussion ensued as to the effect of amendment No. 8.

On motion, the further consideration of this and following
amendments was made the special order at 10 o'clock to-mor-
row morning.

Moved and carried, that the special order of business at 9
o'clock to-morrow shall be officers' reports.

Bro. Trott, of McLean, offered the following resolution, which
was adopted:

Resolved, That the Committee on Salaries be requested to report as soon
as possible, and that this Grange do not hold its election until after that
report.

Adjourned to 1 o'clock, P. M.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

Grange called to order by Worthy Master Golder.

On motion, adjourned to 4 o'clock P. M., for the purpose
of visiting the Industrial University.

Met pursuant to adjournment. No quorum being present,
adjourned to 8 o'clock, A. M. to-morrow.

Thursday, Dec. 16, 1875.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment.

Worthy Master Golder in the chair.

Communication from Bro. Forsythe, W. C, giving illness in
his family as an excuse for non-attendance.

A vote of sympathy was given Bro. Forsythe, and Bro. Foster
was requested to communicate to him the feelings of this meeting.

Minutes of Wednesday, Dec. 15th, read and approved.

Ordered, that the request of Bro. Downer to be excused from
acting on Committee of Grievances and Appeals, and that Bro,
J. D. Porter be selected to fill his place, be granted.

Resolution of delegates from McDonough and Schuyler conn-

22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ties, asking for change in by-laws, so that all Subordinate
Granges shall report and pay dues to County Granges.

Referred to Committee on By-Laws.

Bro. McCoy, of Warren, moved that this Thursday evening be
set apart for a lecture from Worthy Master Golder, on the
Secret Work of the Order. Carried.

Delegates from Ogle county, moved the following resolution

which was adopted:

Resolved, That no delegate be allowed to go home before the close of this
session of the Grange, without a good excuse and by the consent of the
Master.

A resolution in relation to changes in the by-laws, was offered
and referred to Committee on By-Laws.

Bro. T. J. Upchurch requested that a deputy be sent to the
counties of Gallatin, Saline, Williamson and other counties in
the southern part of the State, to lecture to Granges upon the
Good of the Order.

Referred to Committee on Good of the Order.

Sister Vose, of Lake county, offered a resolution on temper-
ance.

Referred to Committee on Temperance.

Bro. Starkey offered a resolution recommending the Commit-
tee on Mileage to deduct one-half day from each member, per
diem.

Referred to Committee on Mileage and per diem.

Bro. Lewis, of Pope count}^ offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That we as a Grange, take no political action. Referred to
Committee on Good of the Order.

Motion made and carried, that the rules be suspended.
Motion made, and carried, that the Master appoint a com-
mittee of five on Salaries.
The Master appointed as such committee:

Bro. Samuel Reed, of Logan county; Bro. A. Woodford, of Whiteside
county ; Bro. A. H. Wing, of Fayette county ; Bro. John Prickett, of Fulton
county ; Bro. L. L. Wilcox, of Hancock county.

Motion made and carried, that the Committee on Salaries re-
port immediately after the report of Committee on By-Laws.

Bro. Prickett, of Fulton county, offered a resolution in regard
to text books for our public schools.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 23

Referred to Committee on Good of the Order.

The report of Treasurer was read and referred to Committee
on Finance.

Bro. Alexander asked to be excused from serving on Commit-
tee on Good of the Ol'der, and that Bro. B urges be substituted
in his place.

Request granted.

Bro. Frew, the State Purchasing Agent, made the following
report, which, on motion, was referred to Committee on Good
of the Order:

Worthy Patrons:

In presenting this, my second annual report, I will preface
my remarks by saying, that owing to severe family afflictions
for more than two months past, I have to omit considerable
statistical intormation 1 would like to have gathered, but as I
understood much of it would be embraced in other reports to be
made here, I gave the matter but little attention.

As soon as possible after the last meeting of the State Grange,
I issued my Coufidential Circulars and Price List to the Granges
for 1875. Owing to the lateness of the meeting, it was impos-
sible to place this circular in the hands of Secretaries in time
for them to secure the best advantages in ordering implements
for Spring work. They were mailed by our Worthy Secretary,
with printed matter he was sending out, to economize in the
matter of postage, he too having the only complete mailing
list.

None but those who have attempted to prepare such work for
the printer, can realize the many tedious and annoying deten-
tions that retard the work. Manufacturing companies have
their meetings at regular times as do the Granges, and when any
special understanding is wanted, it is not unfrequently the case
that it is necessary to wait until their regular meeting, or the
return from a journey of an important member of the com-
pany. It is very important that a fair understanding is obtained
before publishing terms all over the State, otherwise great diffi-
culties and dissatisfaction arise.

The first part of the year my time was fully occupied in
answering correspondents in regard to inquiries for implements
and machinery. I congratulate myself upon the fact, that in
almost every instance seeming satisfaction was given, and I here
tender my thanks to the members of the Order for their kind
forbearance while awaiting my replies.

It will be observed that some manufacturers slightly advanced
their prices above what they offered last year. It is evident that

24 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

as a general tliinsr manutacturers did not realize the patronage
in Illinois they had in other States that were working under
systematic purchasing. I attribute the rise in prices mainly to
this.

Immediately after the meeting of the State Grange there was
an encouraging interest manifested among the Granges nearly
all over the State. I was glad to hear of the appointing of
County Agents in many places. In February there were but
32 agents who had reported to me, while about May 66 had
reported. About the middle of June I sent out a list of ques-
tions to these agents, asking if they had sample-rooms? If so,
what size? What amount of capital invested? How the money
was raised? What quantity of goods purchased during the
year? What amount saved? What are future prospects? I
received favorable answers from but 2'J:. 11 reported no rooms
or capital, and the balance made no report, or else that the
enterprise had been abandoned. In a few instances their busi-
ness was wholly in the hands of some of their home merchants.

In summing up this state of affair^, I rejiorted to the Execu-
tive Committee that I could but regard the system of county
agencies a failure, working as they were.. By referring to my
report of last year, you will remember I was compelled to report
the work a failure in this department owing to discordant ele-
ments in the Executive Committee. I freely confess that when
you made me your almost unaniTnous choice for the present year,
I accepted the position with much pleasure, believing that with
the experience T had acquired, together with the co-operation of
the new Executive Committee the record of the past year could be
wiped out and a healthy trade inaugurated. that Avould impart a
new life to the Order. But. while such were ray anticipations, I
am sorry to say I am compelled to report my fond hopes blasted,
knowing well that the business stands in no better condition
than it did a year ago. It is true in some counties they have
their Grange stores, but they are every one working separately,
not two counties in the State co-operating.

I will state some of the causes of failure, the first of which is:
that about three-fourths of the delegates to the last meeting of
the State Grange had so little interest in the work that they
left for home before plans were matured for this most important
department in the Order. Consequently there was no alterna-
tive other than for the work to fall back into the hands of the
Executive Committee with what results experience shows. Until
the Subordinate Granges are careful in sending representatives
that will remain to finish uj) their work, just so long will they have
to abide by the consequences. In view of these facts, therefore,
I urge every delegate to remain until the last click of the gavel
announces the closing of the Grange.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 25

The theory of the majorit}' of the Executive Committee for the
piist two years has been that county agents are sufficient for the
work. Consequently thry liave had little interest in the State
Agency. If they had devised a plan for county agents and
made the same known by circular or otherwise to the Granges of
the State, the result might have been better.

As it was. however, .you all looked to the State Agency for
assistaucf. knowing there was one, and also that the proceed-
ings of the last State Grange showed that arrangements were
made for sustaining that department. Failing to obtain the
advantages you had a right to expect, not knowing the causes
of disiippointnient. many have been discouraged. The theory of
running .separate and independent agencies has proved a failure
in every State where it has been tried, and an effort to manage
our trade in this way has done more to weaken our strength
than anj' other one influence. The fact that there is no combi-
nation among our agents, entirely destroys everything that
bears an}' semblance to the co-operation taught by our Order.
While there are stores called " County Grange Stores," they
are. almost without an exception, nothing but private enter-
prises, and supplying their stock of goods from dealers, the
same as the local trade does, and at about the same prices, the
only difference being that the trade is carried on by other parties
than it used to be. This is not changing our old system. It is
not building upon permanent foundation. It only places us
upon a level with the usual competition in trade, and subjects
our inexperienced agents to all the petty annoyances of adepts
in the business. Those members of the Order who are held by
no other motives than pecuniary benefits, soon discover they
can purchase as cheaply one place as another, and therefore soon
leave the Grange. They are then lost to the wholesome impres-
sions made upon those inside the gates. We cannot af^'ord to
spare them. They are nt^eded both numerically and Hnancially.

Another important feature in regard to the so-called Grange
stores, is that they very generally suppl}' their stock of goods
from all sources, irrespective of the Rings that are our avowed
enemies. This fact was developed largely at the meeting of
County Agents at Ottawa in September. With one or two
exceptions, they said they dealt in iui|)lements, etc.. etc., from
the manufacturers who are associated against us. It was also
noticeable that where County Agents were supplying themselves
from these same parties, to some they made one price and to
others another, just in proportion to the trade offered, develop-
ing the theory that by co-operation in purchasing we can invari-
ably do better. This practice is wrong, and is in direct opposi-
tion to the i)rinci|)les of our Order. WIkmi last year I. through
a mistake, happened to get the name of y//<' member of the Ring

26 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

on my price list, much dissatisfaction was expressed. What do you
now think of the County Agencies laying in whole stocks from
them ? If the test of fidelity is based upon the precepts laid down
by the State Grange two years ago, I dou!)t if there are more than
three or four Grange stores of the Patrons of Husbandry in
Illinois. I, in obeying the directions of the State Grange, could
not purchase their selection of implements if the orders had
been sent to me.

There is an all-important principle involved in this that you
must decide at this time. Whether we shall stand by our first
pledges to patronize those who came to us in the hour of need,
or abandon our true friends when the prejudices of some of our
members call for the forbidden fruit. If we depart from our
first principles we forfeit all claim to future confidence, while
on the other hand, if we decide to hold to our first declaration of
principles, we condemn the action of the county agencies. For
my part, I Avould urge the maintenance of the true foundation
first laid down, and would patronize those only who recognize
us as a Worthy Order, and desire to obtain our trade only through
the legitimate channels of the Order. They should not be
accepted as loyal to our cause until they offer fair prices through
the State Agent, and allow him to publish terms and sell to
Patrons thi-oughout the State.

If we unite our orders your State Agent can offer a trade that
will command respect, and insure prices vastly lower than have
yet been offered. To illustrate. I was told by a manufacturer
that a 14 inch double-shin turning plow does not cost over $8.50
to manufacturers. Presuming that the manufacturer should have
a profit of 50 per cent., we could pay it and still have a margin
of from $2.00 to 82.50 inside of the best wholesale cash prices
yet offered. On the quantity of plows bought from one firm
alone this year, at these rates, we could have saved $10,000.
The same principle holds good in every article used in the house
or on the farm.

If there had been monthly communications from your leaders
to the Subordinate Granges, there would be more life among the
members. The almost unbroken silence of the chosen leaders
for the past year has had a bad influence. I have insisted upon
a change in this respect, hoping the Executive Committee would
furnish this means of imparting information that I believe should
be constantly sent out Ijy them in connection with the Secre-
tary and State Agent.

This is the practice in other States, and there is probably no
other better means of keeping up that spirit of enterprise, unity
and success, we so much need.

Failing in my efforts to open communication with you in this
way, I applied to the editors of the Prairie Farmer and Western

STATE ORANGE OF ILLINOIS. 27

Farm Journal for the free use of their columns to circulate
necessary instruction in regard to the interests of this depart-
ment, which they very kindly granted. Had ir not been for
this, this department too must have been unheard from.

Another cause of failure was, that I had no place for the trans-
action of business except my own residence. Of course then I
could not handle a line of goods. Had I been located at Chi-
cago or St. Louis with facilities for the transaction of business,
I could have had a stock of implements from at least many
manufacturers, to be paid I'or as sold. I would recommend that
hereafter Chicago or East St. Louis be made the headquarters of
this department. A warehouse should be procured and business
transacted in a business way. If goods were furnished to county
agents and members of the Order at an advance of about two per
cent., it would go far towards defraying the expenses of the
agency, and at the same time, if they would lay in their sup-
plies from that source, the trade would be so immense that they
could still purchase lower than at present. There would not be
a local agent in the State that could begin to compete with us.
Another feature developed at the meeting of agents at Ottawa
was, that the same jealousies existing among local agencies was
manifest there, they being afraid to speak freely about the prices
paid for stock. Such a state of affairs does not speak well of
that system.

If we were prepared for it, we could have a very extensive
trade with the Granges in the Eastern and Southern States. I
have frequent calls from them for flour, corn, bran, and other
feed, but am obliged to say, in answer, that we are not in a situ-
ation to co-operate with them. The Granges south would take
our corn and oats and give us sugar, rice, molasses, and coffee in
return. There is not a State in the Union where these arrange-
ments can be as satisfactorily made as in Illinois. We are
geographically situated where all important lines of transpor-
tation North and South, East and West, traverse our State in all
directions, to say nothing of the unparalleled advantages of
water transportation. If we uUl we aai make our State one of
special benefits and blessings that will enrich ourselves and flow
out on all sides to others, who will rise up and bless us for it.
Then let us not bury our talents or keep them laid up in
napkins.

I am frequently asked how co-operative stores under county
agencies can be most successfully operated. As a general thing
I would say, first organize a company under the law of the State,
regulating corjjorations. This being done, open books for a
subscription to a cash capital of not less than $3,000. Let the
shares be §10 each, and allow any member to take as many as
ten, but no more. This brings it within the reach of all, ami at

28 ~ PROCEEDINGS OF THE

the same time prevents a monopoly. Allow none but Patrons
to become subscribers. Select the best business man j^ou have
among you for an agent, and pay him a salary, but never a com-
mission. It will also be far better to pay a good agent high
wages, than take an unfitted one for nothing. Lay in 3'our
stock of goods through the State Agency. Sell to all persons
at an advance of 10 per cent. When selling to a stockholder,
give him a ticket indicating the amount. When at the close of
the quarter, half year or year, you are read}' to announce a divi-
dend, pay your stockholders 10 per cent, interest, and divide
the balance among the purchasers in proportion to the amount
their purchase tickets indicate. Upon no condition depart from
strictly cash transactions. B3' applying to the Secretary of
State, copies of the "Act Concerning Corporations," together
with the necessary blanks to proceed in the organization and
incorporation can be obtained. The whole work can be accom-
plished at a cost to not exceed about $15.00

These co-operative stores, managed under the principles of
our Order, are indispensable. Unless, however, they co-operate
in purchasing, they weaken rather than strengthen the interests
of the Grange. Neither do I consider thatone in each county
or district is sufficient. We must occupy the entire ground.
From each central store let there be branches. If we leave any
place unoccupied where implements are sold, we leave our mem-
bers there to be fleeced, to compensate the enemy for the loss
sustained at points where our stores compel them to cut prices.
It is an easy matter for merchants to thus assist each other, and
I am informed, upon good authority, they are doing so. If we
thus establish county stores and their branches, it facilitates the
work of concentrating orders for the State Agency. With
ordinar}'^ business tact it will be found a profitable investment.
This, in the main, is the popular and successful '' Rochdale
Plan."

It will be remembered that in my circular letter accompany-
ing my " Confidential Price List for 1875," I informed the Pat-
rons I would fill orders for them where they had no county
agent. Daring the first quarter I filled orders to the amount of

$ 160.76, saving S 100.80

Second 1.900.99, '' 842.65

Third 727.48, '' 401.10

Fourth 1.260.15, " 555.25

84.049.38 $1,899.70

This saving does not include freights. I had no wa}' of ascer-
taining what difference it would make. To this I might add at
least §2,000 worth of orders I received for plows and cultivators
last Spring, for which the cash did not accompany the order, and

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 29

I returned them to the parties ordering, quoting prices, and
directed them to send uiy accompanying order with the cash
directly to the factory, that tliey might receive their goods in
time for Spring work. I might also add -i<4,(M)() worth of orders
1 held for harvesters I could not supply on account of the parties
oti'ering the Marsh Harvester, recalling their proposition. I also
had a call for 3,0(»0 bushels of clover seed, wanted by tlu- Vnt-
rons of Michigan, that I could not supply. This would, in all,
have amounted to nearly '^30,000 more trade had I been so situ-
ated as to be able to handle their business.

it will be remembered that at the last meeting of the State
Grange I had a matter of claim for services rendered, which
claim was referred back to the E.Kecutive Committee for settle-
ment. They allowed me 'S2.(KI per day instead of '^^2.50, as was first
promised, leaving it $65.62} short of the amount of bill. In
addition to this, they claimed that the salar}' voted the State
Agent at the htst meeting of the State Grange (see page 41 of
the Proceedings) was to cover all expenses for work done, travel-
ing, printing, postage and stationery. Knowing full well that
it could not be done for that amount, and knowing full well, too,
that such was not the intention of the Grange, I refused to
undertake the work. They then said they would pay $2.50 per
day for the time employed, and expenses. Rather than desert
the position to which you called me, I determined to do the best
I could under the circumstances. I worked as faithfully a.s I
knew how. Up to May I had not traveled any excejjt to
Bloomington to meet the committee, where this business was
transacted. I. on the -ith of M;iy, met the committee at Cham-
paign and asked the privilege of going to St. Louis and taking
into the line of other manufacturing towns between that and
Chicago, for the purpose (jf making the personal acquaintance of
some with whom we were dealing, and endeavor to inHuence
them to furnisii our count}- stores with samples. They would
not acquiesce in this proposition, but, on the contrary, directed
me to incur no exi)ense beyond that of correspondence. Thus
cut off from the possibility of working up your interests fis I
thought best to succeed, and being directed to issue but one cir-
cular during the year, there was no alternative other than to do
the best I could at home.

I was also told at the same time that the suggestions I made
in regard to us getting into frequent and constant communi-
cation with you, were not wanted — that all my monthly reports
were to contain was ic/uif I ii<(s doing. I then applied to the
editors of the Prairie Fanner and Western Farm Journal for
the free use of their columns to communicate such information
in regard to new terms offered us. together with such other
instruction a.s might be needed from time to time. Both these

30 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

journals were kindly opened to me. To them, then, you owe a
debt of gratitude. Since then I have not traveled any except to
the meeting of county agents at Ottawa in September, and to
the present meeting.

At the meeting of the committee about the last of September,
they passed a resolution requiring all the expenses of the State
Agency, for work, postage, stationery, etc.. to not exceed $5.00
per week, giving economy as the reason. With the work that
came to me I could not obey strictly this mandate, and was
obliged to put in more time and expend more money. I, how-
ever, obeyed as closely as I thought safe, yet had to let much
work go by unattended to.

I am well aware that any proposition that comes before us
clad in the robes of ecouinny, goes far toward covering up
faults, and making it popular. It is easily crowded past, and
we hasten on to the next matter when it would have been wis-
dom to have stopped and considered it well. If, in these
instances, economy was the true plea, it is among the inexpli-
cable mysteries Avhy they failed to put the same construction
upon their own salaries and contingent expenses. If, indeed,
the State Grange is so near bankrupt that it has to repudiate its
own contracts, I recall all I have said, and with the same sacred
and heartfelt devotion I have ever cherished for this noble insti-
tution, I come and lay my humble oifering in the shape of cur-
tailed remuneration for labor on the altar and depart in peace,
trusting that there will be magnanimity enough on the part of
all who have financial interests at stake to come and do likewise.

During the year I have received for m}' labor, up to the lith
of this month $492.50, and for expenses for printing, postage,
stationery, traveling and exchange paid on money forwarded,
$286.25, making a total of $760.75. Laboring under these dif-
ficulties, and being unable to bring about a reformation in the
system so unwisely forced upon us, I feel it my duty to say in vin-
dication of myself I am not to blame for the thousands of dol-
lars lost to the Patrons of Husbandry in Illinois during the
past year.

I would plead with you to not leave this State Grange until
you are prepared to announce to your constituents that all past
obstructions in the way to receiving full benefits in purchasing
are forever removed. You know there is deadness at home. Let
the representatives here go as missionaries all over the State and
rally our forces.

I would recommend the changing of Sec. 10, Art. 5, of the
By-Laws to read " two years'''' instead of one, for the purpose of
giving your agent a better opportunity to arrange ahead with
manufacturers. Neither can any farmer afford to leave his in-
terests on the farm for but one year.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 31

Aiul now, Worthy Patrons, in conclusion I must say I am
grieved to feel it necessary to report as I have. If, however,
you had confidence in me sufficient to phace nie over these im-
portant interests, you must allow me to give you facts as they are.

By the truth we stand or fall. Nor do T in my criticisms
embrace the entire committee. Thei'e are some grieved as sorely
as I am to see such false constructions put upon the action of
yt)ur last State Grange. There are men among us who can see
business in its true light.

It is now at your disposal. The life or death of the Grange
lies in your hands. Your task is a heavy one, perform your
duty faithfully and well. You inscribe your own record, and
may it be one of honor and fidelity. In retiring from the posi-
tion I have occupied for nearly two years, I would thank you
all for your courtesies ami kindness, and for your forbearance
while I attempted to discharge the duties of my office.

Respectfully and fraternally submitted,

S. J. Frew.

The special order for 10 o'clock being the amendments to the
Constitution of National Grange were called for.
Yeiis and Nays called on No. 8.
Yeas. 89. Nays, 33.
Adopted.

8. Amend Article 2, Section 2, of the Constitution by inserting be-
tween the words "annually" and "at," where they occur in the first line
of said section, the words "or biennially," and by striking out the words
"from year to year," where they occur in the second line of said section.

Adopted.

9. Amend Article 6 of the Constitution by substituting the following
therefore: " Each State Grange shall fix the fee for membership in its
own jurisdiction."

Adopted.

15. Amend Article 5 by adding the following after the word "re-
funded," in the seventh line of said article; "And no petition shall
be received from a rejected applicant until si.x months shall have elapsed
after such rejection."

Rejected.

11. Amend Article 7, Section 1, of tiie Constitution by substituting
therefor the following: "Each member shall pay into the treasury of the
Subordinate Grange to which he belongs a monthly due, to be determined
by the State Grange to which it is attached."

Adopted.

12. Amend Article 7, Section 2, of the Constitution by substituting

32 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

therefor the following : "The Secretary of each Subordinate Grange shall
report quarterly to the Secretary of his State Grange the number of per-
sons initiated since his last report, and also the number who, by death,
expulsion, removal or otherwise, have ceased to be members within the
same time; and shall pay to the Secretary of the State Grange such an
amount of dues on each member and fees for each person initiated during
the quarter as the State Grange maj^ determine; provided that any State
Grange may require such reports and payments to be made through the
Secretaries of the County Granges."

Adopted.

13. Amend Article 7, Section 3, of the Constitution by striking out
the word " ten," where it occurs in the third line of said section, and
inserting in lieu thereof the word "thirty."

Adopted.

14. Amend Article 8, Section 7, of the Constitution by striking out the
word '-one," where it occurs in the first line of said section, and Inserting
in lieu thereof the word "two."

Adopted.

On motion business suspended for one-half hour, to allow
manufacturers who have been dealing with the Granges to ex_
plain their views in regard to the business of the Order. At the
close of their remarks Grange adjourned to 2 o'clock, P. M,

Thuesday Afternoon Session.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment. Worthy Master Golder
in chair.

The Committee on By-Laws reported, recommending many
important changes, which were considered by sections, and some
slight amendments made and the report adopted. They also
recommended the passage of the following resolutions, which
were adopted:

Resolved, That the present form of by-laws for Subordinate Granges be
reprinted.

Resolved, That the Master of the State Grange be and is hereby instructed
to use all honorable means to secure such a change in the Constitution
and By-Laws of the National Grange, as shall make any Fourth Degree
member of our Order in good standing eligible to any position, in either
count}', State or Natronal Grange.

As the by-laws will be printed in pamphlet form and dis-
tributed to the Granges, it is thought best not to encumber the

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 33

proceedings with the full report of this committee. (Secretary.)
The Special Committee on Executive Committee's Report, re-
ported recommending that — that part of the report relating to
the business features of the Order be referred to Committee on
Co-operation, that tiiat part relating to changes in the by-laws
be referred to Committee ou By-Laws. The suggestions relating
to Good of the Order to Committee on Good of the Order.
Report adopted.

Bro. Starr offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by the Worthy Master,
•whose duty it shall be to present a series of resolutions, expressive of the
sense ot this Grange on the hospitable treatment, that we as Patrons of
Husbandry have received from the Patrons and citizens of Champaign.

Adopted.

The Committee on Finance made the following partial report
which was referred to the Executive Committee, with instruc-
tions to make the examination recommended:

To the Worthy Master and Members of the State Grange of
Illinois:

Your Committee on Finance beg leave to make the following
partial report:

Upon examination of vouchers we find that the Secretary has
received the sum of $10,304.85, and has paid out as per receipts
the following amounts, viz.:

To Treasurer of State Grange |8,815.33

For office supplies and rent * 141.93

Postage and envelopes 424 30

Stationery, and express charges 40.96

Printing 884.84

Total $10,304 83

From the best information we can gather upon examination
of the Secretary's books, we estimate there is about thirteen
hundred dollars yet in his hands, but find that we cannot make
a final report until there has been entered upon his books the
balance of the reports received and at his office; and would rec-
ommend that a committee be sent to Sterling to make a careful
and full examination of the books and papers in his office, and

3

34 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

make a complete report and have it printed in the proceedings
of this meeting and sent to each Subordinate Grange.

Signed Erastus J. Clarke, ) Committee

A. W. Ball, [• on

F. B. Walker, ) Finance.

The Finance Committee made the following supplementary

report on Treasurer's books. Adopted.

To the Worthy Master and Members of the State Grange of

Illinois:

Your Committee on Finance would respectfully report that
we have carefully examined the Treasurer's report, in connec-
tion with his books and vouchers, and find the same correct,
and recommend that the report of the Treasurer be adopted.

Erastus J. Clark, J Committee
A. W. Ball, y on

F. B. Walker, ) Finance.

Motion made to instruct the Committee on Mileage and Per
Diem to deduct one dollar from the amount claimed by each
member, on account of the time spent in visiting the Industrial
University. Motion lost.

The Committee on Mileage and Per Diem made an adverse
report on the position of Bro. Starkey, of Hancock county.
Report adopted.

Sister Pauley offered a resolution in relation to the use of
improper language by the Brothers. Adopted.

The Committee on Temperance made the following report
which was adopted: •

Believing that temperance is a cardinal principle of our Order
and that it is enjoined upon the Master of each Subordinate
Grange to let no meeting pass that temperance is not incul-
cated upon the members of his Grange: theretbre, we believe it
expedient that all resolutions concerning it be acted upon.

Mrs. a. M. Pauley, Chr'm.
" M. p. Trott, Secy.

The following resolution offered by Sister Brown, was

adopted :

Resolved, That it be the duty of every Lecturer either of State, Subordi-
nate or District Grange to liave some literary performance at each meet-
ing of his Grange.

Committee on Salaries reported as follows :

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 35

CHAirPATGX, Tll., Dec. lOth, 1875.

Worthy Master and Patrons of Husbandry of Illinois State
Grange : — Your Committee to whom was assigned the duty
of fixing the Salaries of the different Salaried Officers of the
Illinois State Grange would respectfully report after due con-
sideration that

First. That the Master s salary be fixed at $400 and necessary
office expenses.

Second. That the Secretary l)e allowed SoOO and necessary
office expenses.

TJiird. That the Lecturer be allowed $2.50 per daj' for the time
actually spent in the service of the Grange. That his expenses
be paid by Granges desiring his services.

Fourth. That the Treasurer have the use of the money in his
care for his compensatioii.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

By the Committee.

On motion, the report was considered by sections.

Section first considered. Amendment offered to make the
sahuy ^3.00 per day for time actually spent in discharge of the
duties of his office. Amendment lost and Section first adopted.
Reconsideration moved and lost.

Section second. Adopted.

Section third. Adopted.

Section fourth. Motion made to allow one per cent, on all
moneys passing through his hands except v/hat he turns over
to his successor. Amendment to the amendment offered to
strike out one and insert three per cent.

Amendment to the amendment lost.

Amendment lost. ^

Grange adjourned to 7 o'clock P. M.

Evening Session.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment. Worthy Master
Golder in the chair.

Consideration of the Report of Committee on Salaries re-
sumed.

Motion made and carried to recommit that portion relating
to the salary of the Treasurer.

Sister Warren moved a reconsideration of the vote by which
Sec. 2, Art. 2, of the By-Laws, was adopted for the purpose
of offering an amendment. Motion to reconsider carried.

Sister Warren offered an amendment provi'ding that when

36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

any county is entitled to more than one delegate the additional
delegate shall in all cases be a Sister. Amendment adopted.

Section as amended adopted.

On invitation, Bro. S. M. Smith, of Henry County, addressed
the Grange at length.

At the close of Brother Smith's address, the Committee on
Salaries made a Suplementary Report as follows, which was
adopted.

We would recommend that the Treasurer be allowed $300
and necessary office expenses, and that it shall be his duty as
soon, at any time, as enough funds belonging to the Grange
accumulate in his hands to invest the same in Government
Bonds and that the loss or profit arising from such investment
in bonds be the profit or loss of this Grange.

Respectfully submitted.

By the Committee.

The Secretary announced a communication from Messrs. Coon
and Bridwell, of New Orleans, asking to -be appointed commis-
sion agents in that city for the Patrons of Illinois. Referred
to Executive Committee.

On motion, the Grange proceeded to the election of officers
for the term of two years.

A ballot for Master was ordered.

Worthy Master appointed Bros. Trott and VanCourt tellers.
On motion, Bro. Reed was added to the number of tellers.

Motion to adjourn made, and lost.

The result of 1st ballot for Master was as follows:

Bro. Gokler received 34 votes ; Alexander, 15 ; Downen, 19 ; Trott, 1 ;
Joseph, 3; Guy, 14; Wallace, 6; Foster, 5; Lee, 4; VanCourt, 5; Gil-
ham, 1; Sykes, 4; Curtis, 3; Musson, 3; Armstrong, 1; McConnell, 6;
Smith, 1; Forsyth, 7; Patterson, 1.

No choice.

The result of 2d ballot was as follows:

Bro. Golder received 45 votes ; Alexander, 24; Downen, 21; Joseph, 3;
Guy, Ifi; Lee, 2; VanCourt, 2; Sykes, 3; Musson, 1; Armstrong, 1; For-
syth, 7.

No choice.

Grange adjourned to 8 o'clock to-morrow morning.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 37

Friday Morning Session, Dec. 17, 1875.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment, Worthy Master Golder
in the chair.

Balloting for Master resumed.

Result of 3d ballot, no choice.

Result of 4th ballot, no choice.

On the 5th ballot, Bro. Forsyth, of Isabell, Edgar county,
having received a majority of all the votes cast, was declared
duly elected.

On motion of Bro. Foster, the Secretary was instructed to
immediately inform Bro. Forsyth of his election by telegraph, and
request his attendance at the Grange, as soon as possible.

Ballot spread for the office of Overseer.

The result of the ballot was as follows:

Bro. Charles received 1 vote; Foster, 1; Randolph,!; Downen, 67;
Scorington, 5: Linxweiler, 2; Guy, 6; Myers, 5; Clay, 17; VanCourt
1; Layon, 1; Trott, 2; Joseph, 3; Reed, 2; Alexander, 2; Curtis, 1;
Jones, 1; Grammer, 1.

Bro. John Downen, of Industry, McDonough county, having
received a majority of all the votes cast, was declared duly elected
Overseer.

Ballot ordered for the office of Lecturer. The 1st ballot re-
sulted as follows:

Bro. Golder received 25 votes; Lawrence, 13; Curtis, 9; Foster, 5; Lee,
14; Osborn, 5; Wallace, 10; VanCourt, 15; Sykes, 8; Condry, 1; Guy,
2; Keller, 6; Trott, 4; Linxweiler, 1; Logan, 1; Thompson, 1; Sister
Hathaway, 1; Musson, 3; Starr, 1.

No choice.

On the 2d ballot Bro. Golder received a majority of all the
votes cast, and was declared duly elected Lecturer.

A ballot was taken for the office of Steward, and on the 1st
ballot Bro. John Odell, of Champaign, was elected.

The ballot ordered for the office of Assistant Steward, and on
the 3d ballot Bro. R. R. Field, of Thompson, Carroll county,
was declared duly elected.

Bro. L. F. Farnham, of Warren, JoDaviess county, was
duly elected Chaplain on the 1st ballot.

Bro. John S. Armstrong, of Sheridan, LaSalle county, was
declared elected Treasurer on the Ist ballot.

38 • PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Bro. Keller was appointed a committee of one to wait on Bro.
Armstrong and inform him of his election, and request him to
accept the office.

Motion made to adjourn, and lost.

Motion made to suspend the rule. Lost.

Ballot ordered for Secretary.

The first ballot resulted in no choice.

Order of business suspended, and a communication received
from Champaign county Grange, extending an invitation to
this Grange to hold its next annual meeting in the city of Cham-
paign.

Referred to Executive Committee.

Grange adjourned to 1 o'clock P. M.

Friday Afteristoon" Session".

Grange met according to adjournment, Worthy Master in the
chair.

Special order resumed.

Balloting for Secretary continued.

On the 3d ballot Bro. J. M. Chambers, of Freeport, Stephen-
son county, was elected.

Proceeded to ballot for Gate-keeper. Bro. J. F. Randolph, of
Canton, Fulton county, was elected on 1st ballot.

The Grange proceeded to the electioii of lady officers with
the following result:

Sister L. D. Edwards, of Franklin Crossing, Rock Island coun-
ty, was elected Ceres.

Sister B. .J. VanCourt, was elected Pomona.

Sister W. C. Trott, was elected Flora.

Sister T. L. Myers, was. elected L. A. S.

Motion made to suspend the rule for the purpose of offering
an amendment to the B3^-Laws. Motion lost.

Motion made and carried, that the rule be suspended.

Motion made to approve the course of the Executive Com-
mittee. Motion carried.

Bro, G, W. Patton moved to amend the By-Laws by restor-
ing the original of Section 5, Article 8, except the word Secre-
tary in the fourth line.

Bro. Lee offered a substitute for Bro, Patton's amendment in

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 39

effect that the Executive Committee consist of three members.
The considenition made tlie special order for 7 o'clock P. M.

Regular order of business resumed.

The Committee on Appeals and Grievances, made the follow-
ing report:
To Worthy Master (tnd Members of this Grange:

We, the Committee on Grievances, beg leave to submit the
following report:

1st. In the case of Samuel Taylor, of Paradise Grange, No.
604, Ford county, claiming to be unlawfully expelled from said
Grange, your committee, after due consideration, on account of
informality and want of proper evidence, we would, therefore,
recommend that the whole matter be referred back to Paradise
Grange, and that the master of said Grange be officially notified
to grant the brother a new trial according to law, within thirty
davs after receiving such notice.

2d. In the case of Pliiinview Grange, No. 685, claiming pay
for their Master's attendance on the meeting of the State Grange
at Bloomington, in December, 1873:

For 3 days in attendance $6.00

For travel, 140 miles 5.G0

Total $11.60

We recommend that the above claim be allowed.
All of which is respectfully submitted.

T. F. Strunk, ^
D. P. Keller,
T. D. Porter, }■ Coniniittee.
R. R. Field,
T. A. Barber, J
Report adopted.

The Committee on Resolutions offered the following:

'WnEUE.\s, The State Gransre, now in session, is largely indebted to the
citizens and Patrons of the city and county of Champaign for their hospi-
tality and liberality:

Resolved, That in the offer of this comfortable and commodious hall for
our use, gratuitously, we recognize their appreciation of the correctness of
our principli's and their value to the human family, and that we assure
them that we value this appreciation as highly as we most assuredly do
their liberality.

Resolved, That the hotels and board ing-hou.ses which have reduced their
rates to the members of this Grange, have, by that action, shown that they

40 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

understood our position and the benefits of cordial relations between pro-
ducer and consumer.

Resolved, That our visit to the State Industrial University was replete
with instruction and enjoyment. That to the regent, professors and
pupils we extend our warmest thanks for their cordial politeness and the
readiness and patience with which they answered our inquiries. That we
take pleasure in a-isuring them that our faith in the practical value of the
institution has been greatly increased by our visit, and that we can but
hope that it will redound to the mutual benefit of the University and the
agriculture and the agriculturists of our beloved State ; and that to each
and all who have contributed to our happiness, comfort and instruction,
we return our heartfelt thanks.

Your Committee recommend that the Secretary be requested
to transcribe these resolutions, and send a copy to the Regent
of the University, and to the papers of this city for publication.
All of which is respectfully submitted.

C. A. Staer, )
A. C. Warner, > Committee.
A. B. Aiken, )
On motion, it was resolved that the Fifth Degree be conferred
immediately after the installation of officers.

The Committee on Good of the Order, made the following
report, which was adopted.

Worthy Master^ Sisters and Brothers:

Your Committee on Good of the Order, beg leave to present
the following report:

After taking into consideration the vast amount of work and
the short time allowed, and the want of the proper information
from which to obtain the facts and figures, we ask you to accept
the following resolutions and suggestions, as our report;

First. That it is very essential to the prosperity of the Order,
for this Grange to practice what it preaches.

Second. We would call the attention of Masters of Subordinate
Granges, to the fact that it is their duty to use all proper means
at their command to make the social and educational features of
the Grange, both interesting and instructive, that on this, in a
great measure, rests the success of the Grange movement, and
after a careful examination of the business arm of the Order,
your Committee heartilj' concur in the recommendation made by
the Executive Committee, that there be joint stock companies
established for the purchase and sale of implements and supplies.

Third. And we would suggest, that the Masters of Subordinate
Granges, who compose this Grange, bring the fact to the notice
of their members, that the cash or ready pay system, is the pillar

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

41

of strength in this beautiful Temple of ours, and that the credit
system is the highwayman who robs us of our manhood, and the
tyrant that binds us as the veriest slave. ,

Fourth. We would also call your attention to the subject of
educating the sons and daughters of the farmers, and that this
education should be such as would prepare them to better fill
their stations in life, and to this end we would recommend the
Industrial University, of Illinois, as one of the institutions
deserving our patronage.

Your Committee are of the opinion that the Patrons of the
great State of Illinois, should establish a general newspaper,
owned and controlled by the producing class, with an editoral
staff of sufficient ability to discuss any, and all questions pertain-
ing to their interests, and one that should not be under the con-
trol, or influenced by trade or commerce, but one that by its
teachings should educate, elevate and fit us to occupy the posi-
tion that rightfully belongs to us, which is the highest and
nol)lest, because of its God given origin.

Resolution No. 20, is already provided for in the by-laws, and
also that the sign of distress is also provided for in the Secret
Work.

Resolution No. 22, in regard to text-books, your committee
would recommend that County Grange, to take the matter under
consideration.

All of which your committee would respectfully submit for
your consideration.

Sister Reed,

Sister Warren,

G. W. Burges. \ Committee.

J. K. Burt, |

L. G. Fish, J

Bro. Alexander, Guy and Musson, ofiFered the following, which
was accepted:

We, the members of the State Executive Committee, whose
terms of office do not expire until next year, most respectfully
hereby offer our resignations.

A. J. Alexander.
R. M. Guy, [ Committee.

C. Musson.
Motion to adjourn lost.

Communication from R. H. Ferguson, of Troy, N. Y., referred
to Executive Committee.

Worthy Master appointed the following committee, to make

arrangements for conferring the Fifth Degree:

Bro. Edwards, )

Bro. Woodford, >- Committer.

Sister Warren, ) i

42 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

The Executive Committee were instructed to select such por-
tions of S. M. Smiths address as they may think best, and pub-
lish th^ same, vrith those of Sidney Myers, Hon, W. C. Flagg,
Dr. G. M. Gregory, and Mrs. S. M. Smith's poem in the pro-
ceedings of this Grange.

Dec. 17, 1S75.

Tour Auditing Committee would respectfully submit the fol-
lowing accounts, and recommend the payment of the same:

S. J. Frew, to service in attendinff State Granse, Dec. 15 and

16. 1S75 .^ 15.00

Hotel bills for same time 4.00

$9.00
For printing and reporting lectures $4.25

G. W. Maesh. )
W. W. Hutching, f

Comtnittee.

VV . XlLXLMJJNtr, )

Adjourned to 7 o'clock, P. M.

Fkiday EvEjfLi»G Session.

Grange met pursuant to adjournment.

Worthy Master Golder in the chair.

Motion made and carried, that the whole matter relating to
by-laws be laid upon the table.

The Grange now proceeded to the election of Executive Com-
mittee.

Bro. A. J. Alexander, was elected member of Executive Com-
mittee for two years, upon first ballot.

Bro. D. N. Foster, was elected member of Executive Com-
mittee for two years, upon first ballot.

Bro. T. M. Guy, was elected member of Executive Committee
for one year, upon second ballot.

Bro. C. X. Anderson, was elected member of Executive Com-
mittee for one year, upon first ballot.

Your Committee on Co-operation respectfully beg leave to
report :

That they have duly considered the resolutions, reports, etc.,
committed to their attention, and in view of the great import-
ance of enlarging the work of co-operation in this Order, in
which we believe the very existence and life of the Order depends,
we, therefore, recommend that in every county, where the same
is practicable, joint stock companies be organized under the laws
of the S^ate, making the shares in small sums of not less than

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 43

$10.00 (the lowest provided by law), distributing them among
the greatest possible iiimiber: and the selection of competent
and faithtiil members of the Order, as agents, who should be
required to give good and sutficient bonds for the honest per-
formance of the duties assigned them. Such agents to be paid
fair remunei-ation for their services, either by salary or com-
mission as may be deemed best.

We also recommend the establishment in counties and dis-
tricts of Stock Associations or marts for the sale and exchange
of live stock and other products of the farm.

We recommend the establishment of a General Agency in the
city of Chicago under the supervision of the Executive Committee
with power to appoint said agent, remunerating him with a salary
or commission. Requiring him to give good and sufficient bonds
for the faithful performance of the duties assigned him and for
the safety of property and moneys in his hands belonging to
members of the Order, as individuals, or belonging to joint
stock associations employing him. Such firms in Chicago or
St. Louis who have complied with the requirements of the
Executive Committee in handling consignments of members of
the Order satisfactorily, are hereby commended to your kind
consideration.

Lack of ojjportunity and time have prevented your committee
from giving such further consideration to the matters referred
to them as was desired by us.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

G. W. Curtis.

Wm. Pool.

L. D. Edwards. y Committee.

G. W. Green.

E. G. Pattersox,

The following resolution was adopted:

Resolved, That the Banking House of D. Gardner & Co., of Champaign,
and also their clerks are entitled to the kindest consideration of this State
Grange, for keeping open their bank late, beyond business hours, for the
purpose of paying the checks of our treasurer, thus enabling many mem-
bers to reach their homes the earlier.

Resolved, That a copy of the above resolution be handed to the papers
of Champaign for publication.

The following resolution was adopted:

Resolced, That the State Grange of Illinois hold in high esteem, the
characteristics which have led our worthj- brother, S. M. Smith to labor so
indefatigably in behalf of the industrial classes and admire his courage
in battling with every form of oppression.

Bro. C. A. Starr oiFered the following:

44 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Resolved, That that part of the report of the Executive Committee con-
sisting of the plan submitted by the Committee on Life Insurance be
printed in a circular form and sent to every Grange in the Slate, with the
request that each Grange act upon it and report said action to the Secre-
tary of the State Grange.

Adopted.

Motion made to divide the money donated to the State Grange
by the National Grange, among the Subordinate Granges.
Tabled.

Moved by W. H. Green, that the money be put in the hands
of the Executive Committee to be used for business purposes as
they may think best. Carried.

The following was read by Sister Green:

Worthy Master and Patrons:

I did not come here expecting to make a speech to this honorable
body, but I did come here expecting to hear many suggestions for the
Good of the Order. I know your time is limited and has been fully occu.
pied so far, but I certainly think one hour ought and should be devoted to
this one particular object.

I feel the necessity of this more since hearing the address of Bro. Smith
last night, telling us of the fearful falling off of our members. We must
not let the Grange die, we will not let it die.

Sisters, I appeal to you to help more in the work, as some ladies have
done in the Temperance cause. I have heard some ladies say we never
get time to say anything in the Subordinate or Countj' Granges. The men
take all the time. I will admit that men are one kind of monopoly but
we do not want to put them down, but we want an equal chance with
them.

Now we will tell you how you can get the time. When the time of your
monthly meeting comes around you find a lunch and take it along and
stay the whole daj-, and if needs be, the whole night, too.

In addition to this, T would ask those members that can talk, to visit
the weaker Granges and encourage them to greater action.

A vote of thanks was given Sister Green, and it was or-
dered that her paper be printed in the proceedings.

Sister Vose, of Lake county, offered the following:

Resolved, That the use of tobacco is detrimental to the health, both
mental and physical, of man, and its common use a filthy habit, especially
in fouling the floors of rooms used by assemblies of both sexes; render-
ing them offensive to the senses, and soiling the garments of its occu-
pants.

Resolution adopted.

The following, offered by Sister Fauley was adopted:

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 45

Wc, the members of the Illinois State Grange of December, 1875, consid-
ering the thousands of lives that are sacrificed j-early from strong drink,
and tlie hundreds of millions of dollars our country is poorer from its use,
regard with alarm not only the increase of intemperance, but other
immoralities, do pledge ourselves to work earnestly for the suppression of
those vices which are becoming almost common and threaten the destruc-
tion of our Government.

On motion, the following resolution was adopted:

lieaolved, That the practice which prevails throughout our country of
one person treating another to spirituous or malt liquors, is the greatest
curse of intemperance amongst the young men of our country , and we
would earnestly recommend that every member of this Order use his or
her influence against the above named practice.

Also the following, offered by Sister Brown:

Resolved, That no person in the habitual use of intoxicating spirits shall
hold any office in either National, State or Subordinate Grange.

Also the following, offered by Bro. Vose:

Revolted, That a committee be appointed to report at the next meeting
of the Grange such legislative action as may be necessary for our interest
both in the State and National legislature.

Special order of business taken up.

The Worthy Master proceeded to exemplify the secret work
of. the subordinate degrees of the Order.

The following resolution was offered by Sister Lovitt, and

adopted :

Revolted, That the Brothers of this Grange be requested to refrain from
any expressions of temper on this floor.

The following resolution was offered and adopted:

Resolved, That the monej* received from the National Grange be depos-
ited in the treasury of this Grange, subject to the order of the Executive
Committee.

The following resolution was offered by Brother Alexander:

Renolved, That Bros. Foster and Green be allowed ten dollars each for
services as assistant secretaries. Carried.

Friday Evening,
The officers elect were duly installed by Bro. Foster, a.ssi.sted

by Bros. Wallace and Grammer, except the Worthy Master elect,

wiio was not present.

Motion made and carried, that the Worthy Master proceed to

46 PROCZEDIXGS OF THE

confer the Fifth Degree, which was done with the assistance of
Bro. Fc»ster.

Bro. McCJoy offered the following resolution, which was
adopted:

Baelud^ That the thanks of this 5:^:6 Grange be tendered to Worthy
Master Golder for the rerr able manner he has presided over the State
Grange for the last four years.

Bro. Starr ofiered the following resolutions, which were
adopted:

BetoUed, That in oar Tenerable Brother and Worthy Past Masier. Alonzo
Golder, we bare ever fuuod the mental and moral qaalities wonhy of oar
admiration and r^ard, and that we take this opportunity to express to
oor brother oar perstmal and fraternal respecL

BtMlmA, That we treasare his memory in the warmest recesses of oar
hearts, and in parting, assure him of oar continued confidence and esteem.

The retiring Master made a few remarks, thanking the Brothers
and Sisters for their uniform kindness and respect during his
term of office.

On motion of Bro. Starr, a rote of thanks was given Bro.
Foster for the kind, prompt and efficient manner in which he
has discharged all his duties during this session.

Bro. Foster responded in a short address, thanking the mem-
hers of the Grange for the kindness and forbearance with which
he had been treated, and this expression of their approbation:
urging the members, as they left the Grange room, to lay aside
all feelings of ^ jealousy, hatred and bitterness.'* and go forth a
band of true brothers and sisters to battle for the right against
the wrong, until the class to which we belong occupy that posi-
tion in the commtmity to which the importance of our profes-
sion and the results of our labors entitle us.

The Grange adjourned to 8 o'clock to-morrow morning.

Saturday Moexixg Sessiox.

Grange opened at 8 o'clock A. M.. according to adjournment.
Worthy Past Master Golder in the chair.

It having been resolved by the Grange that no legislation
should be had after Friday evening's session, and the Master
elect having arrived. Worthy Past Master Golder proceeded to
install Bro. Forsvth as Master. On taking the chair. Worthy

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 47

Master Forsyth addressed the Grange at some leneth, paying a
high compliment to the retiring Master. Returning thanks tor
the confidence of the Brothers and Sisters expressed in the result
of their ballots, and expressed his hope and confidence in the
ultimate success of the Order, and pledged his best abilities to
the faithtul performance of the duties of the high position to
which the partiality of the Brothers and Sisters had called him.
Grange closed in due form.

0. E. Fanning, Sec'y.

REPORT OF SPECIAL FINANCE COMMITTEE.

Your committee to whom was assigned the duty of examining
the books and vouchers in the Secretary's oflSce, would report that
we have given said books and vouchers a very careful and
thorough examination; have compared the books with the reports
from the Subordinate Grange, received during the year 1875, and
the books with the Secretary's Report for the year 1874, also the
vouchers for the credit side of the account, and we are grati-
fied to be able to say that we believe the finances of the
Grange have been honestly accounted for. Also that the books
have been kept with a commendable degree of accuracy, consider-
ing the nature of the accounts to be kept.

The following exhibit marked (A), will show the amount re-
ceived from each Subordinate Grange during the year 1875. The
one marked (B) the condition of the Secretary's account.

a^

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

49

No. of Amount.
Grange.

1 I

2

3

4 11.94

5

6 22.90

7 lO.oO

8 ToO

9 98.(i:{

10 3M

11 1(5.10

12

13 7.57

14 4.32

15 19.38

IG 1.56

17

18

19 4.20

20 3.30

21

22 21.80

23 12.36

24

25 8.46

26 5.34

27 6.20

28 4.52

29 10.85

30

31 12.16

32 8.70

33 12.53

34

85 32.38

86

37 3 92

38 3 90

39 7.02

40 12.50

41 17 31

42 7.12

43

44 8.52

45 2.61

46 13.36

47

48 3.94

49 12.02

50 10 94

51 11.34

52 8 46

53 3.60

54 10.80

pNo-of Amount.

55 $

".6 2.60

.-)7 9.38

58 13.27

-)<» 10.00

(10 3.24

(il 1.32

(iJ 16.24

63 4.56

64

65 12.46

66 7.00

67 7.41

68

69 10.07

70 21.46

71 19.33

72 2.70

73 13.74

74

75 5.32

76 12.06

78...!.!.!!..' 22.17

79 4 86

80 6.30

81 2.65

82

83 18.00

84 2.40

85

86 6 26

87 8 88

88 7.08

89 7.06

90 7.20

91

92 11.17

})3

94 16.80

95

96 3.72

97 5.76

98 12.86

99

100 6.60

101

102 16.38

lO:; 11.96

104 19.22

105

106 5.65

107

108

109 $17.46

110 6.58

111 20.54

112 16.25

113 6 98

114 9.44

115 3.05

IK) 25.40

117 6.72

lis 890

II!) 24 50

120 1.44

121 7 52

122 1.50

123 9.52

124

125

120 11.00

127 18.08

128

121) 10.74

130 10 64

131 7 20

132 35.88

133 19 63

134 12.75

135 7 06

136 2.28

137

138 6.02

139 180

140 5.38

141 10.18

142 18 85

143 20 88

144 17.36

145

146 5 30

147 6 52

148 21.76

49

150 4.26

151 11.00

152

153 11.10

154 5.40

155 2.85

156 15.60

157 6 52

158 11.50

159 7.95

160 6.71

161 5.76

162 10.32

50

PIIOCEEDINGS

OF THE

No. of

Grange.

Amount.

No. of
Grange.

Amount.

No. of
Grange.

Amount.

163

.... $13.80
.... 4.00

319

. $ 7.73

375

$

164

230

376

.... 5.30

165

'. . . . 8.10

331

333

. 13.00
. 13.75

377

4.60

166

378

167

333

. 6.64

378

168

.... 5.64

334

335

. 15.86
. 9.44

379

... 8 58

169

380

170

.... 10.76

336

. 6.70

381

.... 10.34

171

337

. 9.10

383

.... 7.36

172. . .

.... 7.45
.... 14.69

338

339

. 5.97
. 19.00

383

3 78

173

884

.... 18.83

174

.... 17.20

330

11.68

385

.... 3.54

175

331

. 8.77

386

.... 6.38

176

333

. 8.68

387

.... 13.40

177

333.

388

.... 4.14

178

.... 5.00

334

. 11.17

389

179

.... 24.13

335

. 3.40

390

.... 6.30

180

. . . 7.68

336

391

181

." '. '. '. 3.75

237

. 6.50
. 12.53

393

393

183

238

.... 9.92

183

.... 15.17

239

. 6.53

394

.... 5.15

184

.... 13.00
.... 5.82

340

341

. 7.80
. 7.35

395

185

396

.... 6.30

186

.... 5.44

343

. 9.81 •

397 ... .

.... 2.75

187

243

. 4.34

398

.... 9.90

188

344

. 8.11

299

.... 8.94

189

.... 9.73

345

. 13.59

300

.... 5.64

190

.... 4.25

346

. 33.41

301

.... 11.04

191

.... 4.19

347

. 5.94

303

.... 4.30

192

.... 3.16

348

. 5.04

303

.... 11.94

193

349

. 7.38

304

.... 7.30

194

.... 15.55

350

. 8.34

305

.... 17.94

195

.... 7.93

351

. 6.13

306

.... 15.30

196

.... 19.81

353

. 3.40

307

.... 3.40

197

353

308

198

.... 9.10

354

. 3.88

309

.... 13.44

199

.... 4.08

255

. 6.85

310

.... 14.76

200

.... 25.25

256

. 5.38

311

.... 6.05

201

.... 4.80

257

313

.... 10.33

202

.... 30.97

258

4.33

313

.... 8.15

203

.... 14.92

359

314

204

14 86

360

361

363

6.40

315 .

3.78

205

316

317

206

.... 12.32

207

.... 8.17

363

3.00

318

.... 39.90

208

.... 9.85
.... 5.80

364

365

5.58
7.73

319

5.94

209

330

.... 8.53

210

366

4.98

331

.... 13.56

211

.... 5.05

267

5.08

333

.... 8.95

213

.... 9.95

368

8.88

323

.... 9.03

213

.... 23.19
.... 6.58

369

370

371

10.75

9.83

334

.... 2.80

214

325

7 73

215

336

.... 19.23

216

.... 13.00
.... 4.33

373

9.16
5.39

337

338

10.76

217

373

218

96

374

8.16

339

STATE GRANGE

OF ILLINOIS.

51

No. of

Amount.

No. of

Amount.

No. of

Amount.

Urange.

Grunge.

Grange.

330

.... $

386

.. $

442

.... $ 3 48

331

.... 10.62

387

. . 9.08

443

... 28 29

332

.... 1.98

38S

444

.... 17.86

333

.' ." . '. 13.70

389

390

445

5 85

334

44(i

.... 9.12

335

.... 1.56

391

447

9.10

33(i . . . .

.... 4.15

392

393

. . 9.50
. . 4.27

448

7.10

337

449

.... 4.02

338

.... 10.56

394

450

.... 7.24

331)

.... 4.50

395

. . 9.46

451

.... 8.44

340

396

. . 8.05

452

.... 1.56

341

.... 5.66

397

. . 8.73

453

.... 5.30

342

.... 12.24
.... 8.37
.... 1.50

398

399

. . 10.32
1.20

454

4.80

343

455 . . . .

. . 7.74

344

400

. . 3.90

456

.... 5.42

345

.... 9.18

401

. . 10.66

457

.... 6.24

346

.... 3.84

402

458

.... 43.00

347

.... 15.97

403

. . 2.94

459

.... 8.95

348

.... 14.68

404

.90

460

34!i

.... 12.54

405

. 10 85

401

402

11 57

350

406

. . 2.34

351

2.04

407

408

.. 11.35
. . 1.70

403

404

24 40

352

353

409

. . 0.15

405

. . 10.10

354

.... 12.57

410

406

.... 11.18

355

411

.. 8.15

407

.... 1.20

35(J

.... 3.40

412

. . 4.58

40S

357

.... 5.07

413

. . 3.34

409

. . . . 22 07

358

.... 4.56

414

470

. . . . 12.98

359

.... 6.52

415

. . 3.90

471

.... 28.36

300

'.'.'.. 6.10

416

417

.. 1.50
. . 31.85

472

7.90

301

473

. . . . 10.35

302

.... 10.71

418

474

. . . . 3 85

363

.... 5 91
.... 16.05

41<i

2.70

475

119 10

304

420

476

6.49

305

... 3 48

421

422

. . 21.01
1.40

477

11 23

366

.... 4.20

478

. . . . 2 75

367

.... 5.35

423

479

368

.... 2.04

424

6 80

480

369

.... 15.80
. .. 6.31

425

. . 15 34

481

482

5 30

370

426

.. 7.42

371

.... 2.40
.... 12.49

427

428

'. '. 3.20

483

3.12

372

484

. . . . 13.36

373

429

4 33

485

18 20

374

.... 5.52

430

. . 7.20

486

. . . . 9.62

375

.... 15.41
.... 6.44

431

7.68
9.10

487

488

10 34

376

432

377

433

1.80

489

37H

.... 12.06

434

1.65

490

379

.... 2.30
.... 21.00
.... 10.98

435

436

437

. . 10.00

491

9.00

380

492

2.70

381

493

. .. 9.75

382

.... 9.80

438

7.75

494

19 73

383

.... 10.23
.... 32.33

439

440

. . 7.34
4.20

495 . . . .

10 44

384

496

. . . . 7.44

385

.... 24.02

441

497

52

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

^r'an%. Amount.

498 $

499

500! '.'.'.'...'...'. '. 4.96

501

502 8.48

503 10 04

504 1.20

505 3.47

506

507 23.26

508 7.35

509 3.97

510

511 14.64

5\S.. ......... 13.96

514

515

516....!.'.!!.. 13 92

517 30.57

518 11.58

519 10.14

520

521 1.90

522

523

524

525 6.14

526 36.50

527 11.37

528 6 67

529 2.64

530 5.58

531

532 8.78

538 8.02

534

635 8.04

536 11.92

537 1.56

538 1.67

539 5.50

540 30.25

541

542

543 8.58

544

545

546

547... 6.26

548 13.98

549

550 4.02

551 2136

552 43.56

553 11.99

G^'r^anS. Amount.

554 $ 1.62

555 38.60

556

557

558 7.95

559 13 32

560 2.74

561

562

563 9.72

564

505 10 32

566 4.30

567 8.17

568 17.67

5(59 13.50

570

571 12.00

572 35.24

573 9.06

574 14 52

575 8.50

576

577 23.75

578 1.98

579 3 72

580 16.64

581 9.22

582 6.36

583 13.36

584 9.68

585 13.04

5S6

587 5.53

588 24.54

589

590 1417

591 13.72

592 6.54

593 20.76

594 7.78

595 4 32

596 9.10

597 8.73

598

599 5.28

600

601 12.96

602

603

604 10.88

6U5 6.63

606

607 4.78

608 11.09

609 6.36

610 1 3.60

611

612 2.22

613

614 11.83

615

616 4.50

617 5 32

618 5.74

619 11.20

620 7 61

621 14.76

622 1.75

623 6.91

624 13.02

625 7 62

626 3 26

627 15 96

6.^8

629 , 5.70

630 4 65

631 2.45

632 7.15

633 7.36

634

635 18.00

636 9.56

637 27.79

638 10.91

639 20.56

640

641 3.46

642 9.66

643

644 11.00

645 9.90

646 2.00

647 11.26

648 6.90

649 7.35

650 11.86

651

652 7.97

653 7.14

654 8.70

655 3.86

656 15.20

657 2.00

658 3.84

659 12.10

660 5.34

661 8.25

662 8.28

663 10.30

664 15.24

665 14,34

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

53

Grange. ^— ^•

666 $ 1.68

667 10.19

66b 11.15

669 19.10

670

671 14 93

672 11.40

673 4.10

674 4.80

675 14 10

676 44.10

677 2 GO

678

679

680 4 80

681

682 7 05

683 1140

684 4 02

685 6.25

686 4.98

687

688 8 09

689 10 90

690 11.5G

6'.»1 10 62

692 7.86

693

694 5.28

695

696 9.03

697 14 11

698 5.96

699

700

701 14.45

702 3.00

703 5.98

704

705

706 25.76

707 11.60

708 8.57

709 26.74

710 11.34

711 2.70

712 6.28

713 7.20

714 16.15

715 5.80

716 7.49

717 4.12

718 4.00

719 15.12

720 6 00

721 10.46

Amount.

No. of
GrauRC.

722 $20.42

723 1129

724 39 35

725 6.72

72G 1.50

757

16.84

22.55

13.24

13.44

G.33

17 50

20 61

6 70

900

678

728

729

730

731

732

733

734

735

736

737

738

140............ 15 94

741 14 09

742 11.41

743 19.23

744 17 00

745 19 97

74G G 19

747 8 35

748 7 90

749 2.93

750 5.52

751 I..i6

752 10 44

753 10 60

754 5.04

755 2.52

756

757 10.90

758 7.44

759 11.62

760 4.92

7G] 2 40

7G2 4 30

7G3 13 90

7G4 6.20

7G5 ". ... 3.25

7GG 10.66

7G7 4.38

7G8 15.49

7G9 8.13

770 10.80

771 17.88

772 15 34

773 19.70

774

775

77G 43.64

777 16.92

778 4 38

779 17 52

780 1 8.96

781 135

782 6 60

783 8 40

784 7 93

785 5 9G

786 7.12

787 14 80

788 5.24

789 1.50

790 5.04

791 9.14

rjQ2

19^............ 0.50

794 5 55

795 12 02

796 8.25

797 3 7G

798 12 94

799 5.35

800 2.75

801 13.50

802 11 80

803 10.08

804 12 40

805 8 94

806 10 17

807 15.36

808 11 91

809 4 57

810 11.36

811 2187

812 4.10

813 5 28

814 15.30

815 31.14

816 9.30

817 28.G8

818 10 4G

819 19.37

820 10 92

821 9.78

822 11.26

823 7.G0

824 17.21

825 1GJ4

826 10.85

827 3.95

828 1.90

829 5.76

830 18.84

831 8.28

832 7.11

833

54

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

^"- of Amount.
Grange.

834 $3.9G

835 7.99

830 2.64

837 13.15

838

839 10.02

840 9.02

841 7.25

842 10.71

843 20.40

844 30.64

845 18.08

846 7.92

847 18.38

848 9.67

849 10 02

850 5.76

851 4.95

852 10.00

853 8.02

854 9.80

855

856 11.48

857 3.90

858

859 3.78

860 10.98

861 17.90

862 14.00

863 8.04

864 13.12

805 9.05

866 20.51

867 8.60

868 4.47

809 11.77

870 17.28

871 10.98

872 1.86

873 11.92

874 6.66

875 18.77

876 12.14

877 G.45

878 2.64

879 6,70

880. 7.92

881

882 6.80

883

884 5.75

885 10.86

886 15.55

887 8.50

888 6.00

889 11.84

890 $19,92

891 26.61

892 13.36

893 7 86

894 15.74

895

890 9.28

897 4.98

898 10.51

899

900 24.81

901 10.50

902 11.93

903 20.42

904 6.84

905 14.18

906 5.94

907 9.47

908 4.30

909 35.18

910 7.30

911

912 7.82

913 8.31

914 6 39

915 8.74

916 2.04

917 9.69

918 11.59

919 11.35

920 16.38

921 6.85

922 8.14

923

924 12 25

925 20.45

926 27.00

927 3.24

928 6.89

929 6.12

930 10.48

931 8.58

932 15.80

933 7.84

934 5.41

935 6.52

936 10.42

937 12.32

938 3.00

939 9.47

940 58.03

941

942 10.17

943 1.38

944 3.10

945 1.92

,?°<''' Amount.
Grange. iiiuv/uui.

940 $16.41

947 2.16

948 28.52

949 10.40

950

951 13.14

952 11.06

953

954 13.80

955 9.20

950 7.15

957 8.91

958 13.82

959 15.50

90U 36.95

961

962 8.40

963 23.46

964

965 2.94

960 23.70

907 5.72

908 22.00

909 4.30

970 23.05

971 0.43

972 11.30

973 13.50

974 15.01

975 9.93

970 15 80

977 9.10

978 12.85

979 3.35

980 7.02

981

982 1.80

983 4.26

984 19.77

985 14.92

986 11.84

987 2.10

988 5.12

989 9.06

990 2.76

991 1.26

992 7.62

993 33.63

994 8.15

995 8.43

990 7.51

997 12.88

998 6.50

99!) 4.75

1000 6.72

1001

STATK GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

55

^°- <*'■ Amount.
Grange.

1002 1 5.45

loo;} 3.75

1004 30.94

loor) 90

lOOi; 24.03

1007 21».06

1008 3.13

100!) 24.15

1010 18.42

1011 3.57

1012 12 30

1013 3.G2

1014 11.08

1015 8.02

1010 11.46

1017 5.56

1018 39.43

1019 2.20

lOJO 5.04

1021 4.30

1022 7.76

1023 6.38

1024 8.88

1025

102G 14.13

1027 4.06

1028 13.20

1029

1030 10.24

1031 10 46

1032 4.26

1033 45

1034 5.05

1035 144

1030 2.35

1037 5.20

1038 5.93

10.J9 4.25

1040

1041 8.55

1042 4.65

1043 10.30

1044 2.75

1045

1046 10.95

1047 9.70

104S 3.48

104!) 5.50

1050 12 04

1051 5.64

1052 7.49

1053 8.56

1054 2 44

10.")5 9.62

1056 7.24

1057 12 83

f^rl"/. Amoant.
OrntiKc.

1058 1 3.45

1059 7.32

1060 9.44

1061

1062 7.20

1063 4.29

1004 10.06

1005 15.56

1060 : 8.70

1007 5.68

1008 19.54

1009

1070 2.34

1071 13.79

1072 84

1073 4.23

1074 2.40

1075 8.68

1076

1077 1.68

1078 5.84

1079 7.44

1080 14.60

1081 11.03

1082 7.80

1083 14.04

1084 8.35

1085 23.01

1080 20.30

1087

1088

1089

1090 7.71

1091 9.75

10!>2

10!»3

10!)4 14.30

1095 17.16

10!)6 132

1097 13 80

10i)8 3.59

1099 9.87

1100 26.75

1101 9.26

1102 3 24

1103 24.38

1104

1105 12 79

1106 4 14

1107 9.47

1108 2.92

1109 9.30

1110 38.92

nil 11.91

1112 12.88

1113

Gn:n".o. Amount.

1114 $ 6.56

1115

1116 11.02

1117 !>.78

1118 30.47

1119 19.55

1120 13.75

1121 11.24

1122 1.74

1123 9.66

1124 12.82

1125 4.38

1126

1127 6.60

1128 13.77

1129 5.82

1130 9.60

1131 1.70

1132 32.55

1133 11.23

1134 6.49

1135 10.75

1130 16.75

1137 5.25

1138 2.64

1139 3.50

1140 12 90

1141 1.00

1142 2185

1143 18.50

1144 12.44

1145

1146 4.30

1147 34.58

1148 2 70

1149 12.00

1150 1.56

1151 8.45

1152 3.10

1153 17.05

1154 18.00

1155 3.05

1156 14.90

1157 12.31

1158 15.96

1159 9.50

1160 6.18

1161 15.30

1102 18.14

1103 42.04

1104 12.35

1105 8.50

1106 27.50

1167 10.10

1168 8.32

1169

56

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

GJange. Amount.

1170 1

1171 5.10

1173 19.14

1173 7.08

1174 15.47

1175 14.84

1176 7.1)3

1177 11.26

1178 9.29

1179 4.95

1180 6.84

1181 11.23

1183 6.73

1188 2.40

1184 11.85

1185 14.45

1186 30.37

1187 10.54

1188 5.75

1189

1190 4.34

1191 10.53

1193 8.03

1193

1194

1195 8.50

1196 6.18

1197 4.00

1198 6.73

1199 7.00

1200 10.86

1201 20.34

1203 8.06

1303

1304 8.25

1205 11.23

1206 12.13

1207 3.50

13U8 1.75

1209 3-28

1310 12.55

1311 103

1313 15.90

1313 6-87

1314 5.11

1315 11-65

1316 3.56

1317 10-16

1218 3.34

1319 2375

1330 11.28

1321 10.53

1223 16.40

1323 2063

1224 18.36

1225 33.46

n\?,i Amonnt.

Grange.

1336 ..$ 6.96

1337 14.30

1328 6.60

J229

12m. .'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. 5.93

1331 11.78

1232 3.37

1233 2.88

1334 15.60

1335 4.93

1336 9.43

1337 14.98

1238 3.53

1339 2.34

1240

1241 6.13

1343 6.70

1343

1244

IMo........... 13.33

1346 34.36

1347 11.87

1348 15.98

1349

1350

1251 15.58

1253 1.70

1353

13.54 1.35

1355

1256 8.55

1257

1258 8.66

12.59 15.41

1260

1261

1262 2.29

1263 48.44

1264 5.26

1265 3.28

1266 :....

1267 11.08

1268 18.39

1269 1.20

1270 10.95

1271 10.00

1272

1273 8.00

1274

1275

1276 4.50

1277 10..')5

1278 8.37

1279 6.60

1-280 15.75

1281 8.31

^°- °^ Amount.

Grange. ^"iv^uuv.

1282 $ 6.82

1283 30.51

1284 4 64

1285 1.14

1286 7.38

1287 3.15

1288 8.00

1289 1.80

1290 10.70

1291 20.51

1292 15.10

1293 7.04

1294

1295 2.90

1596

1397 7.10

1398 7.53

1399

1300 13.08

1301 13.33

1303 13.34

1303 8.28

1304 16.55

1305

1306 5.22

1307 3.25

1308 22.07

1309 15.25

1310 2.85

1311 7.50

1312 1.63

1313 8.33

1314 21.37

1315

1316 11.88

1317

1318 3.96

1319 22.13

1320 8.40

1321 15.28

1322 11.75

1323 10.18

1324

1325 5.87

1326

1327

1328 9.81

1329

1330 11.24

1331 5.10

1332 18.79

1333

1334

1335 9.64

1336 7.48

1337 13.11

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS.

57

No. of Amount.
Grange.

vsm $ii.fio

133!) 10.75

1340

1341

1342 10.04

1343 10.04

1344 12.34

1345 7.()8

134(5 2.20

1347 iy.40

1848 3.84

134!)

1350 12.66

1351 8.20

1352 12.56

1353 26.60

1354 16.56

1355 2.64

1356 13.76

1357

1358 82.35

1359 21.74

1360 12.89

1361 3.24

1362

1363 3.60

1364 18.23

1365 17.13

1366 19.25

1367 7.29

1368 2.58

1369

1370 10.28

1371 3.50

1372 5.(t4

1373 17.75

1374 9.15

1375 10.28

1376 5.96

1377

1378 45.15

1379 10.69

1380

1381 6.34

1382 9.20

1383 13.55

1384 27.32

1385 30.12

1386 4.32

1387 4.72

1388 8.82

1389 6.77

1390 13.34

1391 2.75

1392

1393 8 86

5

Amount.

No. of
Gnmge.

1394 f 7.75

1395 4.78

1396 8.76

1397 17.62

1398 3.84

1399 31.44

1400 2.58

1401 24.78

1402 5.41

1403 3.79

1404 38.41

1405 13.28

1406 5.28

1407 23.59

1408 11.08

1409

1410 7.64

1411 6.18

1412 23.50

1413 16.70

1414 11.25

1415 15.63

1416 4.84

1417 5.90

1418 1.56

1419 2.45

1420 2.17

1421 21.60

1422 34.40

1423 7.06

1424 24.52

1425

1426 8.45

1427 10.94

1428 5.81

1429 13.60

1430

1431 6.18

1432 9.95

1433 9.84

1434 27.25

1435 9.04

1436 11.74

1437 ....• 23.16

1438

1439

1440 4.55

1441 8.13

1442 3.10

1443 8.79

1444 7.58

1445 9.86

1446 1.15

1447 2.40

1448 23.53

1449 15.84

No. of A „„.,-»
Grunge. Amount.

1450 $ 8.06

1451 4.56

1452 11.55

1453

1454 5.00

1455 35.35

1456 21.60

1457 7.35

1458 5.05

1459 10.41

1460 8.66

1461 9.95

1462 19.94

1463 85

1464 8.58

1465 32.15

1466 13.44

1467 13.17

1468 9.46

1469 4.28

1470 3.85

1471

1472 45.80

1473

1474 3.52

1475 11.38

1476 7.00

1477 16.39

1478 9.50

1479 5.72

1480 9.29

1481 8.26

1482 5.30

1483 30.31

1484 13.30

1485 5.30

1486 11.45

1487 4.08

1488 6.52

1489

1490 13.70

1491 5.73

1492 18.22

1493 34.04

1494 1.30

1495 3.58

1496 12.35

1497 13.85

1498

1499 17.77

1500

1501 1.75

1502 14.65

1503 19.35

1504 5.43

1505 6.17

58

PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Grange. Amount.

1506 $ 11.07

1507 12.99

1508 86.09

1509 36.88

1510 10.20

1511 23.69

1512 14.14

1513 8.69

1514 11.26

1515 7.68

1516 1.98

1517 5.45

1518 3.32

1519 33.84

1520 1.85

1521 12.70

1522 7.00

1523 7.80

1524 7.00

1525 11.15

1526 15.75

1527 7.05

1528 13.59

1529 19.27

1530 7.70

1531 4.17

1532 3.10

1533 $15.64

1534 7.42

1535 1.92

1536 5.38

1537 3.65

1538 4.39

1539 3.48

1540

1541 2.50

1542 3.62

1543 13.07

1544 3.56

1545

1546 5.06

1547 5.30

1548 ... 5.60

1549 6.00

1550 7.20

1551 10.40

1552 4.05

1553 24.74

1554 4.82

1555 5.15

1556 6.70

1557 3.95

1558 4.16

1559 1.10

No. of .
Grange. Amount.

1560 $ 4.30

1561 17.76

1562 18.10

1563

1564 2.75

1565 11.39

1566 4.72

1567 8.38

1568 4.00

1569 5.95

1570 8.68

1571 12.30

1572 4.69

1578 3.45

1574 2.51

1575

1576 3.95

1577 4.50

1578 5.85

1579 1.62

1580 75

1581 3.49

1582 1.67

1583 4.42

1584

1585

1586 1.60

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 59

O. E. FANNING, Secretary,

In accouht with ILLINOIS STATE QKANQE.

To balance on hand as per settlement with
Finance Committee, January 14th, 1875, as
found on Journal, page 536 $ 466.88

To Amount of Receipts from Subordinate Granges,

as per his published reports for this year 13,666.21

To Received for Dispensation for County Granges 21.00

To Sale of Blanks 22.71

To Errors in Addition and Reports 90.89

114,267.19

CREDITS.

By amount paid I. S. Armstrong, of Slate Grange,

Treasurer, as per Receipts $ 8,815.32

By amount paid for Printing, as per vouchers ex-
hibited 884.84

By amount paid for Postage 444.30

By amount paid for Stationery, etc 55 . 18

By amount paid for Office Rent and Fuel 125.00

By amount paid for Office Furniture, Desks,

Tables, etc 62.80

By amount paid for Two Years' Salary for Self

and Clerk 2,700.00

By amount paid for Printing Bill at Springfield. . 11.55

13,098.99

Balance | 1,168.20

60 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

REVENUE*

NATIONAL, STATE AND MUNICIPAL.

In accepting an invitation to address you upon the topic which has been
assigned me, I must disclaim, at the outset, any special taste or fitness
for the task. But as I am also unable to name any one of our number who
has given the subject the complete examination that it requires for its proper
elucidation, and as it is one that needs an early as well as a thorough sift^
ing, I liave thought that such a work had better be begun, even imper-
fectly, than not done at all ; and that while I might know a little of it,
some of you might know less. In any event both you and I have the en-
couragement of knowing that legislators and political economists who,
by virtue of opportunity, should understand this subject better than we,
have failed as utterly as we can in arriving at a satisfactory theory and
practice of Finance.

"The ends of Government," said John Stuart Mill, "are as comprehen-
sive as those of the social union. They consist of all the good, and all
the immunit}'^ from evil, which the existence of' government can be made,
either directly or indirectly, to bestow." Governments have current ex-
penses, such as the construction of roads and bridges; the maintenance
of common schools; the support of the poor; the confinement and refor-
mation of the vicious; the care of the insane, the idiotic, and other unfor-
tunate classes ; the making, executing and adjudicating of laws, the support
of armies and navies, and varied other functions requiring the expendi-
ture of capital. Thence the necessity of Revenue.

Revenue, in this sense is the Public Income. It is the sum of the
amounts received by Township, County, State or Nation from its annual
levies on the tax-payers, or from the miscellaneous sources, too varied to
mention, such as our nation's sale of public lands, or the interest on the
school fund of one of our Illinois townships furnish instances of This
revenue, however, even though it may be profitably spent, and still more
when unprofitably spent, often runs behind the public expenditure. Great
public works of real or supposed public utility tempt the nation to im-
prove the mouth of the Mississippi, or the school district to build a new
school house, and to draw drafts on their future prosperity. And these
drafts are light compared with the demands and consumption of war. Mr.
Burritt has calculated the annual war charge of what are called the Chris-
tian nations, at $2,600,000, including, I suppose, the yearly appropriations
to pay the cost of past wars, as well as the expenditures necessitated bj' the
large armies and navies of the present day. " Assuming that $2,600,000 a
year is substantially correct, that sum constitutes a first and indefeasible
lien, or mortgage upon the earnings of all the workingmen of the civil-

*Ati address delivered by Wm. C. Flago, before the Patrons of Husbandry, at their
annnal mooting, December, 1875.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 61

ized world. Nearly $9,000,000 must be carried and set apart for the pur-
poses of war every day." — N. A. Review, January, 1873.

TUE NATION.VL DEBTS OP TUE WORLD.

"The total of national debts in 1848," says the Journal of the London
Statistical Society for March, 1874, " was about £1,700,000,000 or |8,500.-
000,000, reckoning a pound sterling to be live dollars. In 1873, the
amount was about .i;4, 080,000,000 (.r .>{;23,400,000,000. Up to ISGO the
national debts were cliietiy in Europe; and from 1848 to 18o4 their average
increase was at the rate of about £20,000,000 or |100,000,000 per year.
From 1855 to 1860 the rate of increase was £50.000,000 or $250,000,000 a
year.

"After 1860 came the Ana-rican Civil War, the Prussian-Austrian War
and the French-German War, leading to an immense increase in national
loans in America and Eunjpe. A general epidemic of borrowing for war
purposes and for improvements, set in among the nations all over the
globe. Capital accumulated rapidly and the nations rushed in as borrow-
ers, and thereby as rapidly increased their indebtedness. Some borrowed
for war, and others for public works; but ail borrowed. The average in-
crease of national debts from 1861 to 1873 was at the rate of £200,000,000
or $1,000,000,000 a year."

This estimate is corroborated as to its results by one made by Secretary
Boutwfll, and may be regarded as substantially correct. It is for the pro-
ducers of wealth, for farmer, mechanic and laborer, a terrible fact. For,
as Isaac Butts said ia ihe yorth American Review, Jan., 1873: "Prop-
erty in all countries makes but small direct contribution to the support
of nati«)nal debts and costly military and naval establishments, — the mo^t
grievous, perhaps, of all the burdens that afflict modern society. The
revenues which they necessitate are chiefly raised by excise and import
duties, and these are paid by rich and poor, not at all in proportitm to
their respective abilities to pay, but in proportion to the tiuaulities of
taxed commodities which they respectively consume." And another fact
stated in the same connection increases the relative disparity. "The favor-
ite investment of the wealthy classes are, first the bonds of different gov-
ernments; and second the stocks of great corporations. The first are
exempt from taxation (in the United States, at least, probably not in some
countries); tlie second virtually assess their taxes upon the public, by
considering their public taxes, the interest upon their capital, and the cost
of operating as one sum, to be provided for in tiieir scale of charges,
which they arc generally allowed to regulate in their own discretion and
witlj reference to their own interests exclusively. The combined burthen
ultimately falls on the masses who are thus 'beaten ' out of a portion of
their rightful property."

LOCAL PUBLIC DEBTS.
This national indebtedness is supplemented by an immense aggregate
of local public debt, the principal and interest of whicjj must be mostly
met by taxation. Without being able to furnish very late or entirely

62 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

accurate figures, I can nevertheless give some idea of their amount in the
United States.

In 1870, according to the Census Reports, the indebtedness

of Slates and Territories was $352,866,698

Of Counties, 187,565,540

Of Cities, Towns, etc., 328,244,520

Total, $868,676,758

In the last five years this amount has, no doubt, mucli increased. The
local indebtedness of New York State alone, amounted in 1873 to $188,-
373,280, or thirty millions more than reported for the same State for 1870.
James G. Blaine, late Speaker of the House of Representatives, in an ad-
dress at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in 1874, gave as the result of his investiga-
tions the following later figures :

State Debts, $390,000,000

County, 180,000,000

Municipal Debts, 570,000,000

Total, $1,140,000,000

The national debt at the same time, Mr. Blaine stated, amounted to
$2,140,000,000; so that we had a grand total of $3,240,000,000 of public
debt to be carried by about 40,000,000 of people, worth about $30,000,000,-
000 of property. That is, each man, woman and child of America owes for
public purposes $81 ; or each family $412.29 (81 x 5.09). If these public
debts could all be paid oflF to-day by an equitable assessment on the val-
uation of property it would take 10.8 per cent, of the thirty billions to
meet the debt. Every man worth $1,000 would have to pay $108 of it to
redeem the remainder of his little estate. Every man worth $10,000 would
pay $1,080, and soon, assuming that the debts are simply carried, and
average 6 per cent, interest, which is too low, each person must pay on the
average $4.86 interest on his share of the national debt, and each family
about $25 annually; on each $1,000 worth of property, $6.48 annually.

NATIONAL EXPENDITURK.

In addition to this interest as I have said, current expenses must be met.
Take the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for the year ending June
30, 1874, and you find the following account of expenditures:

War Department, $42,313,927.22

Navy, 30,932,587.42

Indians, 6,692,462.09

Pensions, 29,038,414.66

Miscellaneous, 85,141,593.61

Current Expenses, $194,118,985.00

Premiums 1,395.073.55

Interest, 107,119,815.21

Paid on Debt, 2,344,882.30

Total, $304,978,756.06

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 03

The current expenses are 63 per cent of the disbursements. So that we
must pay annually as a national tax, not only the interest on the national
debt, but a sum additional nearly twice as gn-at for current expenses.
Comparing the statements of the last Census, we find that while the 8tate
and other local debts were $8(58,676,758, whose interest at 7 per cent, would
be $60,807,373, the taxation was $280,591,521; or in other words 78 per
cent, of the total taxation was for current expenses. It is entirely within
bounds, therefore, to say that national and local taxation necessitate the
raising of an annual amount three times as great as the mere payment of
interest would require; and that consequently each inhabitant must aver-
age $14.58 payment for public purposes, and each family $74.21; or every
$1,000 worth of property $19.44 annually for taxes alone.

Having made this estimate I turned to the " Report of the New York
Commissioners to revise the laws for the Assessment and Collection of
Taxes, 1871," and find this sentence, which justifies me in the belief that I
have made no extravagant statement, but below the figures there set forth.

"The iiggregiitii per eapiUt taxation of tlie whole country, according to
these different estimates, would be $21.83, $19 26 and 16.09, respectively,
the last figures representing probably the minimum, and indicating a
larger p«r c<rpiYa taxation than anj' modern nation has ever before been
subjected to, continuously, in time of peace."

"As a practical matter," says Mr. Wells, in a paper on Rational Prin-
ciples of Taxation (Trans. Am. Soc. Sci. Assn. 1874) " in the United States
there is now taken directly under the name of taxes from the capital or
earnings of the people by the National or State sovereignties, or their
representatives, in round numbers between six and seven hundred million
dollars per annum for various public purposes, or from one-twelfth to one-
fifteenth of the value of the entire annual product of the country — a fact
which finds no parallel, in respect to magnitude, in the experience of any
other State or nation, and which in itself may go far towards afiording
an explanation of some fiscal phenomena which seem wanting in solu-
tion; and further that this vast sum is taken by methods which do not
rise to the dignity of a system; which in the ca.se of the National Gov-
ernment are rarely the same one year with another, and in large propor-
tion do not have revenue or the necessities of the State as their primary
object ; which in the case of the State Governments are not identical in
any two States, and are widely different often as respects contiguous States.
To which it may also be added, that important provisions of the law,
allowed to stand upon the statute book in almost every State, are practi-
cally a dead letter, simply becomes the end sought to be attained is im-
possibk- by the employment of any machinery that can be made available
for their enforcement. In short, if there is a department of social science
labor in which laborers are more needed, and in which greater economic
and moral results are attainable, than the department (»f study and inquiry
as to the best methods by wliich private property may be taken by tlu" State
for public use, I have been unable to discern it."

64 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Hence the riiising of Revenue, or Public Income, becomes a very im-
portant and a very complicated matter as civilization, expenditure and
public debts increase. "When conquered provinces were levied upon in
gross, as France has been in modern days by Germany, or when the rich
citizen was required to pay a large subsidy for the public benefit, on de-
mand, the raising of revenue, if not an equitable, was at least a simple
and to most people an indifferent affair. But as civilization increases
public wants and public functions, public responsibility and public credit
increase, and we seek to lay the burdens of an increasing public expense
as equitably as may be on all persons who are citizens or who hold prop-
erty under the protection of the government.

TAXATION THE SOURCE OP REVENUE.

There may be other sources of Revenue such as the sales and rents of
public laids, the confiscation of private property, eto,., but these in our
case, at least, are comparatively unimportant. The great source of Rev-
enue is taxation.

Taxation is the arrangingfirst, how much in the aggregate shall be paid;
secondly, who shall pay it; and thirdly, the arranging the machinery for
collecting the amount. It is a legal way of taking private property for pub-
lic use, without giving other compensation than ' the benefits directly and
indirectly received from the protection and aid of governing power.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT TAXATION.

Taxation is usually divided into Direct and Indirect taxation. " A di-
rect tax " says Prof. Walker, " is demanded of the person who it is intended
shall pay it. Indirect taxes are demanded from one person, in the ex-
pectation that he will indemnify himself at the expense of others." A
direct tax is usually a poll tax, or a tax on valuation of property. An in-
direct tax may be a duty on imports, a tax on spirits, tobacco or other
productions. In the same class are placed such taxes as stamp duties,
licenses and even the income tax, although the distinction grows obscure.
Direct taxes are levied or attempted to be levied upon all persons; indirect
taxes are only laid upon a small portion of a community. Direct taxes
are levied on the person or property, indirect taxes on consumption.

David A. Wells, who has probably studied the matter of taxation as
much as any man in our country, arrives at the conclusion in a paper on
the Rational Principles of Taxation, that " taxation diffuses itself," and
so that "all taxation ultimately and necessarily falls on consumption."
This does away in principle with the distinction between direct and in-
direct taxes and, if true, suggest that the time and expense devoted to the
attempt to secure general taxation is wasted, and that the fewer persons
or corporations are assessed the better. This view is not generallj^ accepted
by political economists, but seems to me partially true.

Assuming for present purposes, however, the division into direct and
indirect taxation, as sufficiently precise, let us examine some of the prin-
cipal kinds of actual and proposed taxation.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 65

KINDS OK DIUKCT TAXATION.

Under the head of Direct Tnxalion, we have first the poll-tax, which ia
levied upon the theory tlial as every person, however, receives personal
protection, and, if need be, care and support from the public autliorities,
that, therefore, every person shoulti contribute, not only personal service
as soldier in time of war, and in workinj? the public highways, but a fixed
annua! sum for the public use. The expense of assessing and collecting a
ta.x ofthis kind, and still more I fear an unwillingness to meet the fact of
taxation fairly and squarely, make it an unpopular kind of taxation.

The property tax, or tax on the valuation of real and personal property,
is the great source of Slate and local revenue in the United States; tiiough
little relied upon in Eunjpe. It ia based on the theory tliat every person
should support government expenses in proportion to his financial abil-
ity, and that the best measure of his financial ability is the amount of his
property. This seems to be a fair theory; but one which we have not
yet been able to reduce to a satisfactory practice, inasmuch as a large por-
tion of property escapes assessment entirely, and the remainder is gener-
ally unequally assessed.

Although technically not called so in our courts, the income tax ia
another form of direct taxation, for which a good deal can be said. It is
a tax on the success of the year; and, therefore, involves the least hard-
ship. Prof. Walker pronounces it the only perfect standard of taxation.
But on account of its inquisitorial character it is alleged, and still
more I suspect because it is a tax less easy to shift on to others shoulders
than many others, it has been much abused, and finally abolished;
although it produced as high as $72,000,000 in 18G6 for our national rev-
enue (including taxes on gross receipts, etc.).

In France, and other European countries, there is another form of
direct taxation laiil on the rent or rental value of houses and lands. The
local taxation of England and Wales is on that basis. It is assumed that
a man will occupy a house proportionate to his circumstances. Taxes
on carriages, riding horses, dogs, servants, and the like, are known in
England, and may also be regarded as direct taxes; though they would
not be so regarded under our Federal laws.

Direct taxation on lands or the poll is practically prohibited for national
purposes in the United States; from the fact that the Constitution requires
that "no capitation or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion
to the census." Stales are not wealthy in proportion to their population.
and Congress will not undertake to face the popular feeling against the
immediate obvious inequalities of taxation it would involve; although
when the taxation is obscure in its meaning they can impo.se it with
impunity.

KINDS OF INDIRECT TAXATION.

Indirect taxation comprises taxes levied on consumption mainly, which
are paid voluntarily or Ignorantly by the tax-payer. The man who does

66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

not wish to pay a tax on tobacco can refrain from using it. Often he pays
it without knowing or thinking of the fact of taxation.

Of these indirect taxes we have : (1) Customs, which are taxes levied on
imported goods at the port of entry, and (2) tlie Excise, which are taxes
on home products. These taxes are levied on various and more or less
discordant theories, and often, on no theory at all. Ease and economy in
collections, suggest the taxation of but few articles. The policy of
making the rich, or at least the extravagant, pay the most taxes, suggests
taxes on luxuries. What is sarcastically called the " protective " policy
aims at excluding foreign products, and producing and consuming home
products. Where the greatest amount of aggregate revenue is sought, a
low tax on articles of general consumption is proved best. Practically,
in our American experience at least, no principle is followed. There is a
struggle between conflicting interests, and the best lungs, the sharpest
wits and the most audacious mind have their way, without much reference
to the general welfare. Even at such a crisis as came in 1861 and 1862,
when patriotism, if ever, rose above profits and per cents, the very neces-
sities of the country " were taken advantage of, under the guise of patriot-
ism, by the advocates of protection, for the furtherance of their policy in
respect to certain special interests." (Wells' Cobden Club speech.)

OUK NATIONAL REVENUE

is derived, — taking the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874, as an example —

from the following sources :

Customs $163,103,833.69

Internal Revenue 102,409,784.90

Public Lauds 1,852,428.93

Miscellaneous 32,575,043.32

$299,941 090.84
Premiums 5,037,665.22

Total $304,978,756.06

By this you will notice that 87 per cent, of our national income is
derived from Customs and Internal Revenue taxes, both of which are
indirect taxes. Analyzing these roughly, we find that the revenue from
Customs was derived mainly in that year from the following articles (I
omit, for the sake of brevity, all articles producing less than $5,000,000 of
revenue, and add the value and approximate per centage of duty on
value):

Cotton Manufactures

Flax and Manufactures

Iron and Steel

Silk and Manufactures. . . .

Spirits and Wine

Sugar and Molasses

Tobacco and Manufactures.
Wools and Manufactures.. .

Value.

$24,922,253.97

18,841,747.47

34,709,345.47

25.298,451.67

8,587.051.51

92,614,832.33

8,371,818.61

59,287,931.65

Duty Amount.

$ 9,041,201.96

6,241,087.61

10,920,400.50

14,198,532.91

7,965,064.76

34,860,278.16

6,150,060.41

32,326,862 78

Duty
Per ct.
.36
.33
.31
.56
.92
.37
.73
.54

These eight classes of articles pay three-fourths or more of the duties,

STATE GUANGE OF ILLINOIS. 67

at rates ranRing from 31 to 92 per cent, ad valorem. Two-lhirds of the
duties, at least, are levied on articles of ordinary use, — I inipht almost say
of ordinary necessity — and forty per cent, of tliem from sugar, molasses
and woolen goods.

Internal revenue for the same year was derived as follows: From

Spirits $49,444,089.85

Tobacco 33,242,875.02

Fermented Liquors 9,304,079.72

Banks and Bankers 3,387,160.67

Penalties, etc 364.216 34

Adhesive Stamps 6,136,844.64

Back Taxes 764,880.14

Total 1102,044,746.98

That is, about 91 per cent, of our internal revenue is derived from spirits,
liquors and tobacco, 6 per cent, from stamps and 3 per cent, from taxes on
banks.

From all this we gather that our national revenue is almost entirely
raised from taxes on consumption; that the articles so taxed are mainly
those in common use; that more than half of this revenue is probably
raised by taxing articles that may properly be classed as necessaries; and
that it is a taxation which is mostly paid by the earnings of people of
small means, and not by the capitalists or by the capital of the country;
except as advances, which are more than made good from the consumer.
All faxes on wealth, as such — on gross receipts of railway companies,
income, etc. — excepting on national banks, have been sedulously removed
from the statute books.

STATE REVENUES.

The State Taxation of the countrj', which we consider next in the de-
scending scale, is, with the exception of that of Pennsylvania, 1 believe,
laid upon property in proportion to its valuation; this valuation is gener-
ally imperfectly, carelessly and almost corruptly made. Although, as our
Supreme Court says, the assessor exercises a judicial function, he is
ehirted with little reference to his fairness, conscientiousness and good
judgment. In New England, where three grave citizens, called "Sisters,"
are chosen to enumerate and value property in each town, the work is
done more thoroughly, and some method of the kind is preferable to our
own. In Penn.sylvania a State tax is levied on stocks, loans, net earnings,
gross receipts, tonnage, etc., «){ corporations, comjianies, etc.

In the State of Illinois the Constitution reciuires, as I understand it, that
the State revenue be rai.sed either by levying & pro rata lax on the whole
valuation of property in the Stale; or by a tax upon tiie various classes of
traders, transporters, etc. ; or by both these agencies. In the main, our
legislators thus far have endeavored to perfect the system of a tax on val-
uation; but in the single case of the Illinois Central Railway we have a
tax of 7 per cent, on its gross receipts, yielding something more than
$400,000 per annum. The tolls from the Illinois and Michigan Canal

68 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

furnish revenue, but of no great amount above annual expenses. All the
remainder of our State rf^venue, as well as a large part of our local reve-
nue, is raised from a tax on property.

ILLINOIS TAXATION.

The equalized assessment of 1873 was aa follows:

Personal Property $254,259,578

Lauds 526.266,033

Town and City Lots 327,367,733

Railroads 74,843,891

Capital Stock of Corporations 11,719,216

Total $1,355,401,317

This assessment is fearfully and wonderfully made. To start upon,
although it is believed by such authorities as Mr. Opdyke and Mr. Wells,
"that in highly civilized and densely populated States like New York,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, etc., the separate aggregates of property,
generally classed under the two heads of 'real' and 'personal,' either equal
or closel}' approximate to each other in actual value ;" yet, here in Illinois,
the personal property assessed does not more than equal one-third of the
real property in value. Several hundred million dollars' worth of per-
gonal property escapes taxation.

About one-half of the personal property that is assessed is live stock and
farm implements; and I am probably safe in saying that over one-half of
the whole list is the property, real and personal, engaged in agriculture.

The railroads of the State are assessed at about $75,000,000 ; but the
cost of roads and equipments are put down in the Railroad and \Vare-
house Commissioners' report, for the same year, at $240,000,000 and more.
A railroad was assessed at less than one-third of its cost, and refuses to
pay tax on that assessment. The case is now before the Supreme Court of
the United States. On the other hand, the average horse was assessed at
over $50, cattle at nearly $18, mules and asses at $60, sheep at $2 and hogs
at $3 per head.

Upon this assessment, however, such as it was, there was levied the

following taxation :

State Tax $5,023,609.50

County Tax 5,333,091.20

City Tax (incomplete) 1.583,942.32

Town, District and Local Tax 9,823,178.27

Total $21,963,821 29

Assuming our population to have been 5,750,000 souls, this was nearly
$8 per capita. In round numbers we each paid $2 to the State, $2 to tlie
county and $4 to the city, town or school district for ourselves and each
person of our families. Adding to this the $7.50 which each person pays
annual!}' for national public purposes, and we have an aggregate of $15.50
per capita, or about $75 for each family in Illinois, annually.

I have not the figures to show, with any precision, how our State, County
and local taxes are expended, but some general idea can be given. Our

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 69

State taxation, of say fivo millions, comprised about, one million for sciiool
purposes; one-half million or more to support our charitable, penal and
educational institutions; one-half million more to paj' the expenses of our
legislative, judicial and executive branches of government; one million
to payment of indebtedness; one-half million to completing the new State
house; one million to payment of local bond funds, and miscellaneous
objects took the balance. All in all, our financial condition as a State,
thanks to the Constitutional prohibition of debt, and the necessity of pay-
ing as we go, is the most satisfactory sight I meet in this review.

Of the county taxes and their expenditures we are not so well informed.
I know of no information that can be called official, of a late date. At
the beginning of 186!) our State Auditor reported the following county
debts:

Railroad Debts f 2, 152,566

Other than Railroad Debts 6,807,288

Railroad Subscriptit)ns (not yet debts) 7,078,933

Total 115,538,797

Three-fifths of our county debts were fur railroads.

Under the new Constitution, counties are prohibited from levj'ing more
than seventy-five cents on the hundred for county purposes; but as the
assessments have been considerably increased this permits heav^' expend-
iture. Farther aid to railroads is prohibited, and the result will bo, I
hope, that counties will hereafter build, own and operate their own local
railroads.

Our city debts at the same time, according to the same authorit}', were
as follows:

Railroad Debts | 1,961,250

Other than Rnilroad Debts 13,080,704

Ritilroad Subscriptions (not j'et debts) 1,354,500

School Debts 316,000

Total $16,715,554

About one-fifth of these were railroad obligations.
Our town and township debts:

Railroad Debts $1,696,028

Other than Railroad Debts 473.528

Railroad Subscriptions (not vet debts) 4,474,400

School Debts ' 10,702

Total 16,655,658

About eleven-twelfths were railroad debts.

Take these debts and their increase since that period, and the interest
alone would absorb a considerable part of the amount raised by taxa-
tion.

A very large part of the local taxation, however, I am glad to say, is
expended on the public schools. The amount raised by advahirem lax in
districts on the assessments of 1873 was $."i,658,182.91 ; the ex|»enditures

70 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

were $7,865,862.18, much of which was injudiciously spent, and can be
credited with no more than good intentions.

The most reprehensible expenditures of public money, however, has been
in the so-called aid to railroad companies; whereby communities have
been heavily taxed to pay bonds that were sold at depreciated rates, to fill
the pockets of enterprising railroad men and to secure the imperfectly
built and debt-laden roads that have been passing into the hands of
receivers, and which discriminate against the very towns and counties
that have given them local aid.

Next to this, is the squandering and peculation attendant on building
court houses, jails, bridges, school houses and other public works; es-
pecially in our counties that have not adopted the township system, and
concentrate power and temptation in a few persons. But this, I believe,
has been less common in our own State than in others that I might
name.

Upon the whole, the condition of our Illinois taxation, and even of our
national taxation, seems to me, however unsatisfactory and unequal, to
be not much better nor worse than that of older and more experienced
States, and nations comparing Illinois with older States. I judge it to be
less careful, thorough and equitable in its assessments than the New Eng-
land States, but better than New York, and many other Eastern common-
wealths. Comparing the United States with European countries, we find it
derives a much larger proportion of its revenue from customs, a rather
larger proportion from excise, whilst its revenue from stamps is compara-
tively small and that from taxes on income and taxes on rental value, noth-
ing, whereas they have some importance in European schemes of taxation.

The Pennsylvania revenue system differs from that of our own, and I
believe of all other States. It exempts a very large portion of personal
property from taxation on its valuation. It collects the State Revenue from
taxes levied on dividends of corporations, on gross receipts for transporta-
tion, on net earnings of banks, etc., and levies local taxation on real estate
in the main.

THE DRIFT OF TAXATION,

from what I know of its history, is to cease to be direct and become indi-
rect. It is modified in its methods to suit the interests, or supposed in-
terests, of those who control legislation. The lax on real estate disap-
pears nearly in Great Britain where the great body of the land is held by
the ruling aristocracy. We find it again in France, with her peasant pro-
prietors. Our national income tax was discarded years ago by an indig-
nant plutocracy, and the taxation on the gross receipts of transportation
companies has gone the same road, although both were more equitable
than much that remains. The Pennsylvania system I suspect to be a
movement along the same line. The payment of taxes to the State on gross
receipts, etc., exempts from local taxation and throws a heavier burden on
real estate. In any event the New England States, truest in their demo-
cratic instincts and least influenced by the interest of corporate capital,

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 71

Btill stand by direct taxation as the most equitable .system. "The tendency
to spare the rich," which John Stuart Mill asserted prevuded the finan-
cial system of Great Britain, is not confined to those islands.

THEORIES OP TAXATION.

In attempting to suggest fairer and more profitable methods of taxation,
we find ourselves undertaking a diflicult problem. It is diflicult in the
first place to lay down a proper rule of action where so much is deter-
mined by policy and so little by principle. Adam Smith, one hundred
years ago, laid down four rules, which most subsequent political econo-
mists have endorsed, and which Fawcctt condenses in this way:

1. "Taxation should possess etjuality.

2. There should be no uncertainty with regard to the amount to be
levied.

3. The tax should be levied at the most convenient time, and in the most
convenient manner.

4. Tlie State ought to obtain as much as possible of the whole amount
which is really levied from the tax-payer.'"

From an American point of view, the first of those rules is the important
one. John Stuart Mill qualifies and explains it by saying that " equality
of taxation, as a maxim of politics, means equality of sacrifice. It means
apportioning the contribution of each person towards the expenses of gov-
ernment, so that he shall feel neither more nor less inconvenience from
his share of the payment than every other person experiences from his."
Mr. Mill would, therefore, favor the exemption of taxes on incomes under
£50 or $250, but would oppose graduated taxation or taxing the larger in-
come or large fortune at a higher rate than the small. Fawcett denies that
the principle of equality of taxation is of any practical use when applied
to any one tax, and that equality of taxation must be produced by a system
of taxation which shall comprise various kinds of taxes and equalize by
compensation.

Prof. Amasa Walker maintains that the income tax is of all modes of
taxation, the most ju.st and equitable. Mr. Wells after asserting what he
claims that Adam Smith and Quesnay virtually established as a principle,
that "All taxation ultimately and necessarily falls on consumption," con-
cludes that the "rational principle of taxation is to tax but comparatively
tew articles, viz. : visible, tangible property and fixed signs of jiroperty — for
in tills way only can taxes be assessed equitably, uniformly and economi-
cally— and then leave them to diffuse, adjust and apportion themselves by
the inflexible laws of trade and |)()litical economy." This assertion is a
contravention of the opinions of most political economists, and is so dis-
turbed and contradicted in practice thai it has not, in my opinion, an ap-
plication to our state of aflfairs, even if correct in theory. Some great law
of social and political compensation equalizes and makes tolerable the in-
justice done by the stronger hand or the more cunning brain, or else
drags down the cunning and the simple to common ruin. " If a nation

72 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

could not prosperwithout the enjoyment of perfect liberty and perfect jus-
tice," said Adam Smith, "there is not in the world a nation which could
ever have prospered." But we should none the less seek to attain per-
fect liberty and perfect justice.

THE JXST THEORY, DrRECT TAXATION.

In endeavoring then to lay down a theory of American taxation, I find
nothing so just in theorj- as direct taxation. All other methods seem sub-
terfuges, attempts to take the money of the people without letting them
know it. It is little to the credit of the constituency that they themselves
encourage indirectness and punish common honesty and directness in
their representative, in the imposition of taxation. But I know no better
mea.sure of a man's ability to contribute to the purposes of government
than the amount of his property ; and whilst I would not demand the im-
mediate abolition of other forms of taxation, but rather perfect them, still
Ifeel that the ultimate method should be the direct and impartial assess-
ment of every property owner according to his wealth.

" EXCEPT THESE BONDS,"

some holder of 5-20's may say, just so long as it will necessarily take our
government to replace them with an issue that shall be taxable like other
property, as these forms of securities are in other countries. Why make a
special privileged class of the holders of our national securities and then
insist on retaining them? Are our government bonds so undesirable that
the privilege of no taxation must be forever offered to capitalists, to induce
them to invest in them ?

The practical difficulties in the way of assessing personal property, it
must be admitted, are immense and constitute the chief objection to direct
taxation. But in a great part of the United States no due care is taken to
ensure correctness. The office of assessor is degraded and regarded as of
second-rate importance, when we come to nominate candidates. Yet it is
an office judicial in its character, dealing with the grave question of taking
private property for public use, and should be filled by men of character
and influence, sitting as a court rather than traveling as an enrolling
officer. The assessment proper should be made by three such men, rather
than one, so as to secure a more intelligent and equalized estimate of
values. No due care, so far as I know, is taken to ensure publicity of as-
sessments so that each man may readily know how much his neighbor has
been assessed. This should be done, I believe, to the extent of publishing
the lists ot every township and ward. The whole work of assessing need
not be done so frequently but certainly can, without material change, be
done a great deal better.

TAXATION OF INCOMES .AND RECEIPTS.

In case we depart from the idea of taxation according to values, then
taxation according to income or receipts seems most equitable. Railroad
companies, street railway companies, gas and water companies, banks, in-
surance companies, etc., could be taxed on their receipts, not so equitably

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 73

but more easily Uuiu now. Mr. AVells, despairing of lionest assessing, rec-
ommends this as preferable to direct taxation of personal property, but after
an examination into the results of assessments in the census of 1870, I am
inclined to believe he overrates the dilflculty. There are great discrep-
ancies in the ratio of personal property to real estate, even in adjoininir
States, but I find upon the whole, that the States whose taxation Mr. Wells
appears to have specially studied, were exceptional and exaggerated cases.
The bidding for capital begun in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by exemp-
tion of mortgages from taxation, etc., is one of the ugly features of the
case; and suggests the necessity of making our tax system in the different
States, to a certain extent, uniform by some agreed limitations in the way
of constitutional amendment.

In connection with the consideration of taxes on gross receipts, it is
worth while to notice that our Illinois railroads, which were assessed
$75,000,000 in 1873, and have not paid the tax, amounting to about $1,200,-
000, would have paid about the same amount by a tax on their gross
earnings ($-13,000,000) of 3 per cent. In 1874, a like tax would have yielded
somewhat more.

With these suggestions I leave the subject of direct taxation for State
purposes and pass to a consideration of the indirect taxation practiced by
our national government and the possibility of improving it.

This, as I have said, is a fiscal chaos. It is avowedly founded as
regards the customs on what is called the principle of "incidental pro-
tection." As a matter of practice, as Mr. Wells shows in the Creed of
Free Trade, it makes the Michigan Central on one side of the Detroit
river lay down steel rails at $97 a ton, when the Canada Southern is
doing it on the other side for $70, and requires the New England people
to pay $1.25 per ton for the privilege of using Nova Scotia coal that lies
at their doors. As regards the Internal Revenue, the principle of taxing
"injurious consumption" is consistently adhered to in statute, whatever
we may say of the administration.

Conceding the present impracticability of an abolition of the customs
or internal revenue duties at this time, we must criticise severely the influ-
ences which have been permitted to shape their details. Our national
legislature has been simply the arena where contending iron-masters,
woolen manufacturers and paper makers strove for special privilege?*
while little thought and less work has been given to serve the public.
The tax on spirits has been increased for the profit of speculators, and to
the detriment of the civil service.

The future taxation of the United States will undoubtedly discard the
idea of " incidental protection," and ultimately do away with all duties
upon imports. But for the present we find nearly every one tending
towards the doctrine of a tariff for revenue only. A tariff of this kind
would mftke a heavy reduction on the present rate of taxation which, I
think, is nearly 40 per cent, on tiie average, and place it at not far from
25 per cent. The list of tax-paying articles for 1874 contains over 200
names of articles, more than 100 of which do not produce an average of

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76 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

to affirm with more emphasis than ever before, that agricultural education
is feasible, and will prove useful beyond the dreams even of its earnest
advocates ; and if agricultural colleges ever prove a failure, it will be, not
for the want of sciences to teach nor of men to teach them, but for the
want of the sufficient patronage of the classes for whom these colleges
were organized.

Allow me then, gentlemen and ladies, to express to you, plainlj' and
without concealment, my view of the causes, which, to-day, are hindering
the highest possible success of agricultural education, and to entreat your
attention to the possible means of their removal, and, through you, I wish
that I might address also the agriculturists of this State and country, upon
this matter, so important and so vital to their interests, as a class, and to
their standing among the people of this land.

And first, let me carry back your thoughts for a moment to the discus-
sions and ideas which impelled the farmers of an earlier day to agitate
this question, and seek the establishment of schools especially devoted to
their interests. Were the hopes and expectations which animated them
mere chimeras of the brain? Did they blunder in believing that educa-
tion had blessings in store for this great department of human employ-
ments? Was that wide-spread agitation of- thought which pervaded
both Europe and America, in favor of a new form of education for agri-
culture and the other industries, without any just cause ? Was the urgent
and irresistible demand for colleges of agriculture and of the mechanic
arts, which assailed our National Congress, and extorted the grant for
their establishment, a popular blunder? Who dare affirm it?

Do not philanthropy and patriotism and science all combine in the plea
for the education of the agricultural classes, and the improvement of their
art? Philanthropy pleads for that mightiest section of the grand army
of workers, the tillers of the soil. Nearly one-half of the entire indus-
trial population of the country belongs to this section. If education is a
boon; if its aid can lighten toil and enrich its products; if it can elevate
and refine and give new value to life, then that broad democratic maxim,
"the greatest good of the greatest number," demands that agriculture
should have its schools, its colleges, its teachings, its education, among
the noblest and richest that the power of man can provide.

Patriotism pleads for it, as increasing public wealth, elevating public
character, and carrying higher intelligence among those who ever have
been and ever must be, the conservative power of the nation. In propor-
tion as the masters of the soil shall be guided by high intelligence, so
shall the nation be safe from the corruption which breeds in the great
cities, and would speedily destroy liberty itself, if not met by the purer
air and calmer thought of the country.

And science itself needs the co-operation of the working classes to
increase its stores of facts, to extend its observation, to test its theories, to
detect its errors, and to stimulate it to higher.eflforts by the exhibition of
its utility, and by offering a substantial reward for its efforts. It demands

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 77

access most of all to that great class whose daily life and labor have to do
with the ereat facts and the gigantic forces of nature. Never, till it shall
enlist in its service the millions whose lives are spent in the open fields,
ami sliall make them participants in its studies and trutiis, can the stu-
dents of nature hope to bring her magnificent domains within the scope
of an all-comprehending observation.

Thus tiie love of man, the love of country and the love of truth, all urge
to the higiier education of the industrial classes, if such education is
possible.

And it is possible. The demand for agricultural education was not a
blunder. It was based on the well considered fact that agriculture itself
involved forces and operations which can only be understood through
scientific study, and can onlj' be improved and perfected by the careful
application of scientific principles.

The agriculture of the world demanded a new consideration of its process
and a more perfect mastery of its principles. The multiplying wants of
the civilized nations called for a more intelligent husbandry to support
the increasing millions who were being withdrawn from the fields to toil
in the new manufactories and to prosecute the new arts which civiliza-
tion had introduced.

The conclusion was neither untimely nor unreasonable, that educational
forces and institutions might be invoked to aid agriculture, as they had
already aided the other pursuits of men. Schools had been established
for the so-called, and often mis-called, ' learned professions.' They had
improved the theories and the practice of law, medicine and theology.
In engineering, architecture, mining and other useful and fine arts, edu-
cation had been found so useful and powerful an aid to national progress,
as to awaken the attention and cammand the support of enlightened and
rival Gdvernments. It was neither un%vise nor unreasonable to suppose
that larming, this broadest and, at bottom, most scientific of the indus-
trial arts, might also be successfully fostered by schools of learning.

The agricultural college is as logical a conclusion of 19th century
thought, as the old-fashioned college was of the thought of the 15th
century.

FALSE AND UNREASONABLE EXPECTATIONS.

It is not strange that amid the popular agitation which preceded the
establishment of these colleges in our country, many exaggerated expecta-
tions should have been formed, and that absurd predictions should have
been made, both as to their character and their success. The mind of
man always tends to-extremes, and imagination stands ready to usurp the
oflice of reason, and to substitute its dreams for the dictates of common
sense. Human hope is always impatient of time and urgent for imme-
diate fruit.

It is not strange that many of these expectations have becnnlisappointed,
nor that being disappointed, they have driven some to the conclusion that
agricultural colleges have proved a failure. The failure has been that of

78 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

these extravagant and unwise expectations. The waking reality has been
found different from the unreasoning dream. Tried by a fairer test, agri-
cultural education has been, not a failure, but a remarkable success.

Allow me to mention some of these expectations :

1st. It was expected that agricultural colleges would largely increase
the intelligence of the entire agricultural classes and give to them edu-
cated and powerful leaders, able to cope with the champions of other
great public interests before the public tribunals.

The farming population, groaning under burdens and disabilities which
were felt to be intolerable and believed unjust, and looking in all direc-
tions for the causes and the cure, easily saw that the superior intelligence
and culture of those whom they regarded as their rivals and oppressors,
gave to them an undue advantage. They rightly concluded that educa-
tion alone could meet education, as fire fights fire and thought, that if they
would have educated farmers, they must have farmers' colleges.

And this expectation will be met, but not as soon as some hoped. Edu-
cation diffuses itself slowly. The colleges, at best, can educate only a few
out of the millions, but these few, will in time, lend inspiration, knowl-
edge and culture to the thousands who look to them for leadership. Not
all the lawyers, doctors and preachers are college-bred; but enough of
each class have participated in the higher education, to give character
and standing to these several professions. The educated ones have made
the spirit of learning prevalent in the class, and the demand for it almost
imperative. So we may hope that, in the future, the graduates of our
agricultural colleges will become apostles of agricultural education,
diffusing it among their associates, and making the demand for it much
more general.

2d. Of a different character was the expectation of those who were
vexed to see all the college-bred sons of farmers, (and farmers' sons
have gone to colleges as often as those of any other class,) refusing to
return to the farms, but making their way to cities to enter professional
life or trade. These people wished for colleges for farmers' children ;
colleges which should make them learned and leave them farmers. It
was not agricultural colleges, but colleges for agriculturists, which they
wanted. The President of a State Agricultural Society told me he did
not want the agricultural colleges to teach agriculture, but he wanted a
place to send his boys, where they could be educated without being
spoiled for the farm.

The evil, if evil it is, which he complained of, is deeper and nearer
home than he thought.

Farmers' sons go to the law and other professions full frequently with
the advice and consent of their ambitious fathers and mothers. " John is
too smart to remain a mere farmer," say they, " let us make a lawyer and
a gentleman of him." Not a year has passed in the history of the Illinois
Industrial University, that farmers' sons have not appeared at its doors,
sent there by their fathers with express injunctions not to take the agri-

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 79

cultural course, but to pursue such studies as might prepare them for the
study of law or medicine. I do not dispute the farmers' right to choose
these callings for their sons, but surely, no one but themselves should be
held responsible for their choice.

As the expectation itself was a mistake, so its failure is a necessity.
The agricultural college may, perhaps, in time make farm life more pala-
table and attractive, but it will be by diflusing intelligence, culture and
social privileges through farmers' homes, not by keeping farmers' children
from more tempting pursuits.

8rd. Others had observed the ignorant and unbusiness like way in
which too many farmers manage their farms and affairs. They had
noticed the heedless and ruinous waste of the utility of the soil; the fre-
quent incompetency of agricultural laborers, and the many sad failures of
the farmer's business, and they thought of agricultural colleges as a
remedy. They did not pause to reflect that heedlessness, indolence and
stupidity are common among men, and that a mere knowledge of science
and its applications cannot correct the bad habits formed in ciiildhood,
and, perhaps, bred in the very bones. Nor did they reflect that out of the
millions, but few comparatively could receive the benefits of the agricul-
tural colleges.

Crowded to their utmost capacity, these colleges could not receive one
in a hundred of the agricultural population.

4th. Others still had a higher conception of the character and extent of
agricultural science. The great problems of the farm had aroused their
attention, and they were anxious to have experiments made, investigations
prosecuted, and the great secrets of soil and seed, of animal and vegetable
life and growth, brought to light and proclaimed throughout the earth.
They looked to the agricultural college as a place for the discovery of
agricultural truth. They wished it to prosecute experiments to test the
value of breeds, breeding and the feeding processes of seeds and cultures,
and of every new thought which puzzled the farmer's brains or crept into
the farmer's papers.

And the agricultural college ought certainly to hold a leading place in
this work of perfecting agricultural science; and it will, if you will con-
sent to make it a true agricultural experiment station, with competent
men who can give their time to experimenting, and with the necessary
means, the costly apparatus and labor required in this work. But the
teachers who give their whole time and strength to their classes cannot
be expected to conduct careful and laborious experiments.

Still other and wilder expectations were fctrmed, which I have neither
the time to notice nor any anxiety to refute.

DIKFKUENT PLANS OF COLLEGES.

As men differed in regard to what tlie Agricultural College was to do, so
they diflered in respect to what it ought to be. Some would have made it
a mere school of practice; others would have resembled it to the law
schools and medical schools, making it purely professional and merely

80 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

theoretical. Others wished to see a mere literary college for farmers' sons,
where they might continue to labor while they studied, and where poor
boys might win their bread by working part of the time, while they
gained an education in their unoccupied hours. Others still desired a
college where the sciences relating to agriculture and the mechanic arts
might be thoroughly taught, and their practical applications clearly
exhibited and enforced, and we were of this number.

I need not further enumerate the different notions which prevailed, and
which have been so often urged upon the trustees, and upon the country
at large. Their number is legion, and their views so various, that the
combined wisdom of the world could not reconcile or satisfy them. They
are only mentioned now because of the difficulties they have inter-
posed to the progress of agricultural education on this continent. As
these colleges were public property, every man felt at liberty to plan for
their organization, and to criticise their leaders. Every rejected plan
became an obstacle in the way of success by alienating friends and dis-
couraging supporters; changing ardent champions into disparaging
critics, and replacing public confidence by the wide-spread insinuations
of personal distrust. Most men will much more readily conclude that
the management of an enterprise has been inefficient, than that their
expectations were unreasonable. And the neglect to adopt and carry out
their plans is interpreted as a failure to do anything wise or worthy of
praise.

But there remains a brave and far-seeing minority, it may be — may their
tribe increase — who clearly discern that the fundamental ideas of agri-
cultural education are as sound and practical as their aim is far-reaching
and beneficent, and whose faith in a full and rich success is as firm as the
solid scientific truths on which it rests. While others are searching for
supposed causes of pretended failures, these are seeking to understand
and measure, and, if possible, to remove the obstacles of a more complete
and wide-spreading triumph.

May I not hope to find among you many of this latter class? May I
not hope, at least, to find among you that braver sentiment which declares
success is a necessitj', and resolves that though a hundred failures may
have deferred its coming, it shall still be sought with unabated energy
and to the very end.

FALSE OBSTACLES.

That I may point out to you more clearly the real obstacles which we
must meet, let me brush aside some pretended ones which have been so
often and so falsely affirmed.

We are told, first, that agricultviral education is a- mere experiment, an
unproved, and perhaps, impossible thing. We answer that the form of
organization, and the best method of teaching for this country, is experi-
mental. But agricultural science, agricultural education, and even agri-
cultural schools have existed for nearly a century, and have achieved
success such as leaves no doubt of their feasibility and value.

statp: grangp: of Illinois. 81

2d. It is affirmed that we have no teachers of agriculture, and doubtlesa
great ditHculties have been experienced in filling one or two special
chairs. But good teachers of agriculture, chemistry, botany, geology,
zoology, mineralogy and meterology, and indeed of all the sciences required
for tiie understanding of agriculture, are and have been abundant; and now
the men needed for the special chair of theoretic agriculture are increas-
ing in numbers and ability.

3d. It has also been asserted thai we have no science to teach ; that
there are no text-books on agriculture; that agricultural science is in an
imperfect and fragmentar}' condition.

Have the men that say this read that large body of facts and principles
handed down from Columella of the ancients, and wrought out bj-^ Young
and TuU, by Leibig, and Thear, and Bousingaull, and Leconteau, by John-
ston, and Laws, and Gilbert, by Professors Johnston, and Brewer, and
Thomas, and by the agricultural writers of England, Europe and Ameri-
ca? Have they counted the multiplying columns of agricultural facts
established by the hundred Versucht Stationes, the experiment stations of
Europe?

No branch of human learning is yet complete, No science has yet set-
tled all its principles, solved all its problems and classified all its facts.
Agriculture may be j-ounger and less complete than some of the others,
but in few departments of learning is there so much gathered and proved
and ready to the teacher's hand, as in this. Its very voluminous accumu-
lations may require some laborious sifting. And then all the sciences of
nature are sciences relating to agriculture.

4th. Another obstacle of much more sweeping character has been
asserted to lie in the weakness, one-sidedness and insuflSciency of an edu-
cation made up chiefly of scientific studies. There are not wanting men,
champions mostly of some old college, which feels its weakness and
fears rivalry; who denounce agricultural colleges as an educational hum-
bug, a species of charlatanry, and seek to frighten away students from
our doors by decrying the value of the education which we give.

I do not care to go into a comparison here and now, of the relative
value of scientific and classical studies; but. it is worthy of notice, that
many of the great leaders of human thought to-day — the men who are
filling the world with the noise of their discoveries, and attracting uni-
versal admiration for the splendor of their genius and the power of their
eloquence, are the students and representatives of physical science.

But the issue is totally false and unnecessary, since the agricultural
colleges never exclude the element of linguistic culture, nor the mathe-
matical and historical studies, while they teach the scientific studies by a
method so thorough and practical as to preclude the possibility of their
being made mere exercises of the memory, and call the judgment into
use as constantly and as fruitfully as the best teaching of the classics ever
could.

5th. The unjust suspicion has sometimes been circulated of a want of

82 proceedi:n^gs of the

heartiness and moral competency in the managers and teachers in our
agricultural colleges. They have been charged with hankering after "the
flesh-pots" of their beloved classics and as having but little faith or in-
terest in the branch^ of agricultural learning.

To this charge I wish to give here and everywhere a fearless and un-
hesitating denial. As far as I know them, the men in the agricultural and
polytechnical colleges are among the most enthusiastic of American
teachers, and the known enthusiasm of the students of these colleges is a
suflicient answer to these slanderous reports against their instructors.

I do not mean to affirm that there are no difficulties nor wrongs inside
of these institutions, which may impair in some degree their usefulness
and success. No human institution is perfect. Xo men are infallible ;
and doubtless, here as elsewhere, errors have been committed ; weaknesses
exist, and reforms may be possible. But I wish to affirm my own settled
belief, that the most serious difficulties in the way of the large and
triumphant progress of agricultural education, which we all desire to see,
for the sake of our country, and for the sake of this most numerous
part of the people, are to be looked for, not within the colleges but out-
side of them.

THE COIsDITIO^:S OF GRASDEB SUCCESS.

The successes already achieved in this department of education,
scarcely yet ten years old, in our land, have not only proved its feasibility
and value, but give assurance of a much grander success in the future;
they at least encourage us to new efforts to remove the obstacles which
hinder, and to study the conditions which may help us to that grander
success for which we strive.

At the head and front of these real obstacles is the want of practical
interest in agricultural education among the farmers themselves. The
complaint that has met my ears, from not a few of the agricultural col-
leges from the Atlantic to the Pacific is this strange apathy of the farmers
themselves. Xot one of these colleges that would not be glad to see its
halls crowded with genuine students of agriculture. Larger numbers of
students would not only make the course more popular but would put
both trustees and instructors on their metal to do their best work in this
direction, and to give the fullest efficiency to their instruction. "Why !
let the farmers send a hundred of their sons to any college in the State,
asking for them agricultural studies, and trustees and faculty would strain
every nerve to give it. Send these sons by hundreds to your colleges
already fitted to teach these studies and you will fire them to enthusiasm
in their work. If any agricultural college in this country shall ever fail
it will be the fault of the farmers themselves.

The truth must be told. There is still among the majority of farmers a
want of faith in the real utility and value of agricultural education. Let
us put the question to the first hundred farmers we meet, whether they
believe that anything more than a common school education is essential
to a good farmer; and especially whether they believe that a thorough

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 88

educatioD in the sciences relating to agriculture and in the application of
these sciences, as they may be taught in a college, is of any value in in-
suring success in the farmer's calling? In at least seventy-five cases out of
the hundred, if not in ninety-nine, we shall meet, I fear, a prompt negatire,
or at least only a ver}' faint and (lualified approval.

In some cases, their unbelief comes from want of faith in any education
whatever. Too man}' farmers regard learning as lending to make men
indolent, crafty and dishonest. Others, from the common trust in the old
education, and distrust in ever\'thing new, will not send their sons to an
agricultural college. Others still, have given no consideration to the
really broad character and rich utilities of those sciences which have so
transformed and enriched the other industries and which may equally en-
rich agriculture. Some may have been influenced by the carping criti.
cisms which have been pronounced upon our agricultural colleges, and
others, doubtless, are determined by their general distrust of the educa-
tional classes, including teachers.

This lack of faith among our agriculturists operates to the detriment of
agricultural education in two wa^^s.

1st. It prevents farmers from sending their sons to the agricultural col-
leges, and thus robs these colleges of their natural source of supply. Some
agricultural students they will obtain from other classes, but the most
hopeful are those who come from the farms, and who expect to inherit
farms, where their agricultural knowledge might at once be put to service.

2nd. It leads farmers to discredit and to discourage young men who
have been induced to take a course of agricultural education. Not a few
of our own students, who have pursued with enthusiasm and success a
thorough course of study in agricultural sciences, have been subjected,
when visiting their homes or their farmer neighbors, to slights and even
ridicule, for having pursued such studies.

It is certainly a strange fact, that the most serious opposition to the
agricultural colleges comes from the farmers themselves. A beueficen
government has provided rich endowments; State legislatures have created
noble buildings and provided br-oad domains. Public and private liber-
ality has given laboratories, libraries, collections and apparatus, which in
many cases surpass those of any other institution in our country. Com-
petent and earnest teachers wait in spacious class-rooms, ready and eager
to greet and instruct agricultural classes. Both trustees and teachers have
exerted to the utmost their influence to fill up their agricultural depart-
ments, but still the attendance, in some of these institutions at least, has
been meagre, and the usefulness correspondingly small.

I siiall be told that it is not surprising that people give their adhesion
but slowly and cautiously to a new scheme of education,especially while the
old and popular plan still commands their confidence; and I freely con-
fess that our impatience to see greater results, perhaps k'ads us to under-
estimate the value of the progress already made. I know full well that
no institutions in this country have grown more rapidly, in power and

84 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

numbers, than these same Agricultural Colleges. But the number of
students pursuing the agricultural courses of study is far less than the in-
terest of the country demands, and much smaller than we had a right to
expect. In this great agricultural State, with its 33,000,000 acres of tillable
land, and with more than half its population devoted to agricultural pur-
suits, there should be work, not for one agricultural college alone, but for
at least a dozen of them. There are already among us, thousands of farm-
ers who have reached that state of competency in wealth which enables
them to send their sons and daughters to the higher institutions of learn-
ing, and at this very hour, there are hundreds of the sons of Illinois farm-
ers in the colleges of other States, pursuing courses of higher education to
fit them for the various professions which they may have chosen for life.

This we do not complain of, nor would I lessen the number of those
whom Agriculture contributes from its own substantials and sturdj- ranks
to the other professions and employments of the country, to the great cities
and to the leading places of the land. But what are these same farmers
doing for those other sons, who are to be their successors upon the farms,
and who would be as much benefited by a liberal education for their call-
ing, as those whom they send to professional life. It is for these men of
the farms, these future leaders of our agriculturists, that our Agricultural
Colleges have been organized.

The one final and essential condition of success for Agricultural Edu-
cation on the American continent is the fuller patronage of American
Agricultural colleges by American farmers. Baron Liebig pronounced
the success of Agricultural education in Europe " immense." The farm-
ers can make it immense here. Your own numbers are overwhelming.
You have the soundest bodies and brains in the country in 3'our ranks.
Fill with your brightest sons and daughters the Colleges which Congress
has given j^ou. Send if you will some to the professions and the cities.
They need fresh blood. Woe to the city whose ranks no longer receive
fresh recruits from the country homes. Educate a portion of your chil-
dren for other callings, but not always <7ie best. Believe in your calling
and in the career it may afford. Let the Colleges of Agriculture swell till
they shall be more nearly commensurate with the class thej' represent, the
industry they are designed to foster and the magnificent fields of science,
of a world-sustaining art to which they would educate your sons and suc-
cessors.

And who can tell what improvements might come to Agriculture itself,
and what honor to the agricultural classes, if, to-day, the sons of a thou-
sand of our leading farmers, who, within a few years, will stand in their
fathers' stead, could be sent to the Agricultural Colleges, to make them-
selves masters of Agricultural science and to fit themselves by a broad
and liberal training for the public duties and advocacy which they will
owe to their class.

Let farmers cease to complain of the impositions practiced upon them,
and of the wrongs they suffer at the hands of more educated classes, till

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 86

they shall cease from their suicidal course of bringing up in comparative
ignorance, the sons who are to be their successors on the farm, while they
give the benelit of the most costly classical training to those other .-ons,
whom they send to the law and other professions, and to the great busi-
ness centers of the country.

May we not reasonably look to this great farmers' movement, which has
awakened the country by its magnitude and its power, — to this organization
of the farmers, stretching its net-work over the whole Union, and extend-
ing its organizing influence to the most remote part of the rural districts
— may we not look, I ask, to this organization to remedy this great blun-
der and mistake, and to see to it that there shall be trained up in this
country a class of men who, while they remain Agriculturists, shall also
be the peers of the wisest, the most cultured and the most practised, in
their educational attainments and in their cultivated powers?

The great work on which you have entered as an Order will not be
finished in your lifetime. Men who are yet unborn will be called upon to
fill the ranks and fight the unfinished battles. It is yours to see that they
have trained leaders, agriculturists whose brains, keen as Damascus
blades, shall be polished by culture, and armed with learning, to fight
with all their father's courage and more than their father's skill, mo-
nopoly and wrong.

86 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

POEM.

READ BEFORE THE ILLINOIS STATE GRANGE.

BY MRS. 8. M. SMITH.

Brothers and sisters ! these two words

Will not be lightly spoken
By Patron lips, if Patron hearts,

Feel all that they betoken.

If love fraternal, mean, with us,

A living bond, and real,
No empty mockery of words,

No sentiment ideal.

Ah ! better than they knew, they wrought,
Nor guessed the power they wielded,

Who made this, the foundation stone
Whereon our walls are builded.

Though to the heavens those walls arise.
The stone will yet grow broader

And firm forever, still uphold
The temple of our Order.

It is the one key to unlock

The manacles of Labor ;
And bind in triple bonds, the heart

Of neighbor, unto neighbor.

Like Ishmael, doubting all men's hearts
With all men's hands against them.

For ages. Agriculture's sons
In walls of self have fenced them;

Have singly fought, and singly failed

The easy prey and booty
Of cunning, leagued with law, to make

Toils robbery a duty.

Strong in time honored custom, still

Each legalized marauder.
By turns the victim fleece, and still

Exhort to law and order ;

On ever}' side new foes arise.

Or old, in modern armor,
Ring above ring, like Alps on Alps,

Frown still upon the farmer.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 87

In vain he single-lianded, strives

To cope with powers united,
Or dreams the wrongs of centuries

Will, of themselves, be righted.

What wonder if those wrongs, at last

Have roused each man and woman?
What wonder if thej^ learn to use

The weapons of their foemen.

Turn back the enginery of wrong

Again on its possessors, —
Yet, God forbid, that the oppressed

Become, in turn, the oppressors.

Though a grand army we enlist,

And don defensive armor,
The only conquest we pursue

Is, " Fair play for the farmer."

Our "ring" endangers no man's rights,

No war of plunder wages ;
Its influence yet shall bless mankind

Through all the coming ages.

Pretended friend, and secret foe,

Who dearly love tlie Granger,
Shake their wise heads and sadly paint,

His weakness and his danger.

Though while they openly approve

And secretly abuse him,
They all and singly are resolved

While he does live, to use him.

Where'er his voice, or vote, or purse.

May promise place or profit,
How ready these unselfish souls

To take advantage of it.

And with what ease, when place or pelf

Securely they have gotten.
The honest Granger's service, claims,

Existence, is forgotten.

More open foes, who hope to make

Truth crown persistent lying.
Daily throw high their caps and shout,

" Hurrah ! the Grange is dying."

88 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

The wisdom that men slowly gain,

They lose not in an hour,
It took us centuries to learn

To find in Union, power.

And centuries of advancing growth
Will yet mark our progression,

Ere sons and daughters of the soil
Forget that dear-bought lesson.

Nor is the lesson yet complete,
Scarcely our feet have entered

Upon that road that leads to heights,
"Where toil's full hopes are centred.

Where the starved soul at wisdom's fount

May be a free partaker,
And the bent form, erect, clear-eyed,

Honor once more its Maker.

The road lies upward, new and strange,
Its curves unwind before us ;

Not always do we find it smooth.
Or clear the blue sky o'er us.

But with each obstacle o'ercome.
The devious way grows clearer.

With every step that we advance
Our glorious goal draws nearer.

Patrons our hearts may well be glad
Our souls new courage gather.

As o'er that road we mark the hosts
That now keep step together.

Their tread resounds through all the land

From ocean unto ocean ;
Slowly they march, but not more sure

Is time's resistless motion.

From western plain, and southern grove,
From eastern hill and valley

They move as one — could fancied wrongs
So vast an army rally '?

Or have they risen as one man
Such mooted points to settle ;

In rural matters, as, the kind
To raise of sheep and cattle ?

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 89

What time (in tlie moon) to plant the corn

Or gather it for seeding;
Are cooked potatoes good for swine?

As well as — Granger feeding?

Debate on these, and kindred themes

And social relaxation,
At harvest feast, and sociable

Or other rare occasion ,

Are thought by many wise, and good

And very prudent members
To be our Order's mission — more,

They fear would strife's embers.

Nor would we deem these homely themes

Beneath consideration;
They're food for much of daily thought

And daily conversation.

But he who dreams this is the Grange

Began, sustains, and ends it;
111 reads this lesson of our time

And poorly comprehends it.

Or if, to buy at cheaper rates.

To sell at prices juster.
Were all its aims, the Grange to-day

Would some less thousands muster.

This army of determined men
Of earnest, thoughtful women,

Have dearer interests here at stake,
A nobler aim, in common.

They feel that with tlieir lives of toil
Of ceaseless, soulless striving;

From youth to age, they dearly pay,
For the one boon of living.

They hold that he who tills the soil.

Beloved of God and nature;
Should wear God's image upon earth

In more than form and stature.

Not dwarfed in mind, and blind to truths

His life is daily showing,
As are the poor beasts that he drives,

The corn that he is growing.

90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

And that the utmost wealth can buy

Of culture, education,
May well be his, who wealth creates.

To "feed the hungry nation."

They mean the world, as well as they

Shall honor their vocation ;
Their children yet become the peers,

Of any in the nation.

Fulfillment of these hopes, they deem
Our Order's glorious mission ;

Nor poet's fancj' does it need,
Nor seer's prophetic vision.

To see within the advancing years
Their full and sure fruition ;

If, more than prejudice or pride.
Or even wealth's enhancement;

We love the welfare of our class,
Their honor and advancement ;

And swift to see and prompt to meet

The duty of the hour,
"We wisely, justly, firmly use

Our self-protecting power.

I would that something more of zeal,

Of living vital order
Inspired in all our hearts, to-day

New fealty to our Order.

That casting from our hearts all thought
Of narrow self that blinds us,

We here might see how strong a bond,
Of common interest binds us.

And re-resolve, henceforth, to make

This mightjr power, a lever
That from their servitude to wrongs,

Shall lift our class forever.

•

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 91

CO-OPERATION*

CIIKAP TKANSPORTATIdN AND TUEIU UELATIONS TO OUR INDIVIDUAL
PKOSPERITY, THEREFORE NATIONAL.

Once let those great questions be ritrhtly and correctly understood with
tiie view of justice to all humanity, and we shall then learn what a mutuali-
ty of interest there is at stake. I advance this as a basic principle, " That
all Ciipital {or present wealth) is tlie Harvest of past labor." That is, it is
that part of the product of past labor that has been saved, put into the
srrainery, or into real estate, or into bonds, or into buildings and machinery,
etc. This is an axiom that will stand the test. Therefore, please get it well
fixed in your minds beiore going further. '^Capital or Wealth is the

harvest of PAST LABOR."

Then let us advance this principle: " That all labor has an equal right
to an equal sJuire in all the wealth (or capital) that it (labor) creates."

That principle is simply that old one of Jefferson's, which proclaims
" Equal and exact justice to all." If this accords with your views, then
let us print these principles upon our flags and banners. Let us nail
them up at every cross road, that all travelers may see, read, learn and
proclaim them. This principle that " all labor has an equal right to an
equal share of all the wealth it creates," is the very essence of co-opera-
tion. This principle must be put into j'our political platforms, and every
candidate for office should be required to subscribe to them or be retired
to private life.

Our nation is divided into two great classes, viz. : Producers and Con-
sumers, and the large majority of these classes are both producers and
consumers combined. There is a duality about it. The farmer or planter
who produces wheat, corn, pork, provisions, cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco,
in turn becomes a consumer of the manufactured articles of cloth, utensils,
farming and plantation implements, and part of his own productions.
The artisan, skilled laborer, and laboring men and women are consumers
of agricultural products, also of their own productions. And they in
turn become producers of cloths, mowing and reaping machines, stoves,
machinery of all kinds, etc., etc. So we see we are nearly all in turn pro-
ducers and consumers, each interest clearly related to the other. That
wliich affects one, reacts upon the other. For instance: If the farmer
gets ten cents per bushel more for his wheat, this increases the cost of a
barrel of flour nearly one dollar. If the price of flour advances, the
manufacturer of cloth, of mowing machines, etc., must pay his help
enough more to enable them to buy it. This makes the price of what he
manufactures still more costly, and in turn that comes back to the farmer

•An addrcHB delivered by K. II. Kurub.son, before the Patrons of Husbandrj-, at their
annual meeting, December, 1875.

92 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

and plantation in increased cost of clothing and implements. This is
the tendency when all things are well balanced, when there is no overpro-
duction of either kind of agricultural products or skilled labor products.
This enables us, now, to approach the question of co-operation:

Co-operation, buj'ing and selling, combine all of the elements of success
that possibly exist in such transactions. Now, the Western farmer, in
most cases, hauls his products to the nearest station or market, and sells
to the dealer for such prices as the dealer says he can aflford to pay the
owjier of the products. This price is always intended to be low enough to
permit the dealer to ship it to the market he buys for, and after paying all
the costs of handling and commissions (to another dealer in that market),
to leave a nice margin of profit to the local buyer; for thai is the way he
gets his living. Sometimes, in sudden fluctuations of the market, the
local buyer loses money. But it always happens that this class of peo-
ple have their living in some manner. And it follows (that as they are
non-producers,) this living must come out of those who do produce. It is
also true, that in almost every case, the farmer accepts the price named
by the local agent. This may be oftentimes from necessity, and frequently
from convenience. For example, I have heard of instances where a
farmer of Illinois has taken four horses, hitched to a wagon containing
fifty bushels of corn in the ear, and driven fifteen miles to the station,
over roads so baci that it was near night when he reached there, then he
was offered 18 or 20 cents per bushel for his load. This, at the most,
would only be ten dollars for the labor of himself and four horses,
wear and tear of harness and wagon, and time one day, to say nothing of
the work previously done during the season in planting, plowing and
caring for the fifty bushels of corn and preparing it for market. Now,
what is this farmer to do ? If he refuses to take that price, and waits over
until the next day, it will cost him one-quarter of that amount to pay for
his hotel keeping and care of horses, with a prospect of getting no more
next day. He can haul his load home, but, then, it will have to be returned
at some future time ; so, from convenience, he is obliged to accept the
price offered.

I think this case has been fairly stated, at least I have no desire to color
it in any but the true light. And there is no class of people who Imow and
feel the truth of these statements better than the Patrons of Husbandry,
and the farmers of every grain-growing State in the West. The planters
of the South also groan under a like class of causes, that grievously affect
the amount of their yearly earnings. And yet it is a self-evident truth
that the power to correct this pernicious system lies in the hands of The
Patrons of Husbandry almost entirely, for the other farmers and planters
will join hands with the Patrons of Husbandry as soon as they make the
eflbrt. What is wanting is the patriotic co-opertition of the Patrons of
Husbandry, which must be seconded by all the other farmers and planters.
Every one can do something toward pushing forward this movement of
co-operation, shipping and selling. But say you, where is the money to

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 93
/

ci^me from? This is a very important question to answer. I shall not
attempt to answer it fully. But I shall ask your attention to the follow-
ing illustration, which is only used as an hypothesis, and may not be
strictly correct. I shall assume that an Illinois farmer, or a Western
farmer, produces annually an average crop of say one thousand bushels of
corn, five hundred bushels of wheat, five hundred bushels of oats, with
otlier vegetables and productions, sufficient to keep and feed his stock and
family, leaving these two thousand bushels of grain to be marketed.
Under your present system of selling it, it costs you about the following
sums, or rather it costs the producers and consumers this sum: The local
buyers usually take five cents per bushel on corn, as commission and ex-
pense of handling and shelling, while as a general thing, theexces? weight
between corn bought in the ear, and shelled corn, pays the cost of shelling
or very nearly, besides the cobs furnish good fuel. Your wheat must pay
at least three cents per bushel and your oats also three cents. Here at
home then is a local tax annuall}' imposed on you averaging four cents
per bushel or eighty dollars on the two thousand bushels of grain you have
for sale. If this grain goes to Chicago, it must be classified or graded,
and is then put into elevators, which charge two cents per bushel in Sum-
mer and four in "Winter as storage, which Eastern buyers are required to
pay, besides a commission of one cent. And I have no doubt but the local
shipper who ships to Chicago, also pays a commission of one cent, and
possibly elevator charges for storage are also charged to him, but grant-
ing they are not, and that your local shipper only pays one cent com-
mission, you then have an average of six cents per bushel in Winter, and
four cents per bushel in Summer, taken out of the producers and con-
sumers as toll, gathered by the Chicago toll gatherers. Toledo and other
cities are not all quite so bad, but in all a portion of the product of labor
is cut off. The average of Winter and Summer charges in Chicago would
be five cents per bushel or one hundred dollars on the amount of your
yearly product of grain. Next comes an Eastern bu3'er, who purchases to
sell to some smaller interior purchaser, who in turn sells to the real con-
sumer in his own native village or town. Each of these operations take, at
a very low estimate, two cents per bushel each, making four cents or eighty
dollars more to be added to the tax already taken from the producer and
consumer. You now have a total sum of (|260) two hundred and sixty
dollars tribute paid (between your producing farms in the West, and the
consuming villages in the East,) on the amount of your annual product of
two thousand bushels.

If, through the course of this manipulating, this tax is equally divided,
you are paying one hundred and tliirty dollars annually for the present
condition of affairs. But this is not all, the Liverpool buyer next comes
to our shores, or to Canada, and he purchases your products in Chicago,
Milwaukee, Toledo, St. Louis, Boston or New York. In whatever place he
purchases he is charged a commission, then all the other little incidental
costs of shipping to Liverpool, amounting to two or three cents. The

94 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

freights, all these things, costing the individual much more than it would
a great co-operative society who were doing all their business through one
channel and under one direction, simply because the vast volume of business
on the one hand, would enable your shipper to say to a railroad corporation:
Gentlemen, we have so much freight to ship, we can pay your road so
much per bushel for hauling it; accept it or not. If you do not we will
ship it by the other road. The same could be said to a steamship line.
And the result would be that you would get just what you asked for, if it
was in reason. I know corn was taken from Chicago to New York, the
last Summer, by rail, for eight cents per bushel. This was done by co-op-
eration, that is, a New York party were going to ship something to Chicago,
a Chicago party was going to ship corn to New York. The two parties
said to the railroad, we will give you so much freight each way, and load
your cars both ways, and the thing was done.

After your grain reaches Liverpool, or any other port of entry, it is
again sold to another dealer at a commission of profit in the shape of one
or two cents more, then, perhaps, still another transfer to the dealer in the
interior who sells to the real consumers; each of these transactions involv-
ing an additional tax of at least one cent per bushel. So we have a total
cost of six cents more at a low estimate to be added to the Chicago cost,
when exported. The charges from the time it leaves the farm until it
leaves Chicago, were nine cents per bushel or $180 on the supposed produc-
tion, to which we now add six cents per bushel more, or $120 to the
tax. This leaves a total of $300 paid by the western farmer and the
foreign consumer, or if equally borne, $150 each. I think the fore-
going estimates are all under, rather than over the mark, and this does
not take into consideration the loss hy theft constantly going on. Now
the question for each western farmer to ask himself is this: " Shall I
continue to pay $150 annually to the present system, that is at war with
my interests constantly, trying to buy my goods at the very lowest point?
or would it be to my best interests to pay this $150 into a stock
organization composed of the Patrons of Hunbandry, men whom I know,
those whose interests and my own are identical and then jointly to ship
our goods, and take our pay out of this joint fund?" The reason you
want this fund is to carry your joint shipments to the consumer. For
example, we will suppose that you have jointly loaded twenty -five cars of
corn, or wheat, or oats at Decatur. They are ready for shipment. But
each farmer, that has contributed toward loading them, wants his pay,
that he may pay Iiis way and bring more to market. Now the person, or
persons, at the Eastern port to whom you are going to ship your goods for
distribution to the consumers, or for export, is the person who must pay
for this shipment, therefore, a portion of this fund must be where he can
command it. Then the farmers at Decatur get a bill of lading from the
railroad company for their 25 cars of grain and they go into the Decatur
bank, present their bill of lading and make a sight draft upon this Eastern
agent for the amount their due. The bank pays over the greenbacks for

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 95

the sight draft with the bill of lading as security and then forwards it to an
Eastern bank to be collected from your Eastern agent. When the draft
is presented to your Eastern agent lie pays it (out of the fund you Jmve
already provided for him), and fakins^ the bill of lading, he makes a draft
upon the parties he has sold to and this replenishes the farm, with the
addition of the profit on his sale. The ninth census states that in 1870
there were 25,882,861 acres of farm land in Illinois, of which 19,329,952
acres were improved and that the average size of the farms were 128 acres.
This would give us, on the total amount, the sura of 202,209 farm pro-
prietors. If this number should contribute the $150 each, it would
give a fund of |30,:}31,350, by the single State of Illinois. This is
an enormous sum and yet, if our hypothesis is true, you are throwing
about this amount away j-early, or it is costing you this sum, and you are
not receiving anything for it If you were to contribute the above sum
into a fund and have a certificate of the amount issued to you, you would
furnish the fund that was to benefit yourselves; and get paid for doing it
in the saving in handling and marketing your own productions every year
afterwards. But, if you would each pay in but the one-tenth part of this
sum, yon would have over $3,000,000 as a fund. This would only require
$15 dollars each. But, say a majority of the farmers and planters, " we
haven't the fifteen dollars to spare." This may seem so to you but the
hundred and fifty dollars comes out of you in your present condition every
year. Granting, however, that you feel too poor to invest the fifteen
dollars each. There is yet one other wa^', which although slow in its
accomplishment, will prove successful if honestly carried out. That is
this: Let each farmer (or proprietor of a farm or plantation), this com-
ing year, plant one more acre of corn, wheat, or cotton than he otherwise
intended to do, and promise himself and the club that he belongs to, that
he will give tlie entire proceeds of that acre of com, or wlieat, or cotton,
toward the raising of the means for carrying on this co-operative system
of shipping and selling, and if you will carry this out, you will have
abundant funds for carr3-ing on your co-operative shipments.

This fund could also be used as a banking capital and save you im-
mensely in interest. In this way you could take one million dollars of
it and invest it in government bon'ls at six per cent, gold interest, payable
semi-annually, this would be $00,000. Deposit these bonds with the
government, and receive therefor $900,000 in the "Patrons of Husbandry
National Bank Bills" (or in Greenbacks). (I hope you will not think I
favor National Banks because of this recommendation, for I do not, but as
they biped the people to the tune of 12 to 18 per cent, annually, I favor
your adopting this system to protect yourselves, as it would act as a counter
irritant.) Now instead of going to other National Banks to get your drafts
on your grain and productions discounted, gel it done at your own in-
stitution, and you will save l^ "^ ^^^ P*-'*" cent, in collections alone.
Then &x\y patron tiiat has a good note to discount, discount it for him at
the lowest possible rate. In that operation you can save yourselves three

96 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

or five per cent, annually. But, say the croakers, (those wise men that
are always deriding everything and everybody,) " so you farmers intend
going into banking do you? A nice mess you will make of it. Now we
will see fraud and corruption." To all of which I say — if there is fraud
it will be your own fault, for it lies within your power to prevent it, and
I, for one, believe, there is a little honestj- left, in low places, if there is
none in government offices or places. This same fund could be used in
making purchases of the various implements, dry goods, groceries,
etc., necessary to your support. Here again the fact of the greatness of
your organization will enable the person who makes the purchases to
buy them at the very lowest possible cash price, because of the quantities
he buys and also of his ability to pay cash. At least 20 per cent, can be
saved to you in the grocery and dry goods line; and in farming
machinery no doubt 50 per cent, could be saved in many cases. Then
the same power to ship large quantities westward would enable your
agent to again command the lowest rates of freight that possibly could be
obtained. So that there is the power to save at every point in a co-opera-
tive movement of this nature; in fact everything in its favor, with
scarcely anything to be said against it. The only thing I see against it,
is the possibility of your getting dishonest agents to act for you. But
where you take due business precaution in making your selections, and
select persons qualified by their past experience, for the positions that
you wish to place them in, those who have the executive ability to plan,
to arrange, and to systematize the business; then place such a system of
cTieck upon them that all leaks are stopped; then have an executive
committee to examine daily, weekly or semi-monthly into the condition
of the affairs of your agent, I deem it possible to prevent any dishonest
practices. I have been thus lengthy in describing the details, that we
might stand in a situation where we could fairly answer the question and
then answer it as to whether it would be better to remain as we are or to
strive and better our condition by co-operation. Now I shall briefly
review some of the historical facts of co-operation.

The " History of the Working and Burgher Classes," by M. Adolphe
Granier de Cassagnac, contains an interesting sketch of the Roman
trades-unions in the early history of Rome, of which the following is a
brief condensation, taken from E. Young's "Labor in Europe and America."

"It is related by Plutarch, in his life of 'Numa,' that this king estab-
lished at Rome the Corps of Craftsmen. From that epoch the corporation
in question passed through three successive periods, the first ending
about the time of Vespasian, the second about the time of Constantine,
and the third with the overthrow of that empire. The first period com-
prises that of the trades-unions which originally was spontaneous, and
not the result of authority. Working men of the same craft came
together, agreed upon certain fixed points to regulate their relations, and
elected officers to judge and decide cases arising under their rules. It
was one of the enactments of the Twelve Tables that these rules should

STATE OKANGE OF ILLINOIS. 97

conform to tlie general laws of the State. As the number of slaves and
the cunceutration of property increased, the work of private citizens
came to be chiefly performed bv mechanics of that class, and the Trades-
unions depended more and more on the employment furnished them by
the novernment in the execution of its enormous public works, such as
temples and other public buildings, aqueducts, and those admirable
roads, bridges, ('transportation routes') and other works which not only
in Italy and the East, but throughout Spain, Gaul, Germany, England
and the north of Africa, remained as indestructible monuments of Ronutn
Cicilization. The Trades-unions were thus drawn into closer relations
with the State, were subjected more and more to its regulations, and
finally became its regular functionaries — not merely executing' its works,
but collecting a portion of its 'revenues.' "

" It was by the aid of the Trades-unions that the government organiztd its
administration sendee. There were Trades-unions charged with the collection
of revenues, others supplied Home with provisions, others took care of tfie edi-
fices, others clothed the soldiers, others armed the?n, others supplied the interior
and domestic wants of a city full of riches and devoted to all kinds of
pleasures. Rome in its palmy days.

" The Trades-unions tlien were the framework of bone tlmt supported the
great liom/m body, tlie same as the farmers and Patrons of Husbandry are
the bone and muscle of tlie United States."

" The Roman Trades-unions were of two sorts, the Commercial and Indus-
trial, and bore the name of Corporations. The principal Commercial
Corporations of the Empire were: the sailors' union, the bakers' union,
butchers', limeburners', weavers' and tailors' unions, the shell-fish gath-
erers', silk-dyers,' carriers', wine-merchants', and lumbermen's unions,' and
many others, including a respectable corps of sworn measurers of grain
at the warehouses of the port of Olisa, the great entrepot of Rome."

"The interior organization of the Roman Trades-unions was ver}- sim-
ple. Those of the same trade were divided into groups in the ditfercnt
provinces and cities. A law of llonorius and Theodosius fixes the max-
imum of each of these local unions at five hundred and sixty -three mem-
bers. Each of these unions elected, annually, ofiicers who bore the name
of Patrons.' "

A wonderful coincidence, your Order possesses in the Patrons of
Husbandry, and your relations to our government of this nineteenth cen-
tury, to its revenues, to its existence, to its prosperity, to its transportation
routes (and their management), in fact, to everything pertaining to the
individual prosperity of one and all in our glorious country, is of far
greater importance to-day, on this the evening (as it were) of our first
hundred years of existence, than it ever was before in the history of the
world.

In our land must be worked out the great first principle in humanity,
©f "justice to all." That nation is doomed which seeks the prosperity of
the /*«» individuals, the isolated corporations, hy the cru&hing out of the

98 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

rights of the poorest laborer in the land. No, the eyes of our brother
man are turning to us, to you, from all portions of the globe; and with
outstretched hands are inviting you to co-operate with them, to better
their condition, and thus advance the cause of humanity. Will you grasp
their hands, and respond by actions that speak louder than words ? From
Rome we shall take a stride through time to the present century, and to
our neighbor, England, and see what we can learn there to our profit. I
shall speak of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneer Society, and quote from
the "Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

" This Society is situated in the town of Rochdale, county of Lanca-
shire, England. It is the largest co-operative society in Great Britain,
and its development has been of such general prosperity that it is recog
nized as a powerful exponent of the co-operative system, particularly in
the distributive feature. The initiation of the movement was the result
of discussions relative to enlarging the opportunities of the working
people; they feeling that they were entitled to better wages, and to
receive more of the benefits which their constant labor was realizing for
the community.

" In the early part of the j'ear 1843, manufacturing interests being in a
very prosperous condition, some flannel-weavers' in Rochdale applied for
an increase of wages, believing the time to be exceedingly propitious for
such an effort. They were unsuccessful ; undoubtedly feeling that lack
of success at 8McA a time presaged failure in the future, their condition
was more distinctly portrayed tban ever, and united, and received, serious
consideration. Realizing, that by their own honest efforts must their
improvement be wrought out, they repeatedly met together for inter-
change of views, and to perfect some plan by which their objects could
be accomplished. (The same as you are doing to-da3^)

" Having, however, failed to gain the solution of the problem to the
extent of agreeing upon a particular course of procedure, at the close of
one of the small meetings, something like a dozen of them agreed to
deposit six cents each per week, to form a common fund ; with the ulti-
mate object of carrying on business, both productive and distributive,
when a plan should be perfected.

" Early in the year 1844, at a meeting of workingmen, the contributors
presented the cause uppermost in their minds, and after a full and free
expression of a great diversity of views, they adopted the suggestions
advanced by earnest believers in the principle of co-operation ; and voted
to open a store for the sale of provisions and clothing; to be conducted
on the co-operative idea of dividing the profits to the purchasers." We
quote their declaration of object from Mr. Holyoke's " Self Helps by the
People": 'The objects and plans of this Society are to form arrange-
ments for the pecuniary benefit and improvement of the social and domes-
tic condition of its members, by raising a sufficient amount of capital, in

8TATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 09

shares of one pound each, to bring into operation the following plans and
arrangements:

' 1st. The establishment of a store for the sale of provisions, clotliing,
etc.

'2d. Tlie building, purchasing, or erecting a number of houses in which
those members desiring to assist each other in improving their domestic
and social condition, may reside.

'To commence the manufacture of such articles as the Society may
dftermine upon, for the employinont of such members as maj' be out of
employment, or wlio may be suHering in consequence of repeated reduc-
tions in their wages.

'As a further benefit and security to the members of this Society, the
Society shall purcliase, rent an estate or estate of land, which shall be
cultivated by the members who may be out of emi)i<)yment, or whose
labor may be badly remunerative.

' That as soon as practicable, this Society shall proceed to arrange the
powers of production, distribution, education and government, or in other
words, to establish a self-supporting home colony of united interests, or
assist other societies in establishing such colonies.

' In the month of October, 1844, the Rochdale Equitable Pioneer
Society was registered ; and in December following, with a membership
of about twenty-eight, and a capital of about $140, the store was opened.
Having expended half the sum for fixtures, the working capital was
reduced to about $70, and the goods purchased therewith were exhibited
for sale on the opening night.' "

For the description of the effect produced upon those living in the
vicinity of the store, we again quote Mr Holyoke:

"And on one desperate evening, (the 2l8t of December, 1844,) the Equit-
able Pioneers commenced business; and tlie few who remember the com-
mencement, look back upon their present opulence and success with a
smile at their extraordinary opening-day. It had got wind among the
tradesmen of the town, that tlieir competitors were in the field, and many
a curious eye was that day. turned up ' Toad Lane,' looking for the appear-
ance ot the enemy; but, like other enemies of more historic renown, they
were rather shy of appearing. A few of tlie co-operators had clandes-
tinely assembled to witness tlieir own denouement; and there they stood,
in the dismal, lower room <if the warelumse, like the conspirators under
Guy Fawkes in the Parliamentary cellars, debating on whom should
devolve tlie temerity of taking down the shutters and displaying their
humble preparations. One did not like tn do it, and another did not like
to be seen in the .shop icfien it was done. However, having gone so far,
there was no choice but to go further, and at length, one bold fellow,
utterly reckless of consequences, rushed :it the shutters, and in a few
minutes '^ Toad Lane' was in a titter. On tliat night the b<>ys came out
in full force in Toad Lane; peeping with ridiculous impertinence round
the corners, ventilating their opinion at tlie top of their voices; inspect-

100 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

ing with pertinacious insolence the scanty arrangement of butter and
oatmeal. At length they exclaimed in full chorus:

'Aye! the owd Weaver's shop is open at Last!'

"They experienced much trouble from the limited amount of funds in
their possession- Nothing daunted, however, they immediately took steps
to remedy the difficulty, and in the year 1845, the members of the Society
voted to increase their capital to |5,000. This was paid in by installments
of six cents per week. Up to March, 1845, they kept open only two
nights in each week. Then they determined to keep open several hours
each of four days in the week. At the close of the year 1845, the mem-
bership had increased to seventy-four, and their capital to $905. Sales for
the year aggregated $3,550, and profits to members equaled $160.

" The next three years (1846-47-48,) the Society progressed slowly, and
the close of 1848 found them with one hundred and forty members, and a
capital of $1,985. The sales had grown to $11,380, and profits to "$580.
They now had to increase their accommodations, and the whole of the
building was then leased on a long term. At the close of 1849 the mem-
bership had increased to 390 members, and a capital of $5,965.

" In the year 1850, the Society doubled its membership, having in
December 600, and a capital of $11,495, and sales amounting to $65,895,
and the disposable profits reached the sum of $4,445. In April, 1851,
they decided to keep their store open all day, and its management
placed in the hands of a superintendent and two assistants. At the end of
the year the sales were $88,190, and disposable profit was $4,950. During
the yeai's 1852-53-54, the Society constantly grew in membership. The
capital was increased each year, sales and profits also increased, and at
the end of the year 1854 the membership was 900; capital $35,860; sales
for the year were $166,820, and profits disposable, $8,815. In 1855, the
Pioneer Society rapidly increased in membership, numbering in Decem-
ber 1,400. The capital also increased to $55,160, while the sales equaled
$224,510, and the profits $15,530. In 1857, the membership grew to 1,850,
and a corresponding increase in other respects. For the next thirteen
years a constant gain in membership was mader. At the end of the year
1871, the number of members was 6,021; the capital, $598,225. The
sales of the year were $1,238,370, on which the disposable profit was
$117,040.

" The beginning of the year 1874, disclosed the society progressing won
derfuUy, its membership being more than seven thousand. Its assets were
$927,215, its capital $868,055.

" The sales for the year 1873 amounted to $1,436,000, and the disposable
profit from all sources to $159,785. The capital averaged $122 per mem-
ber. The average dividend to each, based on share capital, aside from five
per cent, interest paid on some, was about seventeen per cent., and
this was after the customary charging off; as depreciation on fixed stock
had been made, and two and a half per cent, on net profits had been
applied for educational purposes. It will be borne in mind that the

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 101

'dividend' is ba^ed ou the purchases; we have expressed it herein as so
much per cent, on share capital, as in order to become a member one is
obliged to buy shares, and in trading with the co-operative store he
receives at least as much for his expenditure as he would elsewhere, and
also receives the percentag«,' stated on his capital invested. In addition
to this gain, each member is part owner in assets of greater pecuniary
value than is represented by the figures given, as the annual custom
of charging off a stated percentage for depreciation, has reduced the assets
as expressed on paper below their market value. During the twenty-
nine years of the existence of the Society, it has sold goods to the value of
f 17,861,015, and the profits made have been $2,160,485."

If such a remarkable success can be had in a small city in England,
where the percentage of profit is very small on business conducted in the
usual way, what a lesson it is for the industrial class represented by the
Patrons of Husbandry of the United States. I have been quoting at length
to f\i\\y iUustraite tfie pluck, the perseverance &nd energy of those men who
began by depositing six cents per week each, and fromthat .small beginning
dates their social advancement and future thrift and enjoyment. Will the
Patrons of Husbandry say now that they cannot donate the product of one
acre ui grain or cotton toward establishing a system of co-operative ship-
ping and distribution that is full of the promise of success as an invest-
ment, besides being the certain remedy for the evils that now beset their
system of exchange or distribution. If each Patron in the United States
will deposit fifty cents per week for a year, they will have a fund next
December large enough to move their crops of grain, pork, cotton and
rice with perfect ease. And I would earnestly suggest the propriety of
your deciding upon some such method at this meeting, before you leave
for your homes. I cannot leave this subject without a quotation from
that valuable article of Worthy Master Colonel D. Wyatt Aiken, Master of
State Grange of South Carolina, and which I trust every Patron will read
if they have not done so:

" Experience teaches that where the superbundant water-power of every
Southern State has been utilized in propelling spiuningjeunics, or looms,
both thread and cloth have been turned out at a cost less than can be done
in a more Northern latitude. Where the cotton crops manufactured in
the South, the saving on freight and the increased price of the manu-
factured article would alone add sixty per cent, to the value of this staple
product, to say nothing of the millions of thrifty, intelligent, industrious
laborers it would invite into that salubrious section. But anomalous as it
may appear, the bulk of thread and cloth manufactured at the South is
first exposed for sale in Northern countries. Southern merchants lay in
their stock (of Southern manufactured goods,) in Northern cities. Here
again tlie Oranges have tJiepinoer to prevent this drainage upon the industry
and energy of l/ie farmer. I have thus, with much reluctance but great
earnestness, endeavored to present to the Patrons of Husbandry the advan-
tage and practicability of condensing the bulk and increasing the value of

102 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

their products, and then of shipping them directly to the consumer. That it
can be done, has been and is dail}^ being proven. Just so surely as it is not
generally done tlie farmers of our country will continue to be the hewers of
xcood and drawers of water for the speculator, and middh-nien who like
vampires are destroying the industrial energies of our country."

TRANSPORTATION.

The subject of transportation, that is, "cheap transportation" is so
closely related to the producer, the consumer, the merchant, the manu-
facturer, that it would seem almost unnecessary to wearj' you with any of
its details. The factory girl in a New England cotton mill, as she toils
wearily and oxertaxed at her loom, has an interest at stake, for to her it
means cheap or dear board, all of which must be paid out of her small
earnings. Her employer, the manufacturer, has a three-fold interest in
cheap transit; fir-st, in the less freight upon the cotton from the plantation
to his factory ; second, the cheaper cost of board to his employees means
less amount of wages to be paid for labor; third, cheaper freight on the
manufactured articles, means larger profits to him; also, cheaper cloth to
the Western and Southern consumer, and in turn, the Western producer
of grain, pork and provisions, with the Southern producer of cotton,
tobacco, sugar and rice, each realize a larger margin of profit on their
products by reason of this cheaper transportation, while all that portion
of our brother humanitj^ who toil East, West, North or South, for hire, are
mutually interested in this question, for it oftentimes means to them work
or no work, the latter situation bringing starvation and beggary. For
five years previous to September, 1872, it cost the farmers of Illinois an
average of three bushels of corn to pay the freight on one to New York
city or about 49 '".ents at that time. During that same Winter of 1872,
Iowa was burning an average of 50,000 bushels of corn daily, and many a
poor laborer East was hungry for this very corn, and why was this?
Because a bushel of corn in Iowa was only worth 10 to 15 cents and two
bushels of corn would give as much fuel as a bushel of coal which cost
40 cents. The farmer was, therefore, practising economy by burning his
corn. In discussing the question of cheap transportation, we confine our-
selves entirely to railroads, as the water routes are the people's routes
upon which any one has a right to put a boat or vessel and compete for
the carrying traffic. This is the way our railroads should be managed;
made public highways or turnpikes upon which any one could place cars
and run them in accordance with the time table, or the highwaj- should be
owned by the people, that is, the Government or States through which
the road passes, so that it could compete with private corporations for the
business of the country. I do not believe we can have the cheapest trans-
portation (such transportation as we should have, to be prosperous) until
we have a People's Freight railway, or a Government railroad to compete
with the private corporations. The corporations always will combine for
their mutual welfare. When they so combine, competition is at an end.

STATE ORANGE OF ILLINOIS. 103

Our present railway system is one of most gigantic proportions, amount-
ing now to 74,000 miles nearly, with a nominal capital of $4,2U0,()00,UU0
—ttoice our national debt. The interest at seven per cent, on this capital,
reaches the enormous sum of $294,000,000 annually. And tiie most
astonishing fact is, that all of this wealth is manipulated by a very
few men; you could count them upon the lingers of }our hands. These
railway kings sit in their offices. To-morrow morning, with the telegraph
wire running into each office, they can summon each other together, th&t
is, each will sit down by his operator, and they can communicate back
and forth a few moments, during which time they decide to advance
freights ten cents per hundred. It is done and at noon a tribute is laid
upon the grain productions of the Western States alone, amounting to six
cents upon every bushel of wheat, five cents and six mills upon every
bushel of corn in the West (just figure that up on this year's corn crop in
the State of Illinois, 5 6-10) and three cents and two mills on every bushel
of oats.

But this is not quite enough : In July, grain from Peoria to Troy,
N. Y., and from Chicago to Troy was 20 cents per 100 pounds.
About two months since four or five railway kings met in a private
parlor of a New York hotel and decided to advance rates, and at this
writing they are now, 40 cents per 100 from Peoria to Troy, N. Y., and
another advance of 10 cents more expected soon. So, in one stroke, they
advanced 100 per cent, or 12 cents per bushel on wheat, eleven cents and
two mills on corn and six cents and four mills on oats. Figure this upon
your grain crop of this year and then answer whether the President of
the United States dare exercise such a power? Should Congress tax your
productions so much in so short a time you would trot them out of the
Capitol at the point of the bayonet. If any despot on the face of the
earth should attempt the exercise of such a power, he would be assassi-
nated; and yet the American people tamely submit to it, doubtful
whether thej* will attempt to remedy this gigantic and despotic power.
The railroads have become so powerful that they control our legislatures.
A prominent railroad man recently said "that he could not be troubled
nominating and trying to elect men. He preferred to wait until they
were elected and then take care of themV In the report of the committee
appointed to investigate tlie affairs of the Erie Railroad in 1872, we find
the following: "It is further in evidence that it has been the custom of
the managers of the Erie Railroad, from year to year in the past, to spend
large sums of money to control elections and to influence legislation. In
the year 1868, more than a million of dollars was paid for "extra and
legal services." Mr. Gould also testified that it would be as impossible
to specify the numerous instances as it would to recall to mind the
numerous freight cars sent over the Erie road from day to day." (See
testimony, P. 566.) As long as the unseen demon of bribery stalks
through the lobbies of all our halls of legislation, both State and
National, so long will the people's representatives be bought and sold.

104 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

Would it were possible to be more charitable; but not until the manhood
of the people is aroused, and they frown down a lobbyist as they would a
a traitor, can they be free from suspicion. By their acts have our public
lands been squandered, given away with a prodigal recklessness.

Our present system of transportation is carried on by two methods,
rail and water. As the water routes will freeze up and remain out of use
five months of the year (in the northern or grain-growing States,) and as this
is from the time when the corn crop, the hog crop and the oat and wheat
crops are in greatest demand in our Eastern States, and as tlic largest
section of interior New England cannot be touched by navigable rivers,
neither can the Western States use their watercourses in the Winter; it
follows that the internal commerce of this country must rely upon rail-
roads for its prosperity. And those men who have given this subject the
greatest amount of thought are fast coming to the conclusion that I'ail-
roads (um carry cheaper, all things taken into consideration, than canals.
Facts talk the best : During this past season, the firm I am connected
with (who handle more grain than any other firm in the Eastern States
for our legitimate business), have not had a bushel of grain by canal ; and
we are at the junction of the Erie canal and the Hudson river with the
Champlain canal running by our door, as it were ; and why ? you ask.
Simply because we could get it. cheaper by the New York Central Rail-
road than we could by the Erie canal; and this year's freight on the
canal has been the lowest I ever knew. The same is true of the railroads.
I stated before the " National Board of Trade" in 1872, that a ton of
freight could be carried a thousand miles by rail (upon a properly con-
structed road) for two dollars and a half per ton ; upon the supposition
that the road could have all the freight it could carry; I did not mean
one or two trains per day, but all that could be run day and night. I now
think that it would be hard to tell how cheaply we might carry freight
upon a road over which there was a constantly moving stream of freight.
We would be astonished at the low figure it could be done for; just think
of a constantly moving stream of freight. I would liken it unto a belt
moving constantly East on one track and constantly West upon the other —
upon which was the products of one section going to those who needed
them in the other section and returning filled with the goods of another
land, all done by that untiring power of '■'■steam'''' guided by its sister
'■'electricity.''' It calls to mind a portion of Geo. W. Cutter's poem,
written in 1848, entitled, ''The Song of Steam."

" I blow the bellows, I forge the steel,

In all the shops of trade ;
I hammer the ore and turn the wheel

Where my arm of strength is made.
I manage the furnace, — the mill, the mint —

I carry, I spin, I weave;
And all my doings I put into print

On every Saturday eve.

STATE ORANGE OF ILLINOIS. 105

I've no muscles to wt-ary, no breast to decay,

No bones to be ' laid ou the shelf,'
And soon I intend you may 'go and ploy ^

Whih T manage ihis irorld myself.
But lutrmss me down with your iron bands,

Be sure of vour curb and rein ;
For I scorn liie strength of your puny hands,

As the tempest scorns a chain ! "

How truly that poet pictures out our present situation. The locomotive,
as it steams athwart our continent, can truly say, "I've no muscles to
weary." On, on it utridi'n carrying the products of the labor of a thou-
sand (yea, ten thousand) laborers on every train.

The greatest secret of money making in this country, or any other, is to
combine the profits of the labor of the largest number of laborers. Hence
tluit man or corporation who can keep at work the largest number of peo-
ple, can accumulate the fastest, providing there is a profit on the labor.
So that in co-operative shipping and selling the S«)ciety have the profits
of the united labor of all that is represented in their products, and they
also employ the united labor and power of the locomotives and trains
necessary to carry those products to the nearest seaport. If that be
New York, Boston, or Portland, it requires one week's work of one or
half a dozen locomotives to carry these products to market besides the
men necessary to manage this train. I have never seen the estimate made
of the number of horse-power of a thirty ton locomotive, but will assume
it to be six hundred horse-power, and a horsepower to be equal to three
man-power, we should than have six hundred multiplied by three, equal
to 1,800 men. Thns you see you have the labor of eighteen hundred men
working for you day and night (while you wake and while you sleep) for
a whole week. What would the labor of that number of men be worth
to you in that time if it had to be paid for at the ordinary price of day
labor? Now, think if the Granges of Illinois and other States should so
unite and co-operate in shipping, that it would keep twenty trains con-
stantly going East with your productions. This would represent the labor
of ;iG,000 men engaged in hauling your productions, to say nothing of the
number required to load and unload this freight. This labor takes it to
the Eastern seaport or consumer. If it goes further East over the ocean
by steamship, here again you emi)loy the agency of steam, representing a
thousand horse-power, or 3,000 more men ; add to this one thousand more
necessary to load all those cars and handle the freight and put on board
steamers, and you have the combined labor of 40.000 men (or that which
equals it,) working for you constantly. And this is all possible for you to
attain, tliere is nothing visionary about it. This twenty trains, or say
four hundred cars per day, is not the one-tenth part of the trattic that your
productions are giving to the railroads. I have often seen the arrival of
nine hundred cars of corn and grain in Chicago per day, to say nothing
of the live stock and other products. All that is wanted is a Trunk Line
of railroad, double track, devoted to the height business and the united
8

106 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

co-operation of the farmers, and you can realize far more than the labor
even of 40,000 men.

The following report of the Committee on Railway Transportation, of
the New York Cheap Transportation Association, will be found of great
value and significance as relating to this question of a freight railway:
"The Committee on Railway Transportation respectfully submit the
following preliminary report upon the necessity of a freight railway to
the West, hoping that it may evoke discussion which will further the
objects in view. It is generally admitted that business is in a depressed
condition, that our receipts of grain and other exportable products have
not increased in proportion to those of other ports, that many of our
manufacturers are working at a disadvantage, that our great jobbing
trade in almost every branch has to relinquish a portion of its legitimate
profit in order ' to make up for the difference in freights,' and that so
considerable a portion of our commerce has already been diverted, that
its effect has been severely felt by the owners of real estate. In Baltimore
and Philadelphia, the situation is much more favorable, and when we
look for the cause we find it is largely the result of having the great lines
of transportation over which their commerce flows operated in the inter-
est of that commerce ; surplus earnings are invested in extending these
lines and completing their facilities, and when complete, rates of freight
are reduced, and at all times their own citizens are given special rates
for the avowed purpose of fostering their commerce. In New York the
following brief chapter from the history of the New York Central and
Hudson River Railroads, will tell its own story : In 1853 the New York
Central Railroad was formed by the consolidation of ten separate organi-
zations, owning the route between the Hudson River and the lakes. The
combined amount of share capital and convertible bonds of these separate
organizations was $23,235,000, but a considerable portion of share capital
had not been paid in. The equalizing process of the consolidation was
that the Troy and Schenectady Company — that being the least produc-
tive of all — should come in at par, while the holders of stock or converti-
ble bonds of the other roads received a premium in consolidated six per
cent, debt certificates, ranging from seventeen to fifty-five per cent.,
making an issue of these certificates amounting to $8,894,500, or over
thirty per cent, on the true share capital of the company. From this time
down to 1867, there had been no material change in the total of stock and
debt of the New York Central Company, other than what could be nearly
accounted for by actual value received, and its capital account was then
represented by $28,537,000 of stock and $12,069,820 of bonds, a total of
(including the water) $40,606,820. The Hudson River Railroad Company
at the time had a share capital of $7,000,000 and a bonded debt of $7,227,-
000 — total, $14,227,000, making these two companies, which in 1860 were
consolidated, stand in 1867 as follows: Stock, $35,537,000 and bonds
$19,296,820, or a total capital account of $54,833,820. During 1867 the
Hudson River Company presented its stockholders with $3,500,000 stock,

STATE ORANGE OF ILLINOIS. 107

or a dividend of fifty per cent.; and again, at the time of consolidation,
anolhrr of eighty-five per cent, on the outstanding stock of $16,000,000,
making an issue of $13,625,000. The New York Central Company had
in 1868 presented its stockholders with $23,036,000, or eighty per cent.,
followed by one of twenty-seven per cent. $7,775,000, at the time of con-
solidation. Thus in the space of two years the now New York Central
and Hudson liiver Railroad Company added to its capital the small sura
of $47,936,000, created out of nothing but the will of its Directors and the
mixture t)f paper and printer's ink. From 1870 to 1872, the bonded debt
was increased each year by one or two millions of dollars, since which it
has been increased some twenty million dollars, for purposes of construc-
tion. Who shall say if any, or how much, of this has been additional
"water" to make up the necessary amount of $7,200,000 for annual divi-
dends? It will be seen by the foregoing, that the known fictitious cajjital
of this company, including the issue of 1853, is some ten million dollars
greater than the real capital which had been invested down to 1869. This
road, as is well known, pays regularly eight per cent, on its entire stock.
Suppose it had, instead of manufacturing stock as above described,
reduced its charges for transportation until they yielded but eight or ten
per cent, upon its bona fide obligations, would we not have maintained
our native position in the race for commercial supremacy? The Erie
Canal, before the advent of railways, placed New York far in advance of
other cities, and with equal railway facilities she need never fear a fair
competition. T?ie volume of bitsiness done entitles her to Imoer rates than
other points, fcr it is well known tluit the proportionate cost of transportation
decreases very rapidly as the volume of business increases. What is true in
regard to the management of the New York Central, is also true of the
Erie; both of these great highways have been managed as if the public
were made expressly for their use, and that it had no rights which they
were bound to respect. The stockholders even have been swindled
by the managing Directors, and the history of the transportation system
of this State, shows that this great business has fallen into the hands of a
few men, who have no interest in the development of commerce, and wlio,
feeling secure in their control of our highways, exact such toll as they
please. Our present system of transportation is so filled with defects and
abuses that the public are taxed at least double what they ought to pay
for the service rendered, and if this is continued our commerce and all
other interest dependent thereon must suffer further.

The question then arises how can this state of things be remedied?
The roads having watered their stocks cannot now reduce them. You cannot
legislate the water out that has been put in. The managers will not
reduce rates until compelled to do so, and they can only be compelled by
competition. Some people advocate competition by canals, but canals
are closed a great part of the year, are too slow for many classes ot goods,
and cannot reach many parts of the continent. The elements of speed
and certainty enter so largely into the calculations of modern commerce

108 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

that railroads have become the favorite means of transport, and, as in the
case of the post office and the telegraph, the public vrill often pay a
higher price for quicker transit. This element of time has a greater
bearing upon the subject of transportation than is generally understood;
it is not alone the interest on capital saved; trade combinations are made
and plans are consummated which would not otherwise be practicable.
Capital can sometimes be turned often at close margins with greater profit
to the owner than on a less number of transactions with larger margins.
Railroads have become the great distributors, and we are therefore forced
to the conclusion that a double track railroad exclusively for freight,
honestly built for ready money, will furnish the most eflfective competi-
tion. All our estimates of the cost of transportation bj- rail are based on
the results of mixed passenger and freight traffic, in which, of necessity,
passenger trains have the right of waj-, and freight trains have to lie up
much of the time when the\' should be rolling on to their destination; owing
to these detentions the present average speed of freight trains is under
five miles per hour, while upon a road exclusively for freight, an average
of ten miles an hour could be attained, and the capacity of the road so
increased that freight charges could be reduced one-half. With such a
road to Chicago and St. Louis, (with ultimate extension to other distribu-
ting points,) operated in the interest of its respective termini, as the
Baltimore and Ohio is in the interest of Baltimore, New York need fear
no rivals, and if we are to retain our commercial supremacy such a road
is an absolute necessity. The cost of such a work would probably be
about 170,000.000 per 1000 miles of double track of the standard guage,
or $45,000,000 for the same distance of narrow guage. A large sum, but
one which the real estate interests of New York alone could afford to
contribute, and which, with the hearty co-operation of the different mer-
cantile interests, it is by no means impossible to raise. New York City
now loses, in reduced profits on merchandise, reduced rents on real estate,
and exorbitant prices for transportation, more than $70,000,000 ever}'
year, and could well afford to build such a road alone. But it would also
benefit the West to an equal extent, and doubtless some aid for such an
enterprise could be secured in that quarter. The capital stocks of all the
trunk lines connecting New York with the interior have been watered
until the original amounts have been doubled, and in some instances
trebled, and they have all been subject, at some period of their existence,
to mismanagement and stealing, which has greatly enhanced their cost.
They also have been made up by consolidating a large number of small
lines built to develop localities without reference to the requirements of
through freight traffic, and do a mixed passenger and freight business
which greatly reduces their capacity for freight purposes alone. Is it
any wonder that with all these defects, and controlled by men whose only
aim is to charge rates ' as high as the merchandise will stand ' without
being prohibitory, that our commerce is declining in the face of the sharp
competition of other cities ? The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad runs for

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. lUU

a great part of the way through a mountainous countrj', with heavy
grades and short curves; is operated with a mixed traffic; has carried
through freight for the past ten years at less rates than any olhtT of tlie
trunk lines, yet has paid ten per cent, dividends: has accumulated a
surplus of oTcr thirty millions of dollars, and its stock is never seen upon
the market except at executor's sales. Is it too much to expect of an
exclusive freight road, (or one on which jjassenger traffic would be subor-
dinate to freight,) built on a hard-pan basis at the present low prices of
labor and materials, connecting the Garden of the West with the principle
seaport of the nation, and competing with roads having all the defects
before mentioned, that it would pay fair dividends on the capital invested?
In the opinion of your committee it would pay reasonable dividends from
the time it was opened for business, and within five years from that time
would accumulate a traffic which would enable it to carrj- at half the
average rates for the past five years, and make it pay as largely as the
Baltimore and Ohio now does. But suppose it did not pay one penny of
interest, and that it sunk all of its earnings, it would be the best invest-
ment the merchants and property-owners along its line and its respective
termini could make, f(»r it would, as before stated, save its entire cost each
year, save it U) the merchants and manufacturers, the producers and con-
sumers, both at the East and West. Save it in the increased value and
productiveness of real estate, and save it ten times over to the whole
country in the effect that it would have upon the management of our
present railway system. And here we will remark that unless some
power is brought to bear to prevent and counteract the abuses which have
crept into every stage of the construction and operation of our modern
highways, and which now tax the many for the benefit of the few — unless
some power steps in and prevents reckless and unscrupulous speculators
in ' Wall street 'from using the vast wealth thus obtained to further
reduce the profits of merchants, manufacturers, and producers — these
interests may as well acknowledge that they are subordinate to and
governed by the common carrier, who was established to carry their pro-
ducts; certain it is that the logic of events since the discovery of steam
and its application to the purposes of transportation, point strongly in
that direction, and the legislation of the day is largely in the interest of
this privileged class.

The merchants and property owners of Baltimore and Pliiladel|)hia, rec-
ognizing tlie importance of transportation to their interests, have invested
a portion of their capital in thai direction, and as before stated, control
their lines, while we in New York have been indifferent to this great
question, have allowed our lines to pass from our control, are now sutl'er-
ing from the effects of that policy, and unless something is done about it,
will continue to suffer in a constantly increasing ratio. Our situation is
like the owner of a valuable coal mine who can produce the best quality
of coal at a lower price than any competing mine, but wlio has no voice
in the managena-nt of its transportation to market, and whose legitimate

110 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

profits are therefore absorbed by those who control his transportation and
who have not the prescience to make their profits from fostering com-
merce b}^ h)w rates and increased business. The wisdom of this latter
policy may be recognized by comparing the policy of the Baltimore and
Ohio road, with that of the New York Central and its connecting roads.
Another feature in the agitation for reform in the conduct of our transpor-
tation system is that the older and more prominent merchants of this city
and of all large cities throughout the United States are many of them
antagonistic to any movement looking toward improved transportation
facilities. When we come to examine into this anomalous feature, we find
that these men were once identified with the welfare of our active com-
mercial interests, in which they were at that time prominent, but having
accumulated a surplus capital have gone into the railroad business or
invested their capital in securities of railways having all the defects we
have pointed out, and are now opposed to progress in a direction which
would probably depreciate the value of their securities; in short, are now
interested in taxing the very commerce with which they were once actively
identified, to sustain the abuses of a defective system of transportation.
This is, of course, natural, but it does not follow that the merchants, man-
ufacturers, and property-owners at the East, and- the entire producing and
commercial interests of the West should passively endure these evils with-
out eflFort to remedy them. It has been said of stock watering, that where
it represents surplus earnings invested in improvements, the stockholders
are entitled to such increase in value of their property; but it should be
remembered primarily that a railroad is semi-public in its nature; that it
is granted certain privileges, among which is the right of eminent domain
— the right to take private property against the will of its owner, " because
it is for public use" — and therefore it owes some duties to the public,
which a private citizen or a manufacturing company does not. Again,
most of our railways have been projected and built for the purposes of
local development, but having accomplished that object and been largely
paid for by local interests, have been unable in their early stages, before a
large traffic developed, to pay as an investment, and have passed at low
prices into the hands of capitalists, who instead of reducing rates as traffic
increased, watered their stock so that public attention might be diverted
from their immense profits, and when the commercial and other classes
ask for lower rates and demur at the practice of stock watering and other
abuses, they claim credit for constructing improved highways with which
they had origiuall}^ nothing to do, and that they are entitled to reap the
entire benefit resulting from the application of the giant power of steam to
the purposes of transportation. Highwaj's are necessarily public in
character, and until the application of steam, as noted above, were the
exclusive property of the public. Since the discovery of steam, commerce
has increased a thousand fold, and as it increased has extended its bound-
aries and become dependent upon transportation in even a still greater
ratio; indeed, it may be said at this period, transportation is commerce,

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. Ill

and commerce is transportation. How necessary is it tlion tliat the com-
mercial interest, and others wliich are largely dependent ujjon the pros-
perity of that interest, should have some voice in the niauagement of our
transportation system.

We have stated the prohable cost of a railroad to the West such as we
have described at about seventy millions of dollars, and the most impor-
tant point to be considered is how this sum can be raised. We have shown
that both our real estate and commercial interests are largely interested
in this subject, and are yearly losing more than that sum for the want of
such a road. We believe that if a hearty co-operation of these interests
can be obtained, the amount can be raised, say one-half in this city, one-
quarter at the West and along its line, and one-quarter on first mortgage
construction bonds. If the merchants of New York will take stock in
such a road to the extent of one per cent, upon their annual sales for
three years, it would raise the entire sum, or if our real estate owners
would do the same to the extent of seven per cent, upon the present re-
duced valuation of their property, it would raise the entire sum, as it is
certain that unless we' in .some way obtain lower rates of freight both mer-
chants and real estate owners will have to submit to greater losses than
these: and as it is almost equally certain that capital invested in an
honestly constructed and managed railroad, would, as before estimated,
pay largely as an investment by itself, there ought not to be much diffi-
culty in raising capital to carrji- out such an enterprise.

"The American Hoard of Transportation and Commerce," (formerly
Cheap Transportation Association) met in Chicago on W'ednesday, 15th of
December, to discuss the Transportation question. It is to be regretted
that our meetings thus accidentally come in conflict with each other
as we are all working toward the same object. This question of a
people's railroad will come up there and we hope to have the moral
support of every farmer and patron in the United States in favor of
the building of such a road.

I wish you could, when you adjourn, come there in a body and aid
us; and if not possible to do that, that you send a special delegation
for that purpose.

With the sincere hope that your efl'orts at co-operation and cheap
transportation may be carried with success.

I remain, truly your friend,

R. H. FERGUSON.

112 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

WHAT THE GRANGE MAT AGCOMPLISH*

Worthy Master, Brothers and Sisters:

In accepting the invitation of your committee to address you on this
occasion, in accordance with the liberty granted me, I have chosen to
speak upon what the Grange may accomplish.

I acknowledge that in approaching my subject I do it with extreme
difl3dence, from the fact that there are brothers present who have expressed
their disapproval of some of the doctrines I advocate, not as I conceive
because they were wrong in principle, but because they were in advance of
the times; and, perhaps, these brothers have not caught up with the spirit
of the age, and advanced with advancing ideas upon the great questions
that underlie our movement and the means necessary to remove the dis-
abilities under which the labor of the country is resting, and have con-
sequently failed to realize the means that are necessary to this object.

For myself, I freely admit that I have been radical from the beginning
of our movement, perhaps for years before these brothers ever gave a
thought to the degraded condition that labor -occupies, or if they did,
tacitly accepted it as its normal condition, governed b}^ a power over which
they have no control.

Despite all attempts to keep them down, the smouldering fires
have burst forth, and we are to-day witnessing a spectacle new in the
history of the world, when all labor in every department of industry is
rising in self-defense and forming in solid phalanx to resist the encroach-
ments of corporate and consolidated capital upon its rights. No matter
whether the weak and timid may shrink from the contest with a powerful
foe, there are strong arms and gallant hearts enough to grapple with him,
and by a united, determined effort, crush out forever the enemies of labor
and establish its rights upon the immutable principles of justice. And
whether they will or not,

" 'Tis coming up the steep of time.

And this old world is growing brighter;
We may not see its dawn sublime.

Yet high hopes make the hearts grow lighter,
Some may be sleeping in the ground

When it awakes the world in wonder;
But we have felt it gathering round.

And heard its voice of living thunder."

" What is wit is wit," said Byron, what the Grange has accomplished
has gone into history, what it may accomplish, whether its future shall go
out in darkness, and we shall be what Charles Francis Adams says we now
are, a "Phenomenon of the past," or whether we shall demonstrate that
labor has within itself the inherent power to protect itself and to elevate and

*An address delivered by S. M. Smith, before the Patrons of Husbandry, at their
annaal meeting, December, 1875.

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 113

make noble that pursuit which above all others is man's necessity, depends
upon whether we wisely and honestly use the means in our hands, and
leaving out all selfishness, all ambition, determine to make our Order the
great benefactor of our class, not only pecuniarily but mentally, morally
and socially.

That we have accomplished much, perhaps more than any labor organi-
zation ever yet has in the same time, is undoubted.

That we have not accomplished all that was attainable, and made our
work so attractive as to keep alive an increasing interest in it, is proven
to me by the lukewarmness of many who were enthusiasts but a year
or two ago, and by the letters I receive. The following extracts are but
samples.

"Will you come down on a given day and address a Grange pic-nic?
The Granges in this county have got the dry-rot, we need something to
arrest it." From another county : "Our Granges seem to have lost inter-
est in our work, and meetings are thinly attended, and we need a general
stirring up." From West Virginia a brother writes : " We have got over
the enthusiasm of organization, we now need instruction, advice and
encouragement. Come over and help us."

The above, in a greater or less degree, are no doubt the experiences of
very many Granges. Having gotten over the enthusiasm of organization,
or the newness having worn ott, the novelty having ceased, there has been
a tdo general lack of attendance and of interest, and notwithstanding the
rosy pictures drawn by many who write and talk upon the Grange, it is
patent to all who have observed, that we have outgrown the period when,

" By nature's kindly law

We are pleased with a rattle
And tickled with a straw,"

and that something more substantial, more attractive than the mere routine
work of the Grange must be introduced if we would make that progress
which the exigencies of the times demand, and I rejoice that this body
has taken the initiative step in this direction by inviting speakers to dis-
cuss such questions as finance and revenue, questions that are so imper-
fectly understood by the majority of those who are so deeply interested in
them, and which affect every man, whether a producer or consumer. I hope
other State Granges may follow our example, and make sucli gatherings
educational instead of so much mere relative work as has been the prac-
tice heretofore.

The National Grange has, in reducing salaries, set an example worthy of
our following, and we will freely forgive them for their many shortcom-
ings for this one act that cannot fail to be beneficent in its effects upon
our future welfare, for, while denouncing salary grabs, and increase of
salaries in public offices, to be honest and consistent we should guard
against all such tendencies in our Order, and besides, high salaries operate
as organized war upon members of such an organization as ours; they
become prizes for the sordid and corrupt, and attract sordid men to office.

114 - PROCEEDINaS OF THE

consequently offices are too apt to be filled with such. Keep down sala-
ries if you would raise virtue and public spirit up.

Let no sordid man be encouraged in his appetite for office, for .all such
are a public curse, a promoter of oppression, taxation and demoralization.

The best men will serve us best, and most economically for the rewards
of honor and gratitude, and we should attend to our duties and seek out
such men. The greatest vice of our present state of society is the conces-
sion that office confers superior rank upon its holder, and that office when
acquired is permitted to be used as a class privilege. The bitter fruits of
these concessions are, that man's self-governing abilities are dwarfed
almost to extinguishment by the imposition of human authority in almost
every walk of life.

I sa}^ then, tempt not sordid men with office, nor concede to its holder
superior rank. It is contrary to the genius of our institutions and especially
inconsonant to an organization like ours, but make office, as far as possi-
ble, honorary, thus securing the best men among us to fill them, and pay
only where such services are rendered as demand it, then have the services
commeasurate with the pay.

In my judgment the National Grange should have laid out the work for
the Subordinate Granges for the accomplishment of the reforms we seek.
As a great representative body with all the facts before it, it should be ag-
gressive. To conserve old wrong is not its nor our mission, but to grapple
them with a force and power equal to the power that oppresses us, and as
the stream never rises above the fountain, it is to be feared that until they
rise up to the magnitude of the work we have in hand the Subordinate
Granges will not.

It is only natural that a reaction should follow the enthusiasm that
characterizes our movement in the beginning, but the sober second thought
is generally more efficient and nearer right, and as the causes that brought
our movement into existence instead of being removed are, if possible, in-
tensified, if then we were right in denouncing monopolies and the extor-
tions of railroads, the right still continues with us because all the wrongs
we then complained of still exist, and the means by which monopolies and
corporate capital continue to prey upon labor, may be summed up in the
one word combination.

The bankers meet in convention, and the rate of interest is uniform with
all up to the rates permitted in the several States, and all competition
ceases.

A few railroad magnates meet and the price for carrying our corn and
other products to the sea goes up to a price that will extort $15,000,000
from the farmers of Illinois. The Lumberman's Association hold a meeting
in Chicago, and within two weeks the price of lumber goes up in every
yard in the State. So with the stove men, plow men, and even the under-
takers have combined, so that it is about as expensive for a man to die as
to live. While the National Grange meets and holds a session of some weeks,
the State Granges are holding their annual meetings, but the price of our

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 115

products have not apprccitited hut instead have depreciated, in consequence
of the comhinations that have meantime heen formed against us, and no
counter comhinations for our protection liave, so far as I have ohserved,
beau attempted or suggested, and the robbery and wrong goes on, and the
mniiv are growing poorer, while the few are ani'issing colossal fortunes.
In this one word, combination, lies all their power, destroying all compe-
tition and we are prostrate at their feet.

Tlie census of 1870 divided the population into 20,000,000 farmers,
8,000,000 mechanics and 7,000.000 of all other lab^r, making 3.5,000,000
who create the wealth of the country, against o, 000,000 who create nothing,
and yet this small minority, through their combinations, had succeeded in
absorbing nearly two-thirds of the entire wealth of the country, by simply
handling the products of labor, or loaning money at a rate far in excess of
the increase of productive industry.

I am well aware that it is urged that we can never reach a point where
we can successfully combine to meet the combinations against us, but, as
yet, we have never tried to do so. Many things are possible where men will
and determine, but nothing is possible without eff )rt. I am confident that
we can so combine as to keep our corn in our cribs until navigation opens
next Spring, withhold it and we shall have accomplished more towards
breaking down this great conspiracy against the public welfare, than has
yet been done by restraining laws and judicial decisions. They will
continue to practice these extortions as long as we submit to them, and by
pouring our corn info a gluttfd market, we give to speculators and trans-
portation companies all the profit, leavingto us only the labor and cost of
production. And here comes in the real test of the benefits to be derived
from our Order.

It is a very simple thing to wear the insignia of our Order, to remember
and keep for use the pass words, signs, etc., but when it comes to the
point of making practical our rituals, and the lessons it enjoins upon us
in our intercourse with, and treatment of each other, I fear the task is not
so easy, nor will the way seem clear when we have the power to protect a
weak brother by personal sacrifices; or, combining a Grange, to help him
over the rough places of life, shielding him by the strong arm of the
Grange from the rude grasp of the money-lender and the heartlessness of
the speculator, in the products of his labor. "Am I my brother's keeper?"
was answered: "Thy brother's blood crieth unto thee from the ground,"
and the curse may be realized with us, if, while having the power, we
failed to use it for his protection. There is no doubt In my mind of the
practicability of such a combination, and, what is more, if we cannot
accomplish this, to me the most important end and aim of our Order,
that of protecting and helping the weak in their time of need, it is i)ut a
rope of sand that binds us, and our dissolution will not be a matter of
regret to those who hope for something higher and holier than the mere
forms and ceremonies that constitute so small a portion of the great
objects that underlie our organization. A combination of eight hun-

116 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

dred millions of capital has bought, leased or stolen the entire anthracite
coal region of Pennsylvania as well as all transportation lines leading
thereto. This combination controls the price of coal in» every market in
the country. It has also effectually crushed out every attempt on the part
of the miners to obtain their fair share of the profits, and reduced them to
the lowest pittance that can sustain life. Their fate will be ours, just as
soon as all capital can be combined, which is being done as fast as the
varied interests can be brought into harmonious action, unless we use the
means now, while we may, by combining our capital as well, before their
extortions have robbed us of the power of successful resistance. Such a
combination is one of the possibilities of our Order: is it one of Uie prob-
abilities? I answer, yes! when we can forget our selfishness and be in
fact what we are in name, brothers. The emancipation of our class, as
well as all other labor, depends upon the active co-operative principle, or
combination of wealth, as well as co-operative eflfort. And the end is not
uncertain when our power is brought to bear upon the hoary wrongs that
labor has suffered through the ages.

There are other grand possibilities for our Order ; but their accomplish-
ment depends as much upon individual as co-operate effort, and among
the greatest is the elevation of our class through education. The so much
talked of advantages in this direction have as yet been realized to a very
small extent; and, however much may be done in this direction, the
means thus ft\r used are small indeed compared to the magnitude of the
work.

I apprehend that one great impediment in this direction is the want of
having acquired a taste for reading in early life. This is more inexcusa-
ble with us than any other class who labor for a living. Our long winter
evenings, rainy days and odd hours of leisure are not for the mechanic
and common laborer, and had we improved these privileges as we might,
the stigma of ignorance would not be cast upon us as it is to-day. But,
knowing and feeling this disadvantage as we now do, let us be wise for
the future, and see to it that the coming generation of farmers are as intel-
ligent and well educated as any class of men in any avocation of life. To
this end we must provide for our children, not only newspapers, periodi-
cals and current literature, but works on political economy, the science ot
government and the fundamental principles of our form of government
as enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. We need not urge
their reading. No fear but they will use the tools if we but provide
them.

One writer has said : " If I were to pray for a taste which would stand
by me under every variety of circumstances, and be a source of happiness
and cheerfulness through life, and a shield against ill, however it might
go amiss and the world frown upon me, it would be a taste for reading.
I speak of it, of course, only as a wordly advantage, and not in the slight-
est degree as superseding or derogating from the higher office and surer
and stronger panoply of I'eligious principle; but as a taste, an instrument,

r

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 117

and as ii sort of pleasurable uratificatinn. Give a man tliis taste, and the
means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making liim a happy
man, unless indeed you put into his hands a most perverse selection of
books."

You place him in contact witli the best society in every period of his-
tory, with the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, the bravest characters that
have adorned humanity. You make him a denizen of all nations — a
cotemporary of all ages.

The world has been created for him. It is hardly possible but his
character should take a liigher and better tone from the constant habit of
associating in thought with a class of thinkers, to say the least of it, above
the average of humanity.

It is morally impossible but the manners should take a tinge of good
breeding and civilization from having constantly before one's eyes the way
in which the best bred and the best informed men have talked and con-
ducted themselves in their intercourse with each other. Tiiere is a gentle
but perfectly irresistible coercion in the habit of reading, well directed
over the whole tenor of a man's character and conduct, which is not less
eflFectual because it is really the last thing he dreams of."

Feeling the want of having the means to acquire tins taste in early life,
as too many of us do, let us see to it that our children are not deprived of
the means of acquiring it.

Starve the body, economize in everything else, but for God's sake, my
brothers, don't starve the minds of your children.

What the Grange may accomplish is exemplified where they have dared
to take an advanced step and break in upon old usages and customs and
strike out for themselves a new path, in buying as well as selling, in cut-
ting otl' middle-men, and buying direct from the manufacturer, and reduc-
ing their purchases to a cash basis, aud thus saving the enormous profits
that have been derived from handling the products of industry. I would
infer from Brother Davies' address of welcome to the National Grange,
that he was opposed to this departure from established customs, as he
speaks of that body as a great " conservative one." If he means to convey
to us by the use of the terra the idea that he would conserve only the just,
the pure and true in business, society and government, then I have no
objection to the use of the term in reference to that body; but if, as I have
reason to believe, he uses it in the sense in which it was used during the
War of the Rebellion, I repudiate its application to the State and Subor-
dinate Granges. It was conservatism that prolonged the war and cost us
millions ol treasure and tens of thou.sands of valuable lives. What, in the
present condition of our country and our unjust and unequal laws would
he conserve? old wrongs, the right of monopolies to extort from labor all
its profits, the right of the moneyed power to control legislation, both
State and National, in the interest of capital and at the expense of labor:
If not these things, what would he conserve? Hosea Bigelow says:

f

118 - PROCEEDINGS OF THE

" Conservative just means be kicked,

In any way you phaze or turn it;
It means tliut we're to own up licked ;

That we're poor shoats and glad to own it."

I agree with him most heartily, and will say further that timid, time-
serving conservatism has never benefited our race, never righted a wrong
nor relieved the oppressed in any age of the world. Then

" Out of the light, ye priests, nor fling

Youi'cold dark shadows on us longer;
Aside! thou world wide curse called King!

The peoples' step is quicker, stronger.
There's a divinity within

That makes man great whenever they will it;
God works with all who strive to win,

And the time cometh to reveal it."

It the Grange ever accomplishes its grand mission it must do it by
aggression. It was not conservatism that cast the tea into Boston harbor,
not conservatism that struck down British tyranny on this continent, but
determined, persistent, active hostility to the power that was crushing
out the liberties of a whole people, and eating out their substance; hence
our privilege of peaceably assembling here to-day and discussing ques-
tions of vital importance to us, and devising means of relieving us of our
oppressions. No, my brothers and sisters, soft words and grass are not
the weapons with which to fight the powers that are crushing the indus-
tries of the land beneath their iron heel, and reducing a great and free
people to absolute pauperism and slavery. I cannot stop to reason with
the hungry wolf who has me by the throat; time is too short and the
danger too imminent.

Mr. Flagg, in a recent address on legislation in its relation to agriculture
said, " It is an undeniable fact, that during the period when legislation
was most profligate and partial, the agricultural interests have suff"ered
most."

The agriculturists constituted nearly the same part of the population in
1850, 1860 and 1870. In relative numbers it has held its own.

But the agricultural wealth of the country, which constituted 55 per
cent, of the whole in 1850, and 56 in 1860, fell to 37 per cent in 1870. The
whole national wealth of the country increased between 1850 and 1860, 100
per cent., and between 1860 and 1870, 90 percent. The agricultural wealth
increased at about the same rate as other wealth between 1850 and 1860,
but between 1860 and 1870 it increased only 40 per cent, while manufac-
turing increased 110 per cent, and wealth not employed in agriculture,
manufactures, mining or fisheries increased 200 per cent, or as 5 to 1 com-
pared to agricultural wealth. Now what has the Grange accomplished
towards arresting this unequal distribution of the wealth that we, as a
class, in the largest degree create ? Up to this time very little, in fact, noth-
ing compared to the power it possessed through its local. State, and Na-
tional organizations. If then this unequal distribution of wealth comes
through currupt legislation, what is the remedy, and what our plain duty

t

GRANGE OF STATE ILLINOIS. 119

It 18 expecting too much of human nature to look to the class of men
who so largely compose our legislative bodies to do even justice to other
classes wlieu an opportunity occurs to legislate in the interest of the class
they represent.

A religious bigot cannot have a beneficent influence upon fallen
humanity, and a Grange bigot will antagonize all other labor, forgetting
that by co-operating with labor in every department lies our strength to
cope with the combinations against us. such men must come to realize that,

" When men, wielding i>low and ax and pen,
Join themselves as one man — then
We shall plant our cause so deep,
That all the world its fruit shall reap."

Many things are possible for our Order tliat can be accomplished only
by means adequate to the end. Our members must make the work one of
individual responsibility, not depending upon the State or National
Grange to do the work, nor upon the Master of the Subordinate Grange,
but insist on yourself, never imitate, that wliich each can do best none but
his Maker can teach liim, no man or woman yet knows what they can do
or are capable of, until that person has tried to exhibit it. Be not content
then to do that which is assigned you, you cannot hope too much, or dare
too much.

There is from every one of you an utterance brave and grand, if you
will but strive to give it voice, then with the cumulative force of all your
lives, cultivation and experiences, you may enrich the whole with the in-
dividujil tlioughts of each, and make the Grange a grand store-house of all
that can elevate and ennoble our class. The Grange can accomplish an-
other grand and noble object, if it will, but lo do this some straight-laced
notions must be got rid of, some of the "stand aside I am holier than
thou," feeling eliminated, that all who labor may be recognized as broth-
ers with whom we can affiliate up to the point whose certain forms and
rites forbid, they are doing the same work in their own way as we are do-
ing in ours, those who condemn without understanding the aim and scope
of our Order would be our friends if we were less tenacious of our ad-
hering to secrecy where no cause for it exists. Every family has its secrets
whicli are sacred to them, we have ours as well, but beyond these few and
simple safeguards thai are neccessary to protect ourselves from imposition,
there is notliing but what the outside world might know, indeed ought to
know, and knowing it, much of the hostility manifested towards us would
cease. It is because we so isolate ourselves, and the mystery with wliich
we are surrounded, that many refuse to join us, when if the principles of
the Order were explained in open Grange meetings, our aims and objects
freely put before tlie public as they might and should be, in myjudgment
it would add to our numbers and increase the interest in our work more
than any means in present use can possibly do. If open meetings could
be advertised at intervals, and the public invited lo attend, a flood of light
might be let in where there is only apparent darkness, and we should the

120 ^ PROCEEDINGS OF THE

sooner accomplish the so much desired end, that of enlisting all of our
class, and the easier effect a combination that will break down the com-
binations a<;ainst us, whicli we are in a ji;reat measure powerless to do in
the present larg(;ly unorganized condition of the agriculturists of the
country. To me this may seem more important from my experience of
the effect of such meetings, and I use, by way of illustration, an occasion
where I was invited to address an open Grange meeting, .the result of
which was that thirteen applications were handed in at the close of the
meeting. I am not vain enough to suppose that my eloquence effected so
much, but tlie presentation of the great truths that underlie our Order,
the advantages of co-operation and combined effort, together with the
social privileges that were incident to our organization was the inspira-
tion, and a weak Grange sprang at one bound into a strong one.

The word all has great significance with me, for only in enlisting all
who labor in one common cause, acknowledging all such as brothers, and
combining our strength, can I see hope to overcome the power that is
crushing all alike? "Who is my neighbor? " was asked 1800 years ago.
My answer now would be, they who by combining to oppose the oppressor
of labor, relieve one of God's poor dow^n trodden creatures are his neigh
bors, no matter what distance divides them, and the miners of Pennsyl-
vania who are being driven to starvation and death by the power of con-
solidated capital, are my neighbors, my brothers, my sisters, and though
the priests and Levites of the press pass them by, or as manj^ of them do
give aid and comfort to the oppressor, I cannot excuse myself on the
ground that they are not of my class, but looking away over and beyond
all selfish considerations, we must work to the end that their fate may not
be ours, as well as from the holier motive of rescuing our common human-
ity from the grasp of the tyrant capital. Again, our councils should be
governed by thatgreat-hearteduess that recognizes all men as brothers. Ban-
ish every jealqusy from the Grange, and let the grand inspiring principle
of the universal brotherhood of man characterize us in our intercourse
with each other and the world at large. Let us have union as far as pos-
sible, let us make overtures for it to labor in every department of indus-
iry, and theirs, not ours, be the responsibility of resistance lo the plain in-
dications of Providence. Theirs, not ours, the unchristian enormity that
outlaws all who cannot utter some shibboleth of an organization.

Thus far I have spoken of what the Grange may accomplish morally,
socially, pecuniarily, but there is another work for the Grange to
do of equal importance to either, because upon its accomplishment,
depends, in a large degree, the accomplishment of all else that is worthy
of effort through our organization.

Much has been said, and sung, and written of what the Grange has
done for woman. It all sounds very prettily in theory, but practically what
has been done or attempted towards relieving her from the toils and ever-
lasting round of drudgery incident to the life of a farmer's wife? Liter-
ally nothing; she still cooks, washes, irons, scrubs, makes and mends

STATE GKANOP: OF ILLINOIS. 121

sixteen or more lioiirs ii day us before the Grunge wus orguuized, or she
permitted to shure in it^ offices or take part iu its deliberali«)ns.

I clip the following from a California paper by way of illustrating
what the condition of the average farmer's wife is:

Notice. — "All persons are hereby warned not to trust Mary E. Aborns,
(my wife) as she has left my bed and board without just cause or provo-
cation, and I will not pay any bill contracted by her on and after this
diiie. Signed John Abouns."

San Jose, February 6th, 187;").

To which Mrs. Aborns answers as follows:

"The above notice ajipears daily in the San Jose Daily Patriot. Why
am I thus published to the world V and what human being on earth has
the right to do itV Let us look at the facts. I have been the wife of John
Aborns I'or about ten years, and lived with him during the whole of that
time — the prime of my life — that makes 3,650 days. During that time I
have cooked about 10,000 meals of victuals, set thetableas many times, and
cleared it off and washed the dishes. During that ten ye:'.rs I have spent
between 10,000 and 15,000 hours over a hot cooking-stove both in summer
and in winter; I have cleared up and swept his house for him over 10,000
times. During that ten years I have borne him si.\ children, five of theui
now living, the youngest two and one-half years old. Beside the pains and
an.xieties incident to child-birth, (which every mother knows,) what steps,
cares and troubles (to say nothing of sickness and an.xious cares for my
children,) it has cost me to bring them up, it is ini|)ossible for me to say,
every mother knows it better than I can possibly tell it. In addition t'o
that, I have made all their clothing (besides my own), and during that
time I have also made clothing and cUme sewing for others for monej-,
which went into the community funds; that is as I understand it, all the
property made by the husband and wife is community property, but in
reality belongs to the husband, and it is called in law community to take
otf the sharp edge of the injustice. More than that, during those years I
have milked, on an average, three cows twice a da;, , which will make
about 7,000 milkings, besides taking care of the milk and making the
butter from it. I have during the whole of that time attended to the
poultry, and often have assisted Air. Aborns in loading hay, sewing sacks,
and even in cleaning out his stables.

"Now I have drawn the picture very mildly. I have made allowance
for my sickness, when I have had help, something after the way that a
farmer would hire a horse if his own was sick and unable to work. I had
nothing when I went there, and nothing at the end of tho.se ten years of
servitude. I have lived, it is true, and was very moderately furnished
with clothing. This is all for my labor. What man is there in the world
that would do the work I have done for the same compensation V

" I make this statement not out of any feeling of revenge for Mr. Aborns,
for he has done only what hundreds of others iiave done. In many re-
spects he is a good man, industrious, and like hundreds, yea, thousands
of others, honest with everybody except his own family.

" I choose to live with him no longer; my reasons are my own; and I
say again, what right has he to impair my credit by luiblishing me? Iu
the name of all that is just I solemnly protest against it."

M.\UY E. AnoRNS.

And now, my brothers, I might stop right here and let the article I have
read carry its own weight with you, but as I have read it as a sort of text, I
proi)o8e to add a few words by way of application or exhortation, which-
ever y<i\i may please to call it.

122 PROCEEDINGS OF THE

How many farmers' wives may tell the same sad story, only they may
multiply Mrs. Aborns' statement by two and three, and many by even four as
the, to them, sad result of being a farmer's wife, how many have felt all the
hardships and privations that have been their lot, j'et have suffered on in
silence and gone to their graves without giving voice to the feeling that in-
justice had been done them, and yet without design, on the part of those
who had sworn on the altar of their God to love and cherish them. Now
what has the Grange done to ameliorate the condition of the wives and
daughters of its male members, if anything, what? If nothing, what is our
plain duty in the matter? Must this state of things continue for ever and
ever, is there no remedy within our reach ? Have brothers given sufficient
thought to the subject, or rather have they given it any thought at all?
Finding their house in order, their food well cooked, and being absorbed
in the purchase of a self-binding reaper, or the new self-adjusting wind-
mill that will save all the labor of watering slocic. What will lighten the
wife's labor, or relieve her from the terrible strain that is slowly but surely
sending her to the lunatic asylum, or an early grave. They find out too
late that the poor wife and mother has given her life for the loved ones
with perhaps on our part no sign of appreciation, or sympathy that might
have made her lot more tolerable, or lighted her pathway to the shadowy
land.

But you may ask what remedy for these evils would you propose ?
Ought not our wives to be content to share our lot, and bear their portion
of the burdens of our life? I admit they ought, but the burdens are too
heavy for frail women, unnecessary to a very large extent; if we appre-
ciated what they were, and could be lightened if we used the means
within our reach and applied as much thought to them as we do towards
lightening the work on the farm or to facilitate our labors.

With the improvements in machinery both for farm and household, six
hours a day ought to provide for all our wants ; that our time of labor is
not shortened proves a wrong somewhere. Notwithstanding all these im-
provements labor finds no rest, no time for recreation, or recupera-
ing the tired body and mental lethargy consequent upon this constant
strain, shows how important the work the Grange has undertaken, how
imminent the necessity for combined eff"ort to relieve labor and give to us
what those who create nothing are taking every year. Who does not
long for the cool retreats of the mountains, the healthful sea breezes, or
the healing waters of the springs after the summer's work is ended with
the harvest? And why maj' we not take our wives from the hot cooking
stove for a brief season at least, giving her a new lease of life, and new
and brighter hopes for the future ? Who does not know that she, especially,
needs this change of scene, this relaxation from the drudgery she is now
forced to endure ? The reason is we have not so willed it; we have sub-
mitted to an inequality of compensation, until the wealth we create has
been to a large extent absorbed by those who do no work, whose
wives and daughters "toil not, neither do they spin," and "yet Solomon

STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 123

in all his glory was not" flounced and frilled and furbelowed and pinned
back like one of these, who may flirt and flitter away the long summer
days at the sea side, or the springs, spending money they never earned,
while our wives and daughters continue to toil through the hot days
of Summer and the cold ones of Winter without rest or relaxation, and
never a prospect of change or relief.

"When the Grange accomplishes woman's emancipation and elevates her
to her proper position, then we may point with pride and exultation to
our work.

That the Grange is moving slowly to this, and the accomplishment of
these reforms gives courage and hope to the hearts of its thousands of
votaries. But the great truths that underlie our movement are but little
understood as yet with the average minds of which we are composed.
Light is breaking upon many; but more reading, more thought, and more
determined, persevering work is necessary to overcome the many obstacles
that beset us and surround us on every side, but mind must grow, and
hopes must grow, and hearts must grow, and nowhere with more health-
fulness than in the agricultural walks of life; the hopes of the down-
trodden in this and other lands are with us, ours is the great school from
which the democratic idea of the world in its best and yet future era of
usefulness, of classless society, must largely graduate, and those in
future, unless of the future society, will be no generation of dunces.

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