ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

NEW YorK STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

 

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CORNELL UNIVERSITY

 

 

 

 
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OLIVER H. KELLEY

Originator of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
Origin and Early History

OF THE

ORDER OF PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY

IN THE

UNITED STATES.

BY Jc WALLACE DARROW

FFICIAL PRESS CORRESPONDENT NEW YORE STATE GRANGE

CHATHAM, X.Y.
1904,
343636

 

ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1904, BY
J. WALLACE DARROW, IN THE OFFICE OF THE LIBRARIAN -
OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON, D.C.

 

COURIER PRINTING HOUSE,
CRATHAM, X, Y.
AUTHOR’S PREFACE.

Believing that earnest Patrons of Husbandry would be interested ix
perusing a history of the origin, and the early days, of our Order, I was
constrained to prepare this little brochure and send it out on its mis-
sion of information, trusting that it would receive kindly consideration
at the hands of the Grange fraternity. It makes no claim to literary
merit or embellishment, nor does it undertake to give a history of the
Order, or of the things accomplished by the Order, during all the years
since its organization. It would take a volume of much larger dimen-
sions to chronicle, even briefly, the things accomplished by the Grange
in the farmers’ interests. But it does claim to give a concise, accurate
and unembellished account of the foundation of the Grange and a
somewhat detailed history of the first decade or so of its existence.

In the preparation of the manuscript for this little History, I was
kindly given aecess to all the original documents and the hundreds of
letters written by the ‘' Founders” of the Order, which are still in the
possession of Brother O. H. Kelley of Washington, D. C., and to his
“History of the Grange” I am indebted for much of the historical
information herein presented, From other sources, particularly from
those who were indirectly associated with the organization in its early
years, much has been learned which I now pass along to Patrons of
Husbandry everywhere, that they may know of the struggles and
triumphs, the successes and failures, the hopes and fears of the founders
of the Grange. May it not teach us still greater reverence for fhose
who, in those early years, builded even better than they knew, and
inspire in us all a loftier appreciation of the noble precepts of our

beneficent Order!
J. WALLACE DARROW.

Chatham, N, Y., Nov. 1, 1904.
CHAPTER I

Origin of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry,

* With something of the seer
Must the moral pioneer
From the future borrow.
Clothe the waste with dreams of grain
And on the midnight's sky of rain
Paint the golden morrow.”

T is given to but few men to set in motion great
humanizing forces, agencies or influences ; to be
founders, builders, organizers, for humanity’s sake.
Such men must have the prophet’s vision coupled
with the prophet’s faith. They must be altruists in
deed as well as in word. Their station is at the
threshold of new Eras; their names mark new
Epochs. They may dream dreams and see visions,
but they bring things to pass. Such a man was
Oliver H. Kelley, the originator and first among the
founders of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.

On October 20, 1865, Isaac Newton, then United
States Commissioner of Agriculture, wrote to Mr.
Kelley, who was then at his home in Itasca, Minn.,
to come to Washington ‘‘on special business.” He
responded and, on January 1, 1866, received his
commission as special agent of the Agricultural De-
partment ‘‘to proceed immediately through the
states lately in hostility against the Government ”’ to
procure statistical and other information bearing upon
the agricultural resources of the South, and to report
10

the same to the Department for publication. On
January 13, 1866, Mr. Kelley left Washington on his
‘‘long cherished trip,” as he styles it, and, while
absent on that occasion, conceived the idea of a
secret organization of farmers, North and South, to
renew and promote a more fraternal feeling.

There was need of it. Six months prior to the
date of Commissioner Newton's letter to Mr. Kelley,
or on April 9, 1865, Lee had surrendered to Grant
at Appomattox. On April 14th President Lincoln
was shot. Public feeling was intense. The nation
was stirred to its depths. Agriculture was a thing
quite forgotten. The devastated farms of the South
bore crops of cannon balls instead of cotton bolls.

Of this period, National Master J. J. Woodman
said in his annual address in 1885 concerning Mr.
Kelley’s travels :

Although the garments dyed in blood had passed away, and the
country was again undivided and indivisible, yet in his southern travels
blackened ruins, abandoned fields and desolate homes met his gaze on
every hand. The South, and no small portion of the North, was
furrowed with graves, and the whole land was shrouded with mourning,
and peopled with crippled, wounded and dying soldiers, while in
thousands of desolated homes “ grief was completing the carnage of
war;”’ and a deep and intense bitterness engendered by the events of
the cruel and unnatural struggle existed between the people of the North
and South. With Mr. Kelley’s observing habits and active mind, he
naturally took in the situation, and came to the conclusion (using his
own language) ‘‘that politicians would never restore peace in the
country, and if it came at all, it must come through fraternity; the
people North and South must know each other as members of a great
family, and all sectionalism be abolished.” He expressed these senti-
ments in a letter written while in the South, and to his friend, the Rev.
John Trimble, an officer in the Treasury Department, on his return to
‘Washington; and then went to his farm in Minnesota, He must have
seen in his homeward travels that poverty and the depressed condition
of farmers was not confined to the South alone ; for on the rich prairies
and all along the valleys and hill-sides of the West could be seen
farmers living in hovels, before which, as Whittier says, ‘‘ A tree casts
the tremulous shadow of its leaves across the curtainless window, from
the broken panes of which flutter the signal rags of poverty ;” while
their rickety barns were fairly bursting with the products of their
11

labor, and the men who handled and manipulated these poor farmers’
grain were living in palaces, surrounded with all that wealth and
luxury could afford. In all this he saw a great wrong, and became
more deeply impressed with the necessity of an organization among
farmers, for the protection of their interests, education and elevation of
their class, and for restoring friendly feelings and unity of action
between the people of the North and the South.

That a fraternal organization of farmers would
promote a better feeling between the two sections so
lately engaged in a fratricidal strife, was an idea that
bore much fruit in the after years. And that an
organization having the bond of secrecy as one of its
chief features would insure a better fraternity of feel-
ing and a more cordial unison of purposes than an
organization non-secret in its character, was the wise
conclusion reached by Mr. Kelley from the experiences
growing out of his connection with the Masonic Order.

Any history of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry
must, of necessity, be a history of the life of Oliver
H. Kelley between the years 1866 and 1873. This
fact should be borne in mind as the reader progresses
in the perusal of this little book, and it will account
for the frequent mention of hisname. He was the
moving spirit of the enterprise and the only man
connected with the very early days of the movement
who never lost faith in it. ‘‘Give him my kind
regards,” wrote his coadjutor, John Trimble, to
another gentleman, ‘‘and tell him that although he
is an engine with too much steam on all the time, yet
with McDowell as the ‘ governor’ I don’t think the
boiler will burst.”

On April 21, 1866, Mr. Kelley returned to Wash-
ington from his southern trip and befcre going to his
home in Minnesota, proceeded to Boston, Mass., to
visit his niece, Miss Caroline A. Hall, at which time
he explained to her his plans for the new organization,
and it was she who then suggested that women be
given full and equal right of member: hip in the Order.
12

In May, 1867, Mr. Kelley made the acquaintance
of W. M. Ireland, Chief Clerk of the Finance Office of
the Post Office Department, to whom he explained
his ‘‘new idea” and, in July, William Saunders,
head of the Government Experiment Gardens and
Grounds, was taken into the ‘‘secret,” making, with
John Trimble and Miss Hall, the five names earliest
associated in the history and work of the Order.

It may be well at this point to give an outline of
the plans and purposes of these originators of the
Order to see just what they proposed to accomplish.
The Order was to embrace in its membership only
those persons ‘‘directly interested in cultivating the
soil.” It was to be a secret order with four degrees,
representing the four seasons, with appropriate signs
and pass words; the lectures in each degree were to
appertain to agricultural work and, at the same time,
convey a moral lesson. The aim was to advance
agriculture by encouraging education and to secure to
members the same benefits in certain respects as those
guaranteed by Masonry. Both sexes were to be
admitted, and there were to be separate ceremonies
for the ladies. Politics and religion were not to be
subjects of discussion. The plan of work was out-
lined in this manner: To have a temporary organiz-
ation known as the ‘‘United States Lodge,” which
would have authority to grant dispensations to lectur-
ers and organizers in the several cointies in each
state; these county organizations were to elect one
delegate each to the state organization, and the state
organizations one each to the United States organiza-
tion. The grand head of the organization was to be
auxiliary to the Department of Agriculture. Lecturers
were to be sent out to explain the purposes of the
organization and to secure members.

From a letter written to Mr. Anson Bartlett of
North Madison, Ohio, September 2, 1867, by Mr.
13

Kelley, we discover what high hopes the writer had
for his new organization. ‘In twelve months,” said
he, ‘‘ we should number our brothers by the million.”
It was in the same letter that Mr. Kelley brought
out another fact, i. e., that he had associated with
him in his work two brother Masons, Ireland and
Trimble, whose counsel he needed, particularly in
preparing the ritualistic work.

The selection of a name or title for the Order gave
the early founders much perplexity. In this matter,
as in many others in the early days of the organiz-
ation, Anson Bartlett of Ohio proved a wise counsellor.
In a letter to Mr. Kelley, dated September 15, 1867,
hesaid: ‘‘ You have struck a plan which will, when
fully inaugurated, be a truly splendid thing and must
very soon, if properly perfected in all its details,
become a tremendous power in the land. We should
organize such an institution as will stand the test of
. age and experience.” In the matter of a name for
the organization, he said: ‘‘ Would it not be better
to drop the name ‘ lodges’ and substitute the ‘farm,’
‘garden’ or ‘vineyard’ ?”’ He suggested as a name
for the Order ‘‘ Independent Farmers.” To this Mr.
Kelley replied, saying that probably fifty names had,
been suggested. Among them were ‘‘ Independent
Order of Agriculturists”, ‘‘ Progressive Farmers ”’,
‘Knights of the Plow”, ‘‘ Knights of the Sickle”,
‘‘ Knights of the Flail”, etc. In a later letter to Mr.
Bartlett, Mr. Kelley suggested the name, ‘‘ League
of Husbandry ”, andsaid: ‘‘If any original name in
place of ‘league’ could be substituted, it would
be better.’ In a still later letter he advocated the
change of the name of ‘lodges’ to ‘granges.’ On
November 6th Mr. Bartlett replied: ‘‘How about
the name? How would ‘Patrons of Industry’ do?
I almost fancy it would be good. I believe it is
original at any rate.” Mr. Kelley accepted the
14

suggestion, in part, but combined the two titles,
‘League of Husbandry ” and ‘ Patrons of Industry ”
into the one title under which the Order was formally
launched, i. e., ‘‘ Patrons of Husbandry.”

It was evident that to give the work a start out-
side, an organization should be perZected in Washing-
ton. All the meetings thus far held had been decidedly
informal, not more than three or four persons being
present at one time. The first meeting which was
at all formal was held November 15, 1867. | William
M. Ireland presided and O. H. Kelley acted as secre-
tary. A committee was appointed to draw up a pre-
amble, setting forth the object for which the Order
was established, and it was decided to adopt the title
‘‘Patrons of Husbandry” as the name of the Order
and the branches were to be known as ‘“‘ granges.”’ A
short time afterward a motto was decided upon, i. e.,
‘‘Ksto PERPETUA,”’ meaning ‘‘ Let it be Perpetual!”
A copy of the constitution had been sent to Miss Hall
of Boston for her examination. In the constitution
the membership fee was made ten dollars for males
and five dollars for females. On this point she wrote :
“Do not get the price of membership too high.
‘Remember dollars are not over plenty among farmers.
They are not found on every bush. Five dollars is
enough for men and I should say women for half of
that. They cannot obtain but half the wages men
receive. It is a shame, but I hope the Society will
correct the wrong.”

Her letter was influential in having the fee reduced.

On December 4, 1867, a meeting for the election of
officers of the National Grange, and for the transac-
tion of other business, was held. The following
officers were elected :

Master—William M. Ireland, Washington.
Overseer—Anson Bartlett, North Madison, Ohio.
15

Lecturer—J. R. Thompson, Washingtén.*

Steward—Wm. Muir, St. Louis, Mo.

Secretary—O. H. Kelley, Washington.

Treasurer— William Saunders, Washington.

Assistant Steward—A. 3. Moss, Fredonia, N. Y.

The offices of Chaplain and Gate Keeper were lett
vacant.

About this time the Rev. A. B. Grosh, of Wash-
ington. joined the Order, was chcsen Chaplain and
became quite active in the work.

It was determined to organize a subordinate Grange
in Washington asa school of instruction for drill in
ritualistic work. In order to get a somewhat larger
working body, several gentlemen and their wives
were admitted without fee for the service they would
render.

From the original minutes of the secretary, the
following interesting record is taken :

It was all important that a subordinate Grange should be made up
in which to give our degree work a te-t and see what was wanting. In
compiling the degrees, I had pinned up on the wall, near my table, a
lurge plan of a hall with the position of the officers; also a photo-
graphic view of the decorated hall of the Philadelphia Pomological
society. I was thus enabled to take my candidates, in imagination,
from one officer to the other. To make up a sub Grange needed indi-
viduals. Ireland ayvreed to act as Master and I as Assistant Steward.
Faris, an oli roo.n mite at a previous date, agreel to joim in as Gate
Keeper, both of the National Grange and our sub Grange. At this time
Saunders suggested the propriety of inviting Rev. A. B. Grosh to join
in with us as we had conversed with him and he had expressed such a
desire. Ina few days I had enlisted some of our fellow clerks in the
Post Office Department and we agreed to meet in a room occupied by a
part of the Department of Agriculture.

The gentlemen above referred to were J. E:py
Douglass, W. G. Perry, A. F. Moulton, J. H. Cook.
B. C. Major and H. Dingman. This Grange was
known as Potomac No. 1, its principal object being,
as before stated, to instruct the members in the
dezree work and to enable them to assist in organiz-
ing granges in other places. It was decided to have
seven degrees. The seventh. or Legree of Demeter,
16

embraced features that were taken from an ancient
association once flourishing in the East, and F. M.
McDowell was appointed High Priest of Demeter.
The degrees were as follows :

SUBORDINATE GRANGE.

1st Degree: Laborer (male) ; Maid (female).

2d Degree: Cultivator (male) ; Shepherdess (female).
3d Degree: Harvester (male) ; Gleaner (female).

4th Degree: Husbandman (male) ; Matron (female).

STATE GRANGE.

5th Degree: Pomona. (Hope.) Composed of Masters
and Past Masters of Subordinate granges who are
entitled, ex-officio, to the Fifth Degree.

NaTIONAL GRANGE (COUNCIL).

6th Degree: Flora. (Charity.) Composed of Masters
and Past Masters of State gramges who are en-
titled, ex-officio, to the Sixth Degree, and they
should meet annually. They were to constitute
the National Council.

SENATE.

ith Degree: Ceres. (Faith.) Composed of members
of the Council who have served one year therein,
who, after the expiration of their first year’s ser-
vice in the Council, are entitled, ex-officio, to the
Seventh Degree, to be conferred at the next or
any subsequent session of the National Grange.
It was the intention of the originators to add other
degrees as the Order progressed, similar to the
Masonic. For instance, the Eighth Degree was to be
known as the ‘‘Degree of the Golden Sheaf ” ; Seventh
Degree members to be eligible who were also Priests
of Demeter. But the ‘‘Golden Sheaf” degree was
never formulated.

Those specially interested in the ritual work will be
17

glad to learn that most of the lectures in the four sub-
ordinate degrees were compiled by Mr. Kelley and
Miss Hall, with some assistance from Mr. Bartlett and
Mr. Ireland. The degree work for the women’s
degrees was very largely contributed by Miss Hall.
Mr. Kelley and Miss Hall wrote all of the Fifth
Degree. The Sixth and Seventh degrees are both
commonly accredited to Mr. J. R. Thompson, for
which work he received $500 from the National
Grange. It was ten years after Fredonia Grange
No. 1 Was organized, before the ritual was really com-
pleted and perfected. At the present writing (1904)
the National Grange has its further revision under
consideration. It may be stated here that it was the
original intention of the authors of the ritual to have
all of the degrees worked out of doors, but for obvious
reasons this idea did not prevail. The Preamble to
the Constitution was written by Mr. Saunders and the
Declaration of Purposes by Mr. J. W. A. Wright of
California.

~The invocation of the Chaplain used in the opening
of every Grange meeting was penned by Mr. Kelley,
and it was almost the final work on the ritual. Mr.
Kelley tells a little story of how he wrote it. In con-
versation with Dr. Trimble one day, he said to him:
‘*Doctor, you haven’t written anything for the ritual
and you must write the opening invocation.” Mr.
Trimble (who, by the way, was a clergyman) replied
that he must be excused. But the time was near at
»hand when the work must be closed up and sent to
the printers. On retiring that night Mr. Kelley was
puzzled over the matter. He did not sleep. His
thoughts were on this last important subject. As he
thought, sentences began to formulate themselves,
words dropped into their proper places and, arising
quickly from his bed, he took pencil and paper and
wrote what is now, and ever has been, the opening
1s

invocation used by Grange chaplains as they ‘implére
Divine direction in the labors of the Grange.

In February of 1868 Mr. Kelley resigned his posi-
tion in the Post Office Department, which he had held
during 1867, and gave his entire time to the work of
establishing the Order. He gave much attention to
perfecting the ritual. He believed it wou'd add to
the interest of the work to establish a regular sub-
ordinate Grange in Washington, which was done, and
it was given the name of Harvest Grange. It was
really the school of instruction before established, and
which was called Potomac Grange.

On February 19th, at a meeting of Harvest Grange;
the first man ever initiated in due form into the
Order received his fi:st degree—a Mr. Boardman of
New York. The work was done exclusively from
manuscript copies, about thirty brothers and sisters
being present, in numbers about equally divided, and
all expressed themselves as highly pleased with the
working of the degree.

The subject of the extension of the Order by organ-
izing granges outside of Washington now impressed
itself upon the active workers at Washington. A
meeting of the National Grange was held March 2s,
1868 (present, Messrs. Saunders, Trimble, Grosh, Ire-
land, Thompson, Kelley). It was decided to give the
Secretary a ‘‘letter of credit’ for the purpose of
enabling him to organize the Order in the various
states. It was, however, of no particular value to
him, as he remarked that ‘‘ pluck and perseverance
were more valuable requisites.’ He was instructed
as to the manner of imparting the degree and was
allowed discretionary power in all the work, and he
was voted a salary of $2,000 per annum and necessary
traveling expenses, but the National Grange wished
it to be explicitly understood that its officers were
1y

‘*not held personally responsible for the salary or
expenses.”’

The time for missionary work had come; someone
must go out into the field and reap the harvest these
enthusiastic founders of the Order believed to be
ready for gathering, so, on the afternoon of April 3,
1868, Secretary Kelley started for Harrisburg, Pa.
He relates an amusing interview with Mr. Saunders.
He was seated at his desk, and as he handed him
some blank dispensations to sign, Mr. Kelley re-
marked, in a joking way :

‘* Here I am, ready to start.”

‘Start for where ?” Mr. Saunders asked.

“T have bought a ticket for Harrisburg and stop
there the first place. I propose to work my way to
Minnesota, organizing granges.”’

‘¢ Have you got any money ?”’

‘“‘T have about two dollars and a half of Grange
funds, but intend to pay my way as I go.”

In a pleasant way he said: ‘‘ Well, you are a fool
to start on such a trip.”

“Can't help that ; fool or no fool, you shall hear
from me, and I'll make the Order a success or burst.”

The faith of this man was remarkable, for there
were discouraging times before him such as he
scarcely dreamed of, but perseverance such as his
overcomes all ol'stacles, and he went out to the work
in Faith and in Hope.
CHAPTER II.

Extension of the Order.

PRIL 3, 1868, marks the second Epoch in the
work of organization. There had been some
correspondence with people residing outside of Wash-
ington city relative to the establishing of the Grange
elsewhere, but not until that date had there been
special attention given to this work. It was on the
evening of that day that Mr. Kelley left Washington
for Harrisburg, Pa., little dreaming, as he says, of
the amount of hard work that was to accompany the
task he had undertaken or that months would become
years before success would follow. He attempted to
organize a Grange at Harrisburg but did not_ succeed?
He says, ‘‘ There wasa skeleton in the closet.”” From
Harrisburg he went to Penn-Yan;-N. Y., and thence
to Wayne, N. Y., where he met F. M. McDowell,
who encouraged him on his way in a very substantial
manner by giving him $50, as well as cheering words.
He made an attempt to establish a Grange at Penn
Yan and failed. But at Fredonia, N. Y., where he
arrived on April 15, he did succeed, and there and
then was established the first regularly organized
Grange in the United States, or in the world, whose
members paid initiation fees. This was the real
foundation of the Order. It may be of interest here
to give the names of those who were the organizers
of that original Grange. They were A. 8. Moss, H.
Stiles, W. H. Stevens, U. E. Dodge, L. McKinstry,
21

A. P. Bond, D. Fairbanks, W. McKinstry, Wm.

Risley and M. S. Woodford. U. E. Dodge was elected
Master.

Twenty-five years after that date, on April 20 and
21, 1893, the Silver Jubilee of Fredonia Grange No. +
was celebrated. An elaborate program covering the
two days was presented, addresses being made by E.
P. Harris of Brockton, N. Y., E. B. Hewes, L. Mc-
Kinstry, O. H. Kelley, Mrs. B. B. Lord, U. E. Dodge,
W. C. Gifford, H. H. Goff, J. D. F. Woolston and
several others. A letter was read from Miss Caroline
A. Hall, who was then residing in Minneapolis, Minn.
It is interesting to note two or three facts stated in
Mr. Kelly’s address on that occasion. He said that ir.
the first year only 10 dispensations were issued ; the
second, 36; the third, 134. At the end of the
fourth year there were in all 1,005, but in 1874 there
was marvelous progress made, and they averaged:
over 2,000 new granges a month. During the twelve
years whicb he held the position of National Secre-
tary, and during which time Miss Fall was his
assistant, $400,000 was received, and at the end of
that period the committee published a report showing
the National Grange hil no outstanding obligations.

From Fredonia, Mr. Kelley went to Spencer, Ohio,
the home of Anson Bartlett, who had already been
interested in the work by correspondence. This visit
was an agreeable one to Mr. Kelley, and he instructed
Mr. Bartlett in the work of organization and left hiny
to introduce it in that part of the State. From
Spencer, Mr. Kelley went to Chicago. There he
met Mr. H. D. Emery of the ‘Prairie Farmer,”
with whom he had previously corresponded with
reference to organizing a Grange there. He says
that he met several persons that evening and made
them familiar with the ritual, but a grange was not
then organized. From there he went to Madison.
22

Wis., where after four days’ work he met. with
failure. A rather amusing letter written at that time
to Mr. McDowell gives very well Mr. Kelley’s idea of
the people whom he met at that time and one of
whont he referred to as his ‘‘pompous friend” (the man
with whom he had previously corresponded). This
gentleman remarked to him that the Order ‘‘ might
be of great advantage in country towns but not in
cities like Madison.’’ Madison had 1,800 votes. He Jeft
Madison for St. Paul, near which place was his home.
Eleven months had passed since leaving his family; he
thought a rest would do him good. While there he
received a letter from A. Failor of Newton, lowa,
-informing him that a Grange had been organized at
‘that place, the first Grange in Iowa and the first
application by letter ever received for a dispensation.

The first person ever obligated and insti ucted in the
ritual in Minnesota was Miss Julia Wilkin Kelley,
daughter of O. H. Kelley. She it was who officiated
as Pomona in the State Grange of Minnesota on the
first evening the Fifth Degree was ever conferred.

While we leave Mr. Kelley resting at his home
an Minnesota, it may be interesting to note
what the so-called National Grange was doing at
Washington these days. That it was doing
almost nothing is evidenced by the letters which
passed between some of the ‘‘organizers”’ and Mr.
Kelley. It is to be borne in mind that these were all
busy men connected with some of the governmental
departments and doubtless had not the time to give
much attention to the work. The following para-
graph taken from a letter by Dr. Trimble to Mr.
Kelley shows his feeling relative to taking an active
interest in the Order at that time, although, as all
Patrons know, he was in later years Secretary of the
Nationu Grange and a m»t interested and eEcient
23

worker in the Order. Nevertheless at this time he
often styled himself a critic of the movement and
his strong forte seemed to be, as he often said, ‘to.
throw a wet blanket” on the discussions. The para-
graph is as follows:

“I know nothing, absolutely nothing, about the
Order here, and am not able to take any part in the
matter. This you are aware of, for I never hesitated
to say soto you. So you must not hold me accountable
for inaction here. I have nothing whatever to do with.
the active or actual work of the Order. Please beay
this in mind.”

Mr. Kelley was unable to interest the Washington
gentlemen in pushing the work of securing new mem-
bers, and this greatly annoyed him. He realized the
importance of having strong men as backers and their
dilatoriness in replying to his communications and.
their general lack of interest in the work drew from
him the following letter, dated at Itasca, Minn., J uly,
12, 1868:

To THE OFrFicERs or THE NaTIoNAL GRANGE .

Worthy Brothers,—When I left Washington three months ago you
all said the Patrons were u success. I felt encouraged ; I presumed,
the interest shown would be kept up by you all. There were in.
Washington at least some thirty or forty interested persons. As 1
understand the matter, you have not added a member since I left, but,
sat down to see what I was doing—watching my progress, and looking
to my labors alone to pay all bills and keep the thing running. I hope
you will duly consider this, and now that I am in a very unpleasant
situation, trust you will be lenient. I do not expect any pecuniary .
assistance from the Order, but I certainly have a right to expect the ,
National Grange will t:ke some active interest in the work. Can you
not delegate some of those familiar with the work, who may go into the
country this summer, to organize where they go? Every Grange,
started helps us all. You see what Iam doing. I have accepted the’
position of associate editor of a small paper here, with a brother Patron, :
and we are determined to help the work. I have added this extra work
for the good of the cause, and have no remuneration for it. You must.
show some active interest in the work, for wherever I go I speak ef
THE Nationan Granez. You can see that my efforts will avail nothing’
if upon inquiry they learn there is no interest taken by you. I tell you.
now, as I told you before, you have a good thing—a big thing—ifyou
24

will only be active. * * * * Don'r pELAy—AcTION is now necessary.
Have faith ; faith will remove mountains, Assist me in this way and
. we will soon have funds enough. We must come out bold, and by so
doing the leading political papers will start out, some for and some
against; but no matter—it will advertisethe Order. Let what yousay be
something tangible, that will take with the laboring classes, and we are
sure to win. Come down among the people ; don’t stay up among the
politicians, Ask them this question: ‘‘ Why not the producer establish
the price of his products as well as the manufacturer?’’ Not to secure
exorbitant demands, but to get a fair profit over the cost of raising the
crops. No man can accumulate money who sells below cost, If you
hit this point right, you will sweep the West. You must get into the
farmers’ pockets to reach their hearts, and a lively palpitation there
invigorates thelr minds. Iam not idle—it is not my nature, you all
know ; but be yourselves active, and thus help the cause. Mark my
word, there is a revolution going on among the people, and if you
strike the right chord in a new circular letter you will soon see the
Patrons will be a power, and yourselves at the head of them.
Fraternally yours,
O. H. KELLEY.

However, to show that the National Grange still
believed in the work Mr. Kelley had set out to do and
was really in hearty sympathy with him in it, the
following resolution, adopted by that body, Oct. 3,
1868, may be cited :

Reso.vep, That we renewedly commend our beloved brother, O. H.
Kelley, Secretary of the National Grange, to the kindness and con-
fidence of our friends everywhere, as one of the earliest advocates of
our Order, the most laborious worker in organizing it, and framing and
harmonizing its ritual, and now indefatigable in extending its borders
and strengtl.ening its influence in the Western states, proving himself
a workman in this new and importunt field that needeth not to be
ashamed—the right man in the right place. Msy his success be com-
mensurate with his diligence and perseverance, and the wide spreading
beneficence of the Order be his abundant joy and reward.

The month of July, 1868, Mr. Kelley often said was
the darkest month in the history of the Order. Of
this period he has written: ‘‘The eventful year
closed, and the last scene in my imagination was the
tableau of one struggling almost against hope, while
a kind friend, like a fairy, was pointing with
her finger at these words, charmingly radiant with
25

sunset hues on fleecy clouds: ‘The diligent man
shall prosper; he shall stand before kings ; he shall
not stand before mean men.’ ”

It may not be amiss just here to say that Mr. Kelley,
in a personal letter to the author, insisted that Miss
Hall, the ‘‘kind friend” above referred to, should
have greater credit than he for the success of the
Grange in those early days. He says, ‘‘ Had it not
been for Miss Hall I should have given up the work
in the second year.” Beyond all question, then, she
is as justly entitled to be known as one of the
“‘founders” of the Order as anyone to whom that
title has ever been given.
CHAPTER. If],

Brighter Prospects.

Te early months of the year 1569 saw a rapid

increase in membership in the Order in the State
of Minnesota, and it seems remarkable, as we look
back to those early days, that the state so sparsely
settled at that time should have been really foremost
in the work of organizing granges. They were
established mostly in the interior, away from large
villages and cities. Mr. Kelley relates how, on
January + of that year, he went to a little place
called Maple Plain, consisting of scarce a dozen houses
scattered among trees and stumps. Streetsthere were
none, but only footpaths across lots. The first meet-
ing was held and degrees conferred ina room about
12x16 feet in dimensions, in which there was ‘a
cook stove, bed and other furniture.” Nevertheless
the Grange was organized. ‘‘Maple Plain set the
ball in motion in the big woods and there was no use
trying to stop it.” The Order continued to grow and
on February 23, 1869, the State Grange of Minnesota
was organized, the first in the United States, with
Truman M. Smith as Master. There were 11 sub-
ordinate granges in Minnesota.

It was on the journey home that Mr. Kelley found
himself in a railroad accident. Part of the train was
thrown from the track, and the car in which he was
seated was left with one end in the ditch and the
other up in the air. He says, ‘‘I was in the up end,
27

of course.” Lucky enough! Had he been in the down
end what the newly established Order would have
suffered one now dreads to contemplate.

A pleasant event occurred in April of 1869 when
Mr. Kelley revisited Fredonia grange. They gave
him a splendid entertainment in the evening and he
found that the grange had grown to 100 members.
George D. Hinckley was then Master. After paying
a visit to F. M. McDowell at Wayne he went on
to Washington to attend the first annual session of
the National Grange, which was held on April 15,
1869. This body was not imposing in numbers but
rich in experience. Those present were: Messrs.
Saunders, Grosh, Ireland, Trimble, Thompson and
Kelley. The report of the Secretary showed that nine
dispensations were issued for 1868 and ‘‘one Grange
organized gratuitous in Minnesota.” A pattern of
regalia was adopted in order to secure uniformity
throughout the Order. It was at this meeting that
Miss Hall was appointed Assistant to the Secretary ‘‘at
a salary of $600 for a year.” Several ‘‘laws” were
adopted, none of which seem to be in existence at the
present day. The Secretary was authorized to con-
tinue the work of organization, with full power to
make such use of the funds he received as circum-
stances might require, and to adopt such plans as in
his judgment would be expedient for the good of the
Order.”

There was considerable discussion in the Minnesota
granges about this time as to appointing a general
business agent of the order, and the subject was also
brought before the National Grange. Minnesota was
very desirous of having an agent, and in fact did
appoint one, who should be responsible to the Minne-
sota State Grange only and not to the National. A
letter from William Paist, Secretary of the Minnesota
28

State Grange, to Mr. Kelley, adds a humorous touch
to this matter of the state agency. It is given below :

Sr. Pau, April 2d, 1869.

While sitting around Brother Prescott’s stove (a quorum), we
received a letter from Brother Chadbourne, approving Brother Pres-
cott’s appointment as State Agent, and requesting him to go down on
Robert street and purchase a jackass for him. As this is his first order,
we thought it too good to keep until you got back, and the quorum has
directed me to inform you officially of it. Reports are coming in.
Hurry home; we are lonesome.

WM. PAIST, Secretary State Grange.

On this was the memorandum: ‘‘ This purchasing
business commenced with buying jackasses; the
prospects are that many will be sold.”

It was about this time that the suggestion was
made that the National Grange purchase a house and
lot in the vicinity of Cincinnati and make that the
future home of the Order. That these early builders
had still great expectations will be seen from the fact
that they were discussing the matter of erecting a
temple. Also of holding at Cincinnati a biennial expo-
sition of the products of the United States, believing
that on such an occasion they might bring into that
city 200,000 or 300,000 visitors. But the temple was
never erected and the exposition never held, and the
200,000 or 300,000 visitors never arrived there, at
least not under Grange auspices.

Mr. Kelley never considered himself much of a
speech maker, and the following somewhat humorous
incident will illustrate his feeling on receiving an
invitation to address the Kalmar Grange in Minnesota.
He mentioned the matter of receiving the invitation
to Mr. Thompson asa good joke as ‘it was something
I knew myself unfitted for,” he said. We relate the
remainder of the incident in his own words:

‘*However, I had to learn all about everything connected with the

Order, and following his advice, set myself at work to prepare the
oration. I was not many days putting some items together that would
29

be instructive, and setting forth the objects of the organization. Next,
I commenced preparing to deliver it. The first thing was to prune it
down from an hour to thirty minutes in length; then to practice in the
reading and oratorical exercise. I had nearly committed it to memory,
but knew very well as soon as I should rise before an audience of over
twenty persons every word would fly from my mind. Hence I deter-
mined to rely upon my manuscript. One afternoon, my family being
away from home, I repaired to the barn for active practice. My nearest
neighbor lived half a mile away, so I felt secure from interruption, even
should my stentorian lungs make the grove ring. I intended to practice
for an audience of ten thousand -either a success or a failure—but
whichever, it should be on a grand scale.

‘*On the threshing floor I had placed an empty barrel, and on that
box I placed the manuscript speech I intended to empty upon the
audience. I commenced reading aloud, gradually increasing my voice,
until I worked myself up to a frenzy of excitement that would have
made a Booth weep. The poultry, languidly scratching around the
barn that summer afternoon, began to ‘prick up their ears’ and show
indications of an appreciation of the noise, at any rate, while the old
farm dog came to me, evidently in sympathy, or trying to cool down
my unusual excitement; but I heeded nothing until I had finished my
peroration, and was about to sit down, when immediately an old
rooster, that had been eyeing me sideways for the lust five minutes,
clapped his wings and crowed most lustily.

‘* That was perhaps a good omen, but I am satisfied it was all the
crowing the speech ever elicited I went to the meeting (the picnic had
been abandoned) ; I read my remarks very tamely, and returned home
well satisfied that speech-making was not my forte.’

There were now al] told about 50 granges in the
United States.

On November 27, 1869, the first subordinate Grange
in Illinois, that did any genuine work, was organized.
On December 24, Honey Creek Grange No. | was
organized in Indiana, the first in that state.

The year 1870 opened with encouragement. The
meeting of the National Grange was held at Wash-
ington—its secon 1 annual session. From the report
of the Secretary made at that meeting, we make the
following extracts, which will summarize the work
already accomplished :

“In presenting to you my second Annual Report, it gives me
pleasure to say that dispensations have been issued as follows : Minne-
‘sota has forty, Illinois three, Iowa three, Pennsylvania one, New York
one, Ohio one. Of this number, thirty-nine have been issued during
30

the past year, against ten the previous year Added to this is one State
Grange—that of Minnesota. While you require from’ me prompt
reports of my doings, and take the liberty to censure any apparent.
delays on my part, it is but justice and courtesy, in return, that you
should promptly reply to my communications. The Order has been
introduced to the public under difficulties. No liberal donations have
been provided from which to draw in an emergency, and the work has
been up-hill business. I would call your attention tothe necessity of
establishing, at an early day, a newspaper at the Capitol, to be the
organ of our Order, and place it under the immediate supervision of our
Worthy Master. I suggest that this be done by a stock company, con-
sisting of members of the Order. The plan of such a company is for
you to devise.’’

Several proposed amendments to the Constitution
were discussed and adopted. We call attention to but
two of them as being of present interest ; the one
refers to the number of negative votes required to
reject an applicant, increasing same from one to three;
the other, which made it illegal to confer more than
two degrees at the same meeting unless by virtue of
a dispensation. An order of business was prepared
for subordinate granges, which was essentially the
same as the one in present use.

On March 2, 1870, was organized the first sub-
ordinate grange in the State of Ohio. It is interest-
ing to note here that an effort was made to organize
a Grange in New York City among the *‘ horny-
handed ” toilers of the soil in that “burg.

Mr. Kelley now returned to his home in Minnesota
after an absence of five months. During this time
many letters had been received bearing on the pro-
gress of the work of organization and containing
many suggestions as to advancing the interests of the
Order. Among these was the suggestion that a Ger-
man ritual be prepared which was done later, but no
use was ever made of it. The work of selecting:
efficient deputies was thoroughly considered in many
of these letters ; also the suggestion that there be
a Patron’s grip with each degree.
31

June 10th of that year the first subordinate Grange
was organized in Tennessee. On July 11th the Illinois
State Grange was organized, with Daniel Worthing-
ton as Master. On August 17th, California came into
the fold with its first Grange at Pilot Hill, Eldorado
County, and on the 25th of the same month Missouri
organized.

On December 8, 1870, Secretary Kelley issued a
circular letter from Washington, whither he had gone
to reside, stating that thereafter the office of the
Secretary of the National Grange would be located in
that city. He further. said that the Order is now
working in 15 states and rapidly increasing. ‘‘To
secure to our members all the benefits -to be derived
from a fraternity so extensive as this must become,”
he said, ‘‘ we wish to organize subordinate granges in
every town in the United States,” and a plan for
organizing by letter was adopted. The intention was
to effect only a preliminary organization by letter,
until an authorized Deputy could visit the Grange
and complete its organization by giving the unwritten
work of the Order, but the fact was, qualified depu-
ties were not numerous enough to follow up these
preliminary organizations, and it was only a matter
of time when such granges should become dormant or
pass out of existence altogether. It is related that
one Grange in Texas did not receive the unwritten
work of the Order until six years after its organiza-
tion by the ‘‘letter’”’? method. The secret work was
never communicated by letter.

It was in the year 1570 that the following circular
letter was issued by the National Grange at Washing-
ton, which sets forth the organizers’ purposes as well
as anything that can here le presented :

It is evident to all intelligent minds that the time has come when

those engaged in rural pursuits should have an organization devoted
entirely to their interests, Such it is intended to make the Order of
32

Patrons. It was instituted in 1867; its growth is unprecedented in the
history of secret associations, and it is acknowledged one of the most
useful and powerful organizations in the United States. Its grand
objects are not only general improvement-in husbandry, but to increase
the general happiness, wealth and prosperity of the country. It is

‘founded upon the axioms that the products of the soil comprise the

basis of all wealth; that individual happiness depends upon -general
prosperity, and that the wealth of a country depends upon the general
intelligence and mental culture of the producing classes,

In the meetings of this Order, all but members are excluded, and
there is in its proceedings a symbolized ritual, pleasing, beautiful and
appropriate, which is designed not only to charm the fancy, but to
cultivate and enlarge the mind and purify the heart, having, at the
same time, strict adaptation to rural pursuits, —

The secrecy of the ritual and proceedings of the Order have been
adopted chiefly for the purpose of accomplishing desired efficiency,
extension and unity, and to secure among its members in the internal
workings of the Order, confidence, harmony and security.

~ Women are admitted to full membership, and we solicit the co-
operation of woman, because of a éonviction that without her aid suc-
cess will be less certain and decided. Much might be said in this
connection, but every husband and brother knows that where he can
be accompanied by his wife or sister, no lessons will be learned but

\ those of purity and truth.

* The Order of the PaTrRons or HUSBANDRY will accomplish a thorough
and systematic organization among Farmers and Horticulturists

throughout the United States, and will seeure among them intimate

social relations and acquaintance with each other, for the advancement
and elevation of their pursuits, with an appreciation and protection of
their true interests. By such means may be accomplished that which
exists throughout the country in all other avocations, and among all
other classes—combined co-operative association for individual
improvement and common benefit.

Among the advantages which may be derived from the Order, are
systematic arrangements for procuring and disseminating, in the most
expeditious manner, information relative to crops, demand and supply,
prices, markets, and transportation throughout the country; also
for the purchase and exchange of stock, seeds, and desired varieties
of plants and trees, and for the purpose of procuring help at home or
from abroad, and situations for persons seeking employment; also for
ascertaining and testing the merits of newly invented farming imple-
ments, and those not in general use, and for detecting and exposing
those that are unworthy, and for protecting, by all available means,
the farming interests from fraud and deception, and combinations of
every kind.

We ignore all political or religious discussions in the Order; we do
not solicit the patronage of any sect, association or individual, upon
any grounds whatever, except upon the intrinsic merits of the Order,
CHAPTER IY.
The Years 1871 and 1872.

O* January 4, 1871, the third annual meeting of

the National Grange was held in Washington.
The Secretary made an informal report of the work
for the year and several important communications
were read from subordinate granges. In one of these
we find the first suggestion for a County Grange,
made by C. C. Low, Master of Lincoln Grange No.
46, Gillford, Minn. Said County Grange was to be
composed of Masters and Past Masters of subordinate
granges, to meet semi-annually or annually, as might
be determined, and to discuss any local or general
questions which might properly come before the meet-
ing. Secretary Kelley in a memorandum says that
the object of this was almost exclusively to create a
local corporation for buying machinery or goods and
for shipping produce. There was but little else of im-
portance done at this meeting.

On January 6, 1871, Honey Creek Grange of
Indiana erected, and later dedicated, the first Grange
hall in the United States, we believe, and the first
attempt at co-operation was made about this time by
Mr. Hinckley of Fredonia Grange. However, co-
operation did not become a marked success at that
time.

On January 12th the State Grange of Iowa was
organized at Des Moines, with Dudley W. Adams as
Master and Gen. William Duane Wilson, Secretary.
On January 13th the first application for a subordinate
34

Grange in Wisconsin was received. On February 22,
1871, the first genuine working Grange in Pennsyl-
vania was organized, known as Eagle Grange, No. 1,
of Clinton, Pa. On May 20th, Mississippi came into
the Order with its first Grange, located at Rienzi,
and on the 24th of the same month Charleston, 8. C.,
organized Ashley Grange, No. 1. On June 12th of
that year Wisconsin State Grange was organized,
with S. W. Pierce as Master. On July 4th the first
Grange in Vermont was organized by Jonathan
Lawrence; it was called Green Mountain Grange,
No. 1. Next to unfurl the Grange banner was Ken-
tucky, with Pioneer Grange, No. 1, organized by R.
S. Reeves, August 10, 1871. In October of that year
Secretary Kelley took a trip into New England, spend-
ing three weeks in Vermont, but did not meet with
any special success in the work of organization. He
said New England was the hardest to interest in the
work of any section. On the 27th of December, the
first dispensation for New Jersey was issued for
Homestead Grange, No. 1. Mortimer Whitehead,
later a lecturer of the National Grange, was a charter
member of Homestead Grange.

The fourth annual session of the National Grange
was held at Washington on January 3, 1872, and
Secretary Kelley’s report at that time summarizes the
work thus far accomplished. We quote from his
report :

‘‘In February, 1868, there was but one Subordinate Grange in the
United States ; this I left in good working order in April of that year.
On my return the following year, I reported ten Subordinates and one
State Grange for the year's work. In 1869, there were organized thirty
nine Subordinates and one State Grange. In 1870), there were organized
thirty-eight Subordinates and one State Grange, and in 1871, there have
been one hundred and thirty Subordinates organized. * + + * The
educational and social features of our Order offer inducement to some
to join, but the majority desire pecuniary benefits—advantages in
purchase of machinery and sales of produce. To bring all the
Granges into direct communication, and to devise a system of co-
 

 

 

 

 

JOHN TRIMBLE.

 

 

 

 
36

eperation, devolves upon the National Grange. But until its member-
ship is much increased, we must wait patiently the appearance of our
new Moses, who is to present the coveted plan. * * * * In conclu-
sion, we see what the Order is today. Its future depends upon our
action. Though we are fewin number, we can exert our influence.
For my own part, I have been left by you to labor as I have thought
best, I might almost say ‘solitary and alone,”’ yet all will acknowledge
my faith in the ultimate success of the Order. If I have made mis-
takes at times, none of them have been serious or irreparable.

Considerable business was transacted at this meet-
ing of the National Grange relative to the secret
work, charters, deputies, dues, etc. The Treasurer,
Mr. Ireland, having tendered his resignation, J. R.
Thompson was elected to fill the vacancy, which
consequently made a vacancy in the office of Lecturer.
This was filled by the appointment of D. W. Adams
of Iowa. On January 1, he organized the first Grange
in that state, namely Harlan County Grange, No. 1,
and on the 10th of January, Michigan enrolled its
first Grange as Burnside Grange, No. 1. Virginia
came next with her first Grange at Petersburg, on
February 16, and far-off Oregon presented an applica-
tion dated January 6th. It had 30 charter members.
The State Grange of Indiana was organized March 1,
1872, with John Weir as Master, and on the 5th day
of March the State Grange of Illinois was reorganized,
the first organization having been annuled, as nothing
had been done by the officers to advance the Order in
that state. Alonzo Golder was elected Master.
Mississippi State Grange was organized on March
15th, with Gen. A. J. Vaughan as Master, and on the
same date Louisiana asked for membership in the
Order with its first Subordinate Grarze. In January
of that year 54 new granges had been organized.
February closed with 82 and March had nearly 100.

On April 2d, application was received for the first
Subordinate Grange in Kansas, which was called
Hiawatha Grange, No. 1, and had 44 charter mem-
bers. The month of April showed 98 new granges.
37

The record for May seems to be wanting, but June
closed with 86 new dispensations. It was on July 3,
1872, that the State Grange of Vermont was organ-
ized at St. Johnsbury, with E. P. Colton as Master and
CG. J. Bell, at present (1904) Master of the State
Grange and Secretary of the National Grange Execu-
tive Committee and Governor of the State of Ver-
mont, was elected Treasurer of the organization. On
August 2d, the State Grange of Nebraska was organ-
ized, with William P. Porter as Master, and on
August 3d Arkansas came into the fold with its first
grange, organized at Phillips Academy by Hon. J. T.
Jones. The next was Canada, which put in its first
application on August 16th. The first grange was
organized by Eben Thompson. Georgia organized.
Valdosta Grange, No. 1, on October 2d.

On December 9, the State Grange of Kansas was
organized, with F. H. Dumbauld as Master. The
month closed with 120 new granges, making a total
for the year of 1105. Secretary Kelley says, ‘‘It
may be presumed the close of the year found all of
my family in fine spirits. Our united efforts for five
years, the hard labor and many privations all were
rewarded by success.”
CHAPTER Y.

Permanent Organization Effected.

A NEW Era began with the permanent organiza--
tion of a National Grange, in the early days of
1873, at Georgetown, D. C. With this meeting the
work of Secretary Kelley and Miss Hall virtually
closed. They passed the temporary organization over
to the incorporated body, free of debt, except what
was due to themselves, and with cash enough on hand
to defray the general expenses of the session. Secre-
tary Kelley made his financial report and from it we
glean the following facts: There were organized,
during the year 1872, 1105 new granges, the fees for
dispensations for which amounted to $16,375. Iowa
reported 652 new granges in that year; the total
receipts, according to the treasurer’s report, were
$17,768.51. There were issued 1,705,000 sheets of
printed matter for gratuitous distribution almost
entirely. That year State Granges were organized in
eight states, i. e., Illinois (reorganized), Indiana,
Wisconsin (reorganized), Vermont, South Carolina,
Nebraska, Mississippi and Kansas. To anticipate the
record a little, we give here the State Granges that
were organized during 1873, which were as follows:
Alabama, Arkansas, California, Dakota, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michi-
gan, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvan‘a,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia. In 1874
came Colorado, Maine, Maryland and Montana. Iowa
39

took the lead in the number of granges, i. e., 754 and
South Carolina came next with 102. Mississippi had
61. There were subordinate granges in 22 states and
three in Canada, the total number being 1362.

It was at this session of the National Grange that
the Constitution and By-Laws were adopted which
were essentially the same as those which at present
govern the Order. The election of officers took place
with the following result :

Master—Dudley W. Adams, Waukon, Iowa.
Overseer—Thomas Taylor, Columbia, S. C.
Lecturer—T. A. Thompson, Plainview, Minn.
Steward—A. J. Vaughan, Early Grove, Miss.
Assistant Steward—G. W. Thompson, New Bruns-
wick, N. J.
Chaplain—A. B. Grosh, Washington, D. C.
Treasurer—F. M. McDowell, Wayne, N. Y.
Secretary—O. H. Kelley, Washington, D. C.
Gate Keeper—O. Dinwiddie, Orchard Grove, Ind.
Ceres, Mrs. D. W. Adams, Waukon, Iowa.
Pomona—Mrs. O. H. Kelley, Washington, D. C.
Flora—Mrs. J. C. Abbott, Clarkesville, Lowa.
Lady Assistant Steward, Miss C. A. Hall, Wash-
ington, D. C.
Executive Committee— William Saunders, Washing-
ton, D. C.; D. Wyatt Aiken, Cokesbury, 8. C.; E. BR.
Shankland, Dubuque, Iowa.

Another important matter accomplished at this
session was the adoption of the report on the incor-
poration of the Order. It was later incorporated
under the laws of the State of Kentucky when the
National Grange headquarters were removed to Louis-
ville in 1876. The certificate of incorporation follows;

CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION,
OF THE
NATIONAL GRANGE OF THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.

Be rr Known, That William Saunders, O. H. Kelley, John KR,
Thompson, A, B. Grosh and John Trimble, Jr., of the city and county,
of Washington, District of Columbia; F. M. McDowell, of Wayne
40

Pteuben county, and State of New York; Dudley W. Adams, of Waukon,
Alamakee county and State of Iowa; D. A. Robertson, of St. Paul,
Ramsay county, State of Minnesota, and D. Wyatt Aiken,.of Cokes-
bury, Abbeville county, State of South Carolina, for themselves, their
associates and successors in office, being desirous of availing themselves
of the provisions of the act of Congress approved May 5, 1870. entitled,
*tAn act to provide for the creation of corporations in the District of
Columbia,” hereby constitute themselves, their associates and suc-
eessors in office, a body politic and corporate, under the name and

style of ;
“ THe NATIONAL GRANGE OF THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.”

The object of this association is to act as the governing body of the
Order known as ‘‘The Patrons of Husbandry,’ which Order is an or-
ganization among farmers and those engaged in kindred pursuits in the
United States, to secure to them the advantages of co-operation in all
things affecting their interests, and of mutual improvement. The fol-
lowing members are named as the present executive officers of the
National Grange hereby incorporated: William Saunders, Master;
©. H. Kelley, secretary; J. R. Thompson, Treasurer, and William
Saunders, A. B. Grosh, J. R. Thompson, John Trimble, Jr., and F M,
McDowell as directors or managers, known as ‘‘ The Executive Com-
mittee.” The corporation hereby created is to continue in existence
for the period of twenty years from the date hereof. ©

Done end snbserihed at Georgetown, District of Columbia, this
tenth day of January, A. D., 1873.

WILLIAM SAUNDERS. DUDLEY W. ADAMS.
O. H. KELLEY. D. WYATT AIKEN,
J. R, THOMPSON. D. A. ROBERTSON.
A, B. GROSH. JOHN TRIMBLE, Jr.

F. M. McDOWELL.

Signed in the presence of—
Wm. DuANE WILSON, ALONZO GOLDER.

Properly acknowledged, before sealed, by Wilson N. Fuller, a notary
public for the District of Columbia, and recorded in liber “ Deeds of
Incorporation, D. C.,” folio 258.

Thus the Order of Patrons of Husbandry became
an incorp»rated association and, in fact, a new Order
with new Constitution and new officers. ‘On J anuary
11th,” says Mr. Kelley, ‘‘we closed our work and
the National Grange was a reality.”
CHAPTER YI.

An Unparalleled Growth,

Tae annual session of the National Grange, in

1874, was held at St. Louis, Mo. The Order
was now growing with unparalleled rapidity. The years
1873 and 1874 were record years for new granges, and
membership was increasing with leaps and bounds.
Look at Missouri! In 1873 that state had 1500 live,
active, working subordinate granges within its borders.
They were in nearly every one of its 114 counties and
the work was spreading like wild fire. All through
the land granges were springing up like mushrooms
of anight. The work of organization was such as to
excite the constant wonder of even the members of
the Order, while those outside its gates looked on
with undisguised amazement. At the sixth annual
session of the National Grange nine states were
represented, having within their limits 1300 subordi-
nate granges. One year later thirty-two states and
two territories were represented by regularly elected
delegates who claimed jurisdiction over more than
10,000 subordinate granges. During that year 24
State Granges were organized and there were 1,294
state deputies in the field.

The address of National Master D. W. Adams at
the seventh annual meeting of the National Grange
contained one or two paragraphs quite as applicable
to grange work of the present day as then. He said:
«‘There is danger that, in grappling with the gigantic
questions of the hour, we may lose sight of the rock
42

upon which we builded. It is of prime importance,
in order to maintain the strength of the national
organization, that the subordinate granges be kept up
to a high standard of efficiency. During the first
months of the existence of a grange, the novelty,
preparation of regalia, and initiation of new members
secures a full and interested attendance. After this,
there is often a want of amusing and instructive
exercises, the interest flags, the attendance falls off,
and the grange seems to lack vitality.” Again he re-
ferred tothe ofttimes perplexing question, as many
granges find it, of eligibility to membership in the
Order. Any person interested in ‘agricultural
pursuits” said the Constitution. But the clause was
capable of such varied interpretations that much con-
fusion and misunderstanding resulted. And not only
this but herein may be found the reason for the
woeful decline in grange membership which followed
a little later on and when so many granges went out
of existence. Worthy Master Adams said: ‘To be
a Patron of Husbandry is no longer of doubtful pro-
priety, but the proudest in the land are knocking at
our door. The Order has become recognized as one of
the great powers in the land, and the gates are be-
sieged, from ocean to ocean, by hordes of speculators,
demagogues, small politicians, grain buyers, cotton
_ factors, and lawyers, who suddenly discover that they
, are ‘interested in agricultural pursuits’; but only as a
| hawk is interested in the sparrow. You would do
well to give this matter a most careful review, and by
law determine the proper construction of the consti-
tution, so we may be able to keep our gates closed
against those whose only interest consists in what
they can make out of us. To have such admitted to
our counsels can only result in evil, and sow seeds of
internal strife.”

While the Constitution is now more stringent on
43

this point of eligibility to membership the fact is, it is
variously interpreted still, and in many granges it is
so liberally interpreted that the most unfortunate re-
sults follow.

It was at this session of the National Grange that
the ‘‘ Declaration of Purposes” was adopted. This
masterly document was from the pen of Mr. J. W. A.
Wright, then of California. It stands to-day as the
wisest and strongest statement of the purposes for
which the grange was organized, that has ever been
formulated. It should be placed in the hands of every
candidate for admission to the Order, and its frequent
reading in grange meetings cannot help giving mem-
bers more exalted views as to the real purposes for
which this Order was established.

The next National Grange meeting was held at
Louisville, Ky., Nov. 17, 1875, Worthy Master
Dudley W. Adams, presiding. The address of wel-
come given by Worthy Master Davie of the Kentucky
State Grange brings out the interesting fact that
there were at that time 100,000 good and true mem-
bers of the Order in that state. Worthy Master
Adams remarked, in his annual address, that over
2,000 subordinate granges had been organized the
previous year, and remarking on the wonderful
growth of the Order, Secretary Kelley said: ‘‘In the
history of organization our Order is the greatest
achievement of modern times. The Masonic Order,
including blue lodges, chapters and commandaries,
numbers, all together, 12,930 bodies. The Odd
Fellows number 7,051 lodges, encampments, etc.,
while after eight years’ growth the Order of the
Patrons of Husbandry has issued 24,290 charters in
the United States alone. During the year 1874
there were over 3,000 deputies at work organizing
granges. Up to this date only 686 subordinate
granges had been consolidated or suspended or had
44

charters revoked since the Order was first organized.
The total paying membership as reported at this, the
9th session of the National Grange, was 762.263.
The total amount of monies received at the Secre-
tary’s office during the three years immediately pre-
ceding 1875 was, in round numbers, $350,000. Indi-
ana was now the banner state, having received 2,036
charters.”

These were halcyon days for the Order. The
treasury was plethoric. Fees for dispensations were
rolling in with every mail. The grange was on the
high tide of-prosperity, viewed from a financial stand-
point. The National body could ‘‘do things,” for did
they not have the money to do with? For several
years 30;000 copies of the Proceedings of each annual
meeting were distributed among the subordinate
granges. Miss Hall compiled a song book for the
Order, for which she was given $1000 by the National,
Grange. The Executive Committee, desiring to aid
the unlettered Masters of subordinate granges in their
decisions as presiding officers, endeavored to purchase
the copyright of Cushing’s Manual in order that every
Master might be presented with one, but failing in
this, they compiled a ‘‘Patrons’ Parliamentary Guide”
and circulated 50,000 copies among the subordinate
granges. In the paraphernalia sent out by the
National Grange Secretary toeach new grange was a
small pruning knife, but when so many knives were
required the Executive Committee visited the largest
cutlery establishment in the United States and asked
for a price on 10,000 knives. ‘‘Gentlemen,” ex
claimed the manufacturr, ‘‘do you deal in anything
but knives ?”’

In view of the fact that the total grange member-
ship in the United States was, on January 1, 1875,
about what it is now (1904) it may be interesting to
note in comparison which were the strongest grange
45

states at that time, both North and South. It will
doubtless surprise the younger members of the Order
to-day that the Southern States at that time had the
bulk of the membership. For instance, Alabama
17,440, Arkansas 20,471, Georgia 17,826, Florida
3,804, Kentucky-52-463, Louisiana 10,078, Maryland
5,635, Mississippi-30,797, Missouri -80;069, North
Carolina 10,166, South Carolina 10,922, Tennessee
34581, Texas 37,649, Virginia 13,885, West Virginia
5,990. The Northern States having the largest mem-
bership were Illinois29,063, Indiana—66;998, tows»
54,332,~Kansas_40,964, Michigan 33,196, Minnesota
16,617, New York 11,723 (1904 approximately 60,000),
Ohio 53,327, Pennsylvania 22,471, Wisconsin 17,226,
Vermont 10,193, the other states having membership
running down to about 400.

It was at this session of the National Grange that
the committee reported on the Form of Dedication for
grange halls, the committee reporting that the Order
was indebted to the pen of Brother J. R. Thompson
for this long-needed and well-supplied addition to the
ritual. We find in the record for one day in the 1875
session the following memorandum: “Brother
Hinckley, in behalf of the Knickerbocker Grange,
No. 154, New York City, presented to the National
Grange a handsomely bound Bible to lay upon its
altar. The present was accepted with the thanks of
the National Grange.’’ This brings out the interest-
ing fact that there were in New York City men and
women who were ‘‘interested in agricultural pursuits”
and therefore eligible to membership in the Patrons
of Husbandry. But the New York City grange was
short-lived of necessity. It was composed of 45
members, all wealthy men, among whom were bank
presidents, sewing machine manufacturers and Wail
street speculators. We are reminded also that in the
previous year there had been some trouble with the
46

grange organized in Boston, Mass. It seems that the
Boston grange was organized in 1873 and was com-
posed of a class ‘‘commonly knownas middlemen.” It
appears from a report of the committee, considered at
a later day in the session, that these ‘‘ undesirable ”
members were grain dealers, commission men, a
reporter, an editor of a business paper, and the only
man connected with the farm in any way was
the Lecturer of the grange. The Worthy Master
issued a revocation to the Boston grange, and it
appears that no official notice was taken of this
demand. The result was that the National Grange
recommended that the Secretary be instructed to
notify all other granges that the Boston grange was
no longer connected with the.Patrons of Husbandry.

It was at this session of the National Grange that
William Saunders, one of the founders of the Order,
severed his official connection with the National
Grange, his reason for the act being that he did not
approve of the removal of the headquarters of the Na-
tional Grange from Washington to Louisville. The
Committee on Foreign Relations said that prior to
February 4, 1874, 11 subordinate granges had been
organized in Canada by the Deputy of the National
Grange and that 15 subordinate granges had been
organized since the above date without authority.
When these subordinate granges were organized
representations were made that the Canada granges
would have an organization separate from and
independent of the National Grange. Relying on
these representations the Patrons in Canada, on
June 2, 1874, organized the Dominion Grange of
Canada, which was founded mainly on the Consti-
tution, By-Laws, Rules and Regulations of the
National Grange. The Dominion Grange increased
rapidly in membership and had then about 250 sub
ordinate bodies.
CHAPTER VI,

Achievements of the Grange.

AVING thus far considered the origin and early

history of the grange somewhat in detail for the

first ten or fifteen years of its existence, the author’s

purpose, in so far, has been accomplished. Let us

now look at some of the achievements of the grange
in these later years.

Among the first of the important acts of legislation
secured through the influence of the grange was the
establishment of a Bureau of Agriculture, to be pre-
sided over by a cabinet officer known as the Secretary
of Agriculture. The first resolution we find recorded
in the proceedings of the National Grange was one
introduced by Mr. M. D. Davie of Kentucky, at the
session of the National Grange held in Chicago, II1.,
in 1876, which is given below :

“Resolved, That American agriculturists demand that they shall be
recognized as a real factor in this government by the establishment of
a bureau of agriculture, to be presided over by a cabinet officer, who
shall organize the same on a plan to be devised by the wisdom of Con-
gress, which shall embrace, to the fullest, the agricultural interests of
20,000,000 of the people, and whose counsel and advice shall have due
weight according to the same on matters affecting the agricultural
people and, also, our public affairs generally.”

Similar resolutions were adopted at various suc-
ceeding meetings of the National Grange, and com-
mittees were appointed to see that the legislation
desired was secured. To show how persistently this
battle was fought, the following brief review of the
history of the bill will be of interest and may be taken
as a fair sample of the efforts required to secure Con-
48

gressional legislation in the farmers’ behalf: The bill
for the elevation of the Department of Agriculture
met with serious opposition from the chairman of the
committee on agriculture, but Brother D. W. Aiken
of South Carolina, a member of that committee, in
the third session of the 46th Congress, February 7,
1881, secured 164 votes in its favor, there being 83
against and 45 not voting, thus failing by one vote to
receive the necessary two-thirds. The bill was
opposed by some for the reason that it was ‘‘legisla-
tion for the protection of special interests.” Another
said: ‘‘ We have here the spectacle of a large class
of people, already strong in material resources and
abundantly able to protect their own interests, clamor-
ing for the elevation of this department and for the
dispensing of special favors to them. The request is
not made by the real agriculturists of the country nor
by any relatively large.number of intelligent men
engaged in that business throughout the land.” One
gentleman said there was no constitutional warrant
for the elevation of the Department of Agriculture or
even of the establishment of the Department as it
stands to-day, but that it was “the illegitimate child
of the government, deserving support only during its
infancy and while the act of creating it remained
unrepealed.” In reply to this statement Congress-
man Hatch said: ‘If this department is an illegiti-
mate child then, in the name of the great agricultural
interests of the country, let the 46th Congress of the
United States do the greatest act of its official life
and legitimatize this child of agriculture. Mlegitimate!
If it be so, it has done more for the country than any
other child that has been born to it since the Declara-
tion of Independence. It is the foundation of our
wealth, the corner stone of our prosperity and the
fruitful source from which we derive our richest,
surest revenues.,”?
49

In the first session of the 47th Congress, after a full
discussion, on May 10, 1882, the House passed the
Department of ‘Apriegivare bill by the overwhelming
vote of 183 ayes to 7 noes, 101 not voting. In
the 48th Congress, Dessuber 15, 1884, the bill
again passed the House by the decisive vote
of 166 ayes to 69 noes, 88 not voting. In the
49th Congress, January 11, 1887, after mature
deliberation and discussion by the House, the bill was
passed by the overwhelming vote of 226 ayes to 26
noes, 67 not voting. On February 23, 1887, the bill,
with amendments, passed the Senate, was returned
to the House the next day, was referred to the com.
mittee on agriculture and the following day was
reported back to the House with the recommendation
that the said amendment be concurred in. Owing to
a lack of time before adjournment of the 49th Con-
gress, it was impossible to obtain considei ation of the
Senate amendment by the House and the measure
again failed to become a law. ‘The principal amend-
ment placed upon the bill by the Senate in the closing
days of the 49th Congress was to the effect that the
weather service of the United States Signal Service
Bureau should be transferred to the Department of
Agriculture. The amendment was approved by the
House. At the next session of Congress, March 7,
1888, the committee on agriculture reported the bill
to the House with the section intact and without
alteration, and it was thus passed by the House on
May 21st and again sent to the Senate. There it was
not acted upon until September 21, 1888, when it was
returned to the House with amendments, the only.
one of importance being to strike out the fifth section
which had originated in the Senate and had been
- accepted by the House. The Senate committee kept
the bill four months and, finding no other pretext for
preventing its passing at that session, deliberately
50

struck out the section of the bill which had originated
in the Senate at the last session and which was
deemed of value and importance by the farmers of
America. But justice finally triumphed, and in 1899
National Master J. H. Brigham, in his annual
address to the National Grange, said that for several
years they had tried to secure the elevation of the
Department of Agriculture but the repeated failures
had not discouraged them. ‘‘It is my privilege, at
this session,” said he, ‘‘to report that our persever-
ance has been rewarded and the chief of the Depart-
ment of Agriculture will henceforth be a trusted
adviser to the President.” Thus, after 12 years of
unremitting endeavor, the grange won one of its
most notable victories for the farmers of the United
States.

I have given the history of this measure thus in
detail to show the obstacles that the National Grange
had to overcome in its attempt to secure this legisla-
tion, now acknowledged to have been most wise and
most beneficial to the agricultural interests of the
United States.

Among other achievements of the grange of national
importance may be mentioned the law, passed through
its influence, preventing the renewal of patents on
sewing machines, which saved many million dollars
to purchasers annually by reducing the cost fully 50
per cent.( Through legislation instituted by the
grange, transportation companies were brought under
legislative control, and out of this agitation came the
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States
that ‘‘a creature cannot be greater than the creator ;
i.e, corporations must be subject to governmental con-
trol.” The Inter-State Commerce Commission law
was aiso enacted largely through the influence of the
grange, and the anti-oleomargarine legislation which
required oleomargarine and butterine to be branded.
51

and sold as such, and not palmed off on the consumer
as butter, was brought about by the assistance of the
grange legislative committee and representatives of
dairy interests. The establishment of Experiment
Stations in many states was the direct outcome of
persistent grange endeavor, and reforms in ballot
laws were made possible in certain states because the
grange demanded them. Among the other enact-
ments of Congress which the grange was largely

influential in procuring, were the so-called Sherman.

Anti-Trust Law of 1890 and the various amendments
since that time adopted; the law adopted in 1903
creating the Department of Commerce; the separation
of agricultural schools from the classical colleges and
the Act of 1902 preventing the false branding of food
products thus protecting farmers from fraudulent
imitations, and consumers from the imposition of
fraudulent imitations being sold to them as pure
articles.

Perhaps no achievement of the grange has more
directly benefitted the rural population than the free
delivery of rural mail. And its benefits are still being
extended by increasing the number of free mail routes
all over the country as the government increases its
appropriations therefor. After several years’ dis-
cussion in the subordinate granges, in 1894 the
National Grange took action and sent a committee to
Washington, asking Congress to investigate the sub-
ject, and if found practicable to adopt it, and at that
time an appropriation of $10,000 was made by Congress
to experiment in delivering mail at farmers’ homes.
This experiment met with opposition on every hand,

from postmasters, merchants, and members of Con:

gress, until 1897, when the appropriation for this
service was stricken from the postoffice appropriation
bill by the Senate. The Legislative ¢ Committee of the
National Grange went to Washington and had a con-
52

ference with leading senators; the opposition was
withdrawn, the appropriation made and the extension
of this system has continued ever since, and will go
on until, so far as is practical, every rural home will
have free delivery of mail. If the Order had never
secured anything through national legislation except
the free delivery of rural mail, this alone would more
than justify its existence. The introduction of this
service has proceeded with marvelous rapidity. - At
the beginning of the fiscal year 1899, says a govern-
ment report, there were less than 200 routes in opera-
tion. At the close of the present year (1904) the
number in actual operation will be in excess of 25,000,
bringing a daily mail service to more than 12,500,000
of our people residing in the rural districts. At the
present time complete service is established in 142
counties, in which all the people outside of the cities
receive their mail daily by rural free delivery carriers.

The policy of rural free delivery is no longer a sub-
ject of serious dispute. It has unmistakably vindi-
cated itself by its fruits. The practical benefits and
the popular appreciation and demand have been
decisively demonstrated. It has been made plain
that this service is a potent educational force; that it
brings agricultural life into far closer relations with
the active business world ; that it keeps the farmers
in daily touch with markets and prices; that it
advances general intelligence through the increased
circulation of legitimate journals and periodicals,
stimulates correspondence, quickens all interchanges,
promotes good roads, enhances farm values, makes
farm life less isolated and more attractive, and unites
with other wholesome influences in checking and
changing the hitherto prevailing current from country
to city. The national value of these advantages. is
incalculable. The appropriation made by the present
Congress (1904) for the continuation of the service
58

and its extension into districts where its introduction
is justifiable was $20,816,600.

Hon. Aaron Jones in his annual address to the
National Grange at its meeting in Portland, Oregon,
in November 1904, said: ‘A generation has passed,
crowded with greater advancement than any similar
period in the world’s history, since our organization
was founded to meet conditions essential to public
welfare. It was consecrated to develop the best type
of social conditions, to foster and promote good citi-
zenship, to develop agriculture, to secure equity in
the business relations of the agricultural classes with
the industrial and commercial interests of our
country. It has gone steadily forward 6n its mission,
its standard has been held high, by clean hands and
honest hearts of good men and women, devoted to
principle, above sordid and selfish ambitions. We
contemplate its glorious record of usefulness and
beneficence with emotions of thankfulness and pride.
No pen can fully describe, no words of mine can
picture the thrilling joys, the happy emotions inspired
and promoted in the hearts and in the happy homes in
the hundreds of thousands of its members scattered
throughout our country. The grange removed the
isolation of farm homes, inculcated and promoted
education, fostered and secured better schools for our
children, raised the standard of intelligence among
the farming population, developed the latent talent of
its members, making them logical thinkers and
writers and fluent speakers, understanding the relation
of agriculture to the varied and complex social,
industrial and commercial interests of our country
and the world. These glorious results were attained
by steadfast adherence to the principles of our Order
and methods suggested by the founders of our
Fraternity.”
54

In a hundred ways state and local measures rela-
tive to good roads, libraries, reading rooms, banks,
fire insurance companies, co-operative enterprises,
trade systems, etc., have found in the grange their
most efficient advocates. It should be further borne
in mind that the influence of the grange has been an
important factor in preventing much legislation that
would have worked injury to agricultural interests.

Likewise has the grange been influential in the
work along social and educational_lines. By precept
and practice it has ever striven to promote intelligence,
improve society, elevate citizenship, better rural con-
‘ditions and develop ‘‘a better and higher manhood
and womanhood among ourselves,” mutually resolv-
ing ‘to labor for the good of the Order, our Country
and Mankind.” What the grange has accomplished
in its attempt to fulfill that purpose shall not be fully
known or portrayed ‘until the day when the books
‘are opened and the record of each is read.”

A FORWARD LOOK.

‘* Yesterday, To-day, To-morrow,
These three—
But the greatest of these
Is To-morrow.”

Grand’ as have been the achievements of the
grange in the Past and wonderful as has been
‘its progress; powerful, aggressive and influential as
it is To-day, as under its banner are marshaled the
Patron hosts, yet all that it has done, or is now doing,
is but a foregleam of what, under wise guidance, it
may do and be in the To-morrow of its history as it
goes forward on its God-given mission, elevating
humanity, developing manhood and womanhood, and
carrying a broader culture into agricultural life,
55

In governmental legislation, in the farmer’s behalf ;
there is an ever-widening field of duty and oppor-
tunity. Not yet has the farmer come fully into the
enjoyment of his political birthright. Not yet has he
taken his rightful position in the affairs of state and
the councils of the nation. Not yet has the Goddess
of Agriculture been laurel-crowned! Vast and in-
tricate problems touching labor, taxation, transporta-
tion, oppressive combinations and the like, are to be
solved in the coming years, and these bear most
directly on the welfare of the farmer as a tiller of the
soil and the producer of a world’s necessities. Like-
wise in state and local legislation there are questions
in which the agriculturist will find himself most
vitally interested and in the just and equitable
determination of which the grange must bear its part,
exerting its influeuce and power conservatively ,
wisely but effectually. In the work of educating its
members along such lines of thought and action as
shall make them true citizens, with lofty ideals and
noble aspirations, the grange shall find one of its
grandest opportunities. And the silver thread of
secrecy, running through the fabric of our Fraternity,
shall bind into one great, strong, influential organiza-
tion a happy, prosperous, agricultural people—Patrons
of Husbandry, indeed,—in whose sacred circle ‘‘ un-
bounded confidence prevails, and where the welfare
of each is bound up in the good of all.”

‘For the structure that we raise,
Time is with materials filled ;
Our To-days and Yesterdays
Are the blocks with which we build.

Build To-day, then, strong and sure,
With a firm and ample base ;

And ascending and secure
Shall To-morrow find its place.”
ANNUAL SESSIONS OF THE NATIONAL GRANGE.

YEAR. PLACE. MASTER.
1878.... Washington, D. Cu... cece cccenseeeeeeeeeene William Saunders

   
 
  
  
  
  
  
 
  
  

  
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
   
   

1874. «St. Louis, Missouri... . Dudley W. Adams
1875. Louisville, Kentucky Dudley W. Adams
1876, Chicago, Illinois..... . John T, Jones
1877. Cincinnati, Ohio. John T. Jones
1878. Richmond, Virginia. amuel E, Adams

 

   

 

 

    
  
   
  
 
  
   

 

 

1879. Canandaigua, N. Y¥ . Samuel E. Adams
1880. ...Washington, D. C. ..J. J. Woodman
1881. Washington, D. C. J.J. Woodman
1882. Indianapolis, Indiana. J.J. Woodman
1888.... Washington, D. C............ cheglechi testy J.J. Woodman
1884.... «Nashville, Temnessee...........ccccsssesseseenee ceeeee J. J. Woodman
1885. Boston, Massachusetts.. -Put Darden
LS86 viicccvecacscedensses Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Put Darden
VBS ciscivassspueieesives Lansing, Michigan...... ..James Draper
1888. Topeka, Kansas....... J.H. Brigham
1889. Sacramento, California. J. AH. Rrigham
1890. Atlanta, Georgia. J. H. Brigham
1891. Springfield, Ohio.......... J. H. Brigham
1892. -Concord, New Hampshire J. H. Brigham
1893. Syracuse, New York. .J. H. Brigham
1894. Springfield, Illinois...... J. H. Brigham
1895. ‘Worcester, Massachusetts. J. H. Brigham
1896.... Washington, D. C..... J. H. Brigham

  

. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. . Aaron Jones
Concord, New Hampshire. Aaron Jones
aes SPINS HE] A, OWI0 vesavsservens sas csestivarawcrgereceecass oat Aaron Jones
Washington, D. Cou... eeccesenenesecaseeeeeeeen Aaron Jones
Lewiston, Maine.... . Aaron Jones
Lansing, Michigan. Aaron Jones
Rochester, New York... Aaron Jones
..Portland, Oregon Aaron Jones

 

 

 

 

 

T9OD esc eee wees Atlantic City, New Jersey........... Aaron Jones
W906. « ccoteaa' gen Denver, Colorado .............. N. J. Bachelder
TOOT oe rps £5 spt Hartford, Connecticut ........... N. J. Bachelder
POO Bis sess sons ae Washington, D.C. ............... N. J. Bachelder
OO Deca ies ters dane Des Moines, Iowa ................ N. J. Bachelder
BOLO so ceaha ss mage Atlantic City, New Jersey ....... N. J. Bachelder
TOAST iene chats wee Columbus, Ohio ................. N. J. Bachelder
Pte eiLe

 

 
Rise of the Granger Movement

From the Popular Science Monthly December 1887
BY CHARLES W. PIERSON

Jn 1866, one 0. H. Kelley, a clerk in the Agricultural De-
partment, was sent by the Commissioner of Agriculture on a tour
of inspection through some of the Southern States. Impressed
with the demoralization of the farming population, he hit upon
the idea of organization for social and educationar purposes, as a
means for these people to better their condition. An ardent
Mason, he naturally thought of an organization similar to the
Masonic, in whose ritual, secrecy and fraternity he saw the secret
of that permanence which all agricultural societies had failed to
attain. A jpiece.in Boston, to whom he first mentioned the idea, -
recommended that women be given. membership, thus originating
an important feature. On returning to Washington, Kelley took six
other immortals into his confidence, and the seven set about de-
veloping the plan and constructing a ritual. It would be a long
‘story to tell how, by two years’ labor in the intervals of their reg-
ular work, they constructed a constitution providing for a national,
state, county and district organization, and a ritual with seven
degrees; how the names—Patrons of Husbandry for the body in
general and Granges for the subordinate chapters—were finally
hit upon, the latter being taken, not on account of its etymologi-
cal meaning (Latin granum), but from the name of a recent
novel. Suffice it to say that on December 4, 1867, a day still cel-
brated as the birthday of the order, the seven assembled, and,
with an assurance almost sublime, solemnly organized themselves
as the ‘‘National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry.’’ There
was none to dispute the title, and they enjoyed it alone for the
next five vears. It is hard to tell just what were the expectations
of these men. Kelley has been called everything from an unsel-
fish philanthropist to a scheming adventurer. One can not but ad-
-mire the pluck with which he perscrvered through great discour-
-agements, and the unselfish’ spirit in which he and his fellow-work-
ers surrendered control of the movement when it had become a
power in the land. Their first step was to organize a mock Grange
among their fellow clerks and their wives, to experiment with the
ritual, The experiment proving satisfactory, Kelley resigned his
clerkship and started out to proclaim the Grange to the world,
-armed onlv with a few dollars, and a sort of introductory letter
‘from the other six to mankind at large. a:

He was not a success asa lecturer. Moreover. he made the
mistake of laboring in the Jarger towns, instead of in the country.
‘The four or five Grangee that he coaxed into life at once pre-
ceeded to die, and he finally reached Minnesota penniless, but not
discouraged. Even while the six-at Washington were becoming
faint-hearted, and writing to him that the landlady was pressing
them grieviously for hall-rent. and that. it would be wise to give
up the whole business, he could issue a cireular dilating upon the
suecess of the order and the distinguished agriculturists at Wash-
‘ington who founded it. At his home near Itasca, he worked on
furiously = *- # till finally signs of success began to appear.
He had organized a few Granges in Minnesota and was able to de-
60

teet a growing interest in other states. The prime necessity new
was to encourage this feeble beginning, and by all means to keep
it under the delusion that it was part of a powerful national or-
ganization. To this end every cent that. could be earned or bor-
rowed was used in distributing photographs of the founders, along
with a mass of circulars and documents purporting to come from
the national office at Washington. Every important question was
ostensibly referred by Kelley to the Executive Committee at the
same place, and the decisions and power of this mythical body
were held in great awe by the Patrons. But other men were be-
coming interested and going to work. In Minnesota they were
able to organize a State Grange, having mustered the fifteen dis-
trict Granges required by the constitution. Two years later the
State Grange of Iowa was organized, and its Worthy Master
crossed the. country to attend what the founders were pleased to
eall the ‘‘Fifth Annual Session of.the National Grange.’’ He was
the first member of the order to meet with the seven. What he
thought on ascertaining the real state of things is not recorded.
However, he did not give up the work, and later he became Worthy
Master of the National Grange. The order kept growing. At the
sixth annual session, held at Georgetown in January, 1873, there
were delegates from eleven states, and four women were present;
1,074 Granges had been organized during the year. The founders
now gave up their offices, not even reserving the right to vote, and
delivered over the results of six years’ labor to their successors.
For the first time, the greatest of farmers’ societies was in the
hands of farmers.

WONDERFUL GRANGE GROWTH. .

The next two years were years of astounding development and
growth—a growth almost unparalleled in the history of secret or-
ganizations, and resembling that of the Know-Nothings twenty
years before. At the end of 1872 about 1,300 Granges had been or-
ganized. In the year 1873, 8,668 more were added; and in 1874,
11,941, making a total of almost 22,000, with an average member-
ship of forty. Some idea of the magnitude of these figures may
be gained from the faet that the whole number of lodges of Ma-
sons and Odd Fellows in the world was estimated at about 20,009.
The order was represented in every state except Rhode Island. It
had been established in the Indian Territory, whence it appealed
for help to the National Grange because the governor of the Chick-
asaw nation looked on it with suspicion, and had ordered all
Grangers out of the Chickasaw country. It had taken root in
Canada, where, a few years later, there were 860 subordinate
Granges. One deputy introduced it into England; others were la-
boring in France and Germany; and inquiries.and invitations were
coming even from Australia and Tasmania.

Grange treasuries were overflowing. In 1873 and 1874 the
dues to the National Grange alone, according to the official state-
ment, amounted to $348,532.20. The press was discussing the new
order with alarm. Legislative committees were scurrying about the
country to see what could be done for the farmer. In the words
of the New York ‘‘Nation’’, ‘‘the farmer was the spoiled child of
our polities.’’ The House of Representatives at Washington waa
overawed at the new power that was apparently rising in politie
and those who claimed, for the most part falsely, to represen
the movement enjoyed an astonishing influence. Among other
legislation secured by these men, one bill was rushed through for
61

printing and distributing to the farmers certain agricultural deeu-
ments, at an expense of $500,000!- W. W. Phelps opposed it, only
to be bitterly attacked on the score of sympathy with monopolists
and lack of sympathy with farmers. One fervid orator from Kan-
sas went over his whole record for proof of this, and alleged many
damaging facts—among them that he was rich, that he was inter-
ested in banks and railroads, and that he had been graduated with
honor from Yale College. ‘‘These Grangers,’’ exclaimed the ora-
tor, ‘‘mean business; ... they are chosen to be the sovereigns
of the mightiest republic of earth.’’ Various cities strove for the
honor of having the National Grange offices located within their
hmits, one offering to give a splendid building, another to furnish
necessary officeroom and an annuity of $5,000 for five years, but
the Grange was rich and independent in those days. At the seventh
annual session held at St. Louis in 1874, a declaration of purposes
was adopted which still remains the official statement.

The Grange had now reached the zenith of its power. One
year later, in the stormy meeting held at Charleston, measure was
passed for the distribution of the surplus revenue of the National
Grange which may be said to mark the beginning of Grange de-
cadence. But a consideration of this decadence may well be post-
poned for a time. Any discussion of the causes of the Grange’s
astonishing growth has been deferred to this point, in order that
they may be considered in connection with the railroad legislation
of the early seventies, with which the Grange, to most minds, is ge,
entangled.

7

THE GRANGER 1 OVEMENT.

In everything published on the subject, the anti-railroa@
mevement is called the Granger movement; the resulting legiala-
tion, the Granger legislation; the cases that arose, the Granger
eases. It must be granted that the same farmers often were en-
gaged in the ‘‘Farmers’ Movement’’, and that certain subordinate
parts of the Grange did sometimes disobey their organic law so far
as to engage as bodies in the agitation, chiefly by memorializing:
Legislatures. It was impossible to control completely the rank and.
fille of such a vast order. But, with these reservations, the Granges,,
as an organization, took no part in the anti-railroad agitation. The.
two were not cause and effect, but parallel effects of the same gen-
eral causes. In the way of proof the ‘‘Declaration of Purposes’”
ef 1874 has been quoted, to the effect that the Grange is not hos-
tile to railroads, and that all political action and discussion is te-
tally excluded. The published proceedings of the National Grange
show the same thing. In 1874 the executive committee reported:
‘‘Unfortunately for the order, the impression prevails to some ex-
tent that its chief mission “is to fight railroads. ’’ In 1875 a rese-
lution from Texas favoring railroad legislation_was suppressed.
Jn 1373 the Master-of the Minnesota State Grange, being informed
that certain Granges in his jurisdiction had appointed delegatea te
@ State anti-railroad convention, ordered the-offending-Granges- te
vecall-their delegates. Congressman D. W. Aiken of South Care-
Jina, long a member of the National Executive Committee, said im
an address four year ago: ‘‘ Frequently had the Grange to bear the
edium of other men’s sins. . . . For instance, there existed in Dli-
fois and Wisconsin, and other sections of the Northwest, agrieul-

lubs-whose province seemed to be to wage war against ae ‘
portation companies. . Anathemas were hurled upon ore sgucee ‘er
making this attack, whereas every Patron ef Husbandry "
62

that the Grange as such was not a participant in the fight from be-
ginning to end.’’ It may seem surprising that such an error should
have arisen, but it is not inexplicable. The newspapers first ap-
plied the name ‘‘Grangers’’ to to Western farmers in general, and
consequently to those fighting railroads. From this it was an easy
step to the assertion that the Grange was the fighting organization.
There were some exceptions. The ‘*Tribune’’ sent a special cor-
respondent West, and afterward published a ‘‘Farmers’ Extra,’’
in which it is expresseiv recognized that the Grange is not fight-
ing railroads, though some Grangers are. The ‘‘Times’’ published
the same discovery with the comment that the general impression
on this point was a mistaken one. But the ‘‘Nation,’’ which
talked loudest of all, and the press in general, made no such dis-
tinction. It is not strange that Mr. C. F. Adams and other writers
on railroads have followed this leading, as it was of no conse-
quence to them whether the Western agitators were known as
‘*Grangers’’ or by any other name. The principal difficulty is with
those who wrote from the farmers’ standpoint. It can only be said
that they wrote before the railrozd legislation had been given a
fair trial. and that they wanted to claim fer the order the credit
of what looked like a success. Their books, in general, are of a
hortatory and prophetic rather than historical character, * * *

GRANGE AND RAILROAD LEGISLATION.

Jn spite of the assertions of Mr. C. F. Adams and others, it can
he shown that the Grange was not responsible for the Illinois
railroad legislation. When the Constitution of 1870 and the law of
1871 were passed. the Grange had searcely a foothold in the state.
The State Grange was organized in March, 1872. The real organ
of agitation was the ‘‘State-Harmers*-Assortation,’’ whose subor-
dinate lodges were called ‘‘Furmers’ Club.’’ Its president, W. C.
Flagg. testified before the Windom eommittee in 1873 that he was
not a Granger, that his organization was an open and political one.
while the Grange was secret and ron-pulitical, disavowing and pre-
venting, as far as it could, any political action. By 1874 seven
states had passed so-called ‘‘Granger’’ laws, either fixing maxi-
ma or providing for a commission to make out a schedule of rates

Meanwhile cases were before the Supreme Court on the valid-
ity of all this legislation. The court recognized the gravity of the
<juestion and reserved its decision, affirming the constitutionality
of the laws for moire than a vear after the test case (Mwai Ys.
TLisois) wat argued. The grist of the decision is in the following
words: ‘‘When ore devotes his property to » use in which the pub-
lie has an interest. he, in effect, grants the public an interest in
that use. and must submit to be controlled by the public for the

.¢ommon good to the cxtent of the interest he has thus created."”
The decisions in this. and the six other ‘‘Granger’’ cases, were
pronounced by Chief-Justice Waite, Justices Field and Strong
dissenting.

In the courts the farmers were victorious. But. unfortunately,
the Supreme Court.does not pass upon economic laws. and to these
the movement had aJready succumbed. By the time the cases were
decided, in 1876-77. scarcely one of the statutes in question re-

mained in force. In the second year under the Potter law, no
Wisconsin road paid a dividend, and only four paid interest on
' their bonds. Foreign capitalists refused to invest further in the
‘state. On the recommendation of the Governor, the very men
who had passed the Jaw hurriedly repealed it. In the next vear
63

Mr. Potter faded out of American
Senate was filled by another. Most of the other states also beat
# precipitate retreat, poorly covered by a faint demonstration
against unreasonableness in general,

So the victors were beaten, and bad times made the defeat
seem worse than it was. But they claim, and not without reason
to have done lasting pood. ,

The founders of the Grange thought they were establishing an
order whose aims were to be social and educational, But these
were soon overshadowed by the co-operative, anticmiddleman tea-
ture. Thisdrow more into the order Ri : si ions.
Combined at one time almost threatening to transform our farming
population into a race of traders, and this was likewise the chief
cause of Grange decay. Fighting middiemer unlike fighting rail-
roads, was a legitimate kind of activity, as it had nothing to do
with politics or theology—the two subjects tabooed by Granger
law. Unfortunately, the story of Grange co-operation is recorded
pvowhere and thoroughly known to nobody. Those who know most
preserve a discreet silence, mindful of questiunable transactions and
frilures, now generally forgotten. i

politics, and his place in the

TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING.

No sooner had Kelley established a few Granges in Minnesota
in 3869 than they set up a clamor for leasing flopring mills and
appointing ageuts in St. Paul and New York, in order to_mill and
ship their own-grain. However farcical might be the position of
the founders at Washington, they at least were conservative
enough to disavow this action. But upon Minnesota’s threat to se-
cede they yielded. and an agent was appointed in St. Paul. His
first commission chanecd to be to buy a jackass for a Patron,
whereupon one of the founders made comment: ‘‘This purchasing
business commenced with buying asses; the prospects are that
many will be sold.’’ As soon as the National Grange f<ll into
the hands of farmers, there was a movement to make it the head of
a gigartic co-operative--veheme. It was proposed to have three
national purchasing agents, stationed at New York, Chicago and
New Orleans, to buy for the Patrons of the whole country. But
this was soon found impracticable, owing to the diversity of inter-
ests in the order. The same was true with regard to the purchase
of patent-rights. With the view of absorbing into the order the
projits of manutacturing farming implements, the National Grange
had bought the right to manufacture a harvester, a mower and
reaper, and various other machines. It had also tried to buy the
copyright of Cushing’s ‘‘ Manual’’—a book in great demand among
the Granges. Meanwhile the Executive Committee was busy in an-
other direction. Congressman Aiken of South Carolina, one of its
members, says that they ‘‘visited the manufacturers who supplied
the market with such implements as the farmers needed, from a
scooter-plow to a parlor organ, proposing to vonecentrate the pur-
chases of the order where the greatest discounts were obtained for
cash, In no instance did they fail to secure a reduction of twenty-
five to fifty per cent.’’ Mr. Aiken notes the astonishment of one
cutlery-maker of a single order for ten thousand pruning- knives
of a particular pattern. Such enormous reductions from regular
priees were obtained only undcr a pledge of secrecy. But as in-
formation had to be distributed by thousands of printed sheets,
the Patrons could not keep the secret. The conthaicts lgalkead oe
causing the withdrawal of many firms from their agreements.
64

What experimests the National Grange might have tried with the
great sums in its treasury ean only be conjectured, as its re-
sourees and influence over the subordinate lodges were crippied al-
most fatally in the Charleston meeting in 1875. It probably would
have continued the crop reports, which, though costly, and often
unreliable through the ignorance and carelessness of Granges and
furnishing statistics, had proved valuable. Like the State Granges,
which had full treasuries, it might have squandered its capital and
come to grief on co-operative ventures. Such is the inference to be
drawn from utterances like the following, from the Executive Com-
mittee: ‘‘To secure rights to manufacture leading implements... .
is pre-eminently a duty of the National Grange, and a measure of
the greatest importance, directly, because the profits of manu-
facture will thus be controlled by the Order, as well as the profits
of transfer or dealing; indirectly, by securing facilities that will
favor the introduction of manufacturing establishments in districts
at present far removed from them, and where their products are
in demand.’’ The plan of having the farmer’s machinery manu-
factured at his door and under his supervision was much better as
a statment of protectionist doctrine than as a guide to safe in-
vestment. The policy of the meeting of 1875 indicated that, be-
fore it was too late, the National Grange recognized that there
was danger of going too fast, and that its province was rather to
devise plans for the use of the order than to plunge into enter-
prises itself. It therefore sounded a note of caution, and first
issuing a scheme for co-operative joint-stock stores based on some-
thing found in this country, proceeded to work out a more elabo-
rate system on the model of the Rochdale Pioneers. Various Eng-
lish publications on co-operation were distributed among the order,
and an envoy was sent to England to confer with English co-opera-
tors. The result was a new set of rules, closely following the
Rochdale plan, and insisting on the feature of investing the profits
of trade for the stockholders on the basis of purchases, as opposed
to the simple joint-stock arrangement of the earlier scheme, which
had been largely put in practice. After a prolonged stay, the com-
missioner to England made his report, bringing from English co-
operators proposals for dealings on a great scale. The Grange was
to subscribe one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars toward
the necessary shipping-depots, and all trade was to be carried on
directly with England through a company to be known as the
‘“Anglo-American Co-operative Company.’’ The Englishmen fol-
lowed the matter up by sending three men to the United States te
confer with the Executive Committee. After looking over the
ground, they proposed to erect their own warehouses at four sea-
board cities, prepared to supply every article of clothing and ev-
ery farm implement needed by Patrons at a discount of ten per
cent, and to receive in exchange every variety of farm produee at
the market price, provided that the Grange would concentrate
its purchases upon them. But by this time the ardor of the Pat-
rons had been cooled by reverses in local experiments, and the
Exeeutive Committee was unable to make the necessary guaran-
tees. The National Grange’s efforts now subsided into protesta
and warnings against the commission and joint-stock ventures so
common in the order, and pleas for the Rochdale system. Many en-
terprises were undertaken upon this basis, proving, if not highly
profitable, at least not disastrous. But in general, the warning
came too late. The Patrons had been too impatient to grasp the
anticipated gains, and had burned their fingers. ,
6a
CO-OPERATIVE ENTERPRISZS.

The step from co-operation in the National, to co-operation in
the State and District Granges is one from theory tinged by prac-
tice, to practice pure and simple. The-~e tion was
hike that for gold in 1848. The first and simplest step was to
appoint a profusion of buying and selling agents, usually on sal-
aries froin the State Granges. But a few losses by mismanagement
and rascality were enough to deter the farmers from trusting their
produce to selling agents. The system of agencies for buying only
was not open to the same risks, but its utility differed in different
states. For Iowa, where every farmer raised grain and wanted
plows and reapers, an agent could buy to great advantage. The
Patrons there gave figurcs to show that they saved fifty thousand
dollars in one year on plows and cultivators alone. In the same
year they bought fifteen hundred sewing machines, at a reduction
ef forty-five per cent from retail prices. Local dealers were
driven out of business, In New York, on the other-hand, where
the-farmers are dairymen, grain-growers, nurserymen,-and hop-
growers, a state buying-agency was found useless, and. was aban-
doned, after Some hard experience, ior a system of district agen-
cies, These have effected saving in some instances, in others proved
unprofitable, partly owing to the outcroppings of mean human
nature among those most clamorous for the benefits. The ‘‘State
Women’s Dress Agency,’’ in New York city, lasted longer, but,
strangely enough, the Patronesses preferred to buy their own
dresses, and it finally expired. The states did not stop with agen-
cies. They too began to buy patent-rights. The~s <.. ian idea that
all the princvipal machinery used by the order should be manutac-
tured within it. Fouring-mills, elevators, tobacco and grain ware-
houses, were established. Some ventures were unsuccessful from
the start. and at once clamored for subsidies. Others boasted of
the greatest prosperity, one making a dividend of fifty per cent
the first vear. In-3874-two- thirds of {he elevators 10 lowa.were.
in Grange-hands> The experiment of shipping provisions directly
to Southern Grange centers was undertaken. In 1876 the Patrons
were said to own five steamboats or packet lines, thirty-two grain
elevators, and twenty-two warehouses. Some of these were local
ventures, but the full treasuries of the State Granges furnished
the capital for most of them. It is always easy to experiment
with_other.men.’s-meney, and the State Grange officials found no
difficulty in getting, with the Grange funds, into enterprises where
disaster was inevitable. It came in every instance. The blow was
so overwhelming in some states (Arkansas and Nebraska for ex-
ample), that they dropped at once from the order. District
Granges disbanded tor fear of being held individually liable for
State Grange debts, and the very name Granger became a re-
proach, Tn other states the Grange was greatly weakened, but sur-
vived, In Iowa a few hundréd of the faithful have struggled on
for years, the officers receiving no salaries, but devoting all re-
ceints to the debt, left as a reminder of past glories.

DECADENCE OF THE GRANGE.

Muen of’ the later history of the Grange has been anticipated
in treating of railroad legislation and co-operation, but its decad-
enee merits a little closer attention. Only those interested in agri
cultural pursuits were eligible for membership, but, in the unpre-
cedented growth of the order under the labors of twelve hundred
66

deputies, it was impossible to keep out men who were farmers
only to the extent of a garden or back yard. In those days law-
vers, doctors, merchants, discovered in themselves a marvelous in-
terest in agricultural pursuits, and joined the Grange. As a
Granger remarked, they were interested in‘ agriculture as the

New York city; one, the ‘‘Manhattan,’’ on Broadway, with a
membership of forty-five wholesale dealers, sewing machine manu-
facturers, etc., representing a capital of as many millions; the
other, the ‘‘Knickerbocker,’’ one of whose first official acts was to
present the National Grange with a handsome copy of the Scrip-
tures—a gift causing some embarrassment. A similar one wag or-
ganized in Boston, which made great trouble before it could be
expelled; and one was found in Jersey City, with a general of the
army as its master, a stone-mason as secretary, and the owner of
a grain elevator as chaplain. But discordant elements were not all
from other professions. Thousands of farmers had been carried
in by the enthusiasm of the movement, with no idea of the nature
and aims of the order. Some expected to make a political party;
others, to smash the railroads; almost all hoped to find in co-opera-
tion a panacea for poverty. There was great lack of discipline, but
no discipline could have harmonized such a body. The first out-
break was in the direction of democracy. Lay members were
eligible to but four of the seven degrees, and this was denounced
as aristocratic, opposed to the spirit of democratic institutions.
Along with this came the cry that the National Grange was grow-
ing too rich. In vain it made liberal donations of seeds and pro-
visions to sufferers by grasshoppers and floods. and spent large
sums in distributing crop reports amung the order. The clamor
continued till the faint-hearted in the Charleston session in 1875
carried a measure to distribute $55,000 to the subordinate Granges
—ahout $2.50 to each! Prominent Grangers nave maintained that
the causes of Grange decay are to be found in this and the other
measures of the same session curtailing the power of the National
Grange. The true cause has been seen to lie deeper, in the fail-
ure of.-business enterprises. These measures had some influence,
however. ‘They were the beginning of endless tinkering with the
constitution, and the cause of quarrels innumerable. Among other
quarrels was one with the Grange of Canada, over the question of
jurisdiction. Soon afterward came the first open break in the
ranks, An IJ}inois Grange voted to disband, alleging pecuniary
reasons and the autocratic rule of the National Grange. Many
still had dreams that the order was to spread over the world, but
the co-operative leaven had begun to work, and there was soon

no mistaking the tendency to decay. At.the annual meeting in
‘1876.- four—thousand—Granges were reported delinquent. Salaries

were at once reduced—the master's from $2,000 to $1,200, and the
secretary's from $2,500 to $2,000. It was vainly attempted to
stem the tide hy issuing an official Srgan, the ‘‘Grange Record.’’
In 1879 the master’s salary was dropped entirely, and the secre-
tary’s reuced to $600. A bill for services from Herr Prenzel, whe

‘had been working for the order in Germany since 1875, was dis-

missed with little ceremony. The National Grange was not poor,
having always kept about $50,000 to its credit invested in Govern-
ment bonds, but it had given up the idea of converting the world.

But the low water mark had been reached. Cash receipts in
1880 increased two hundred per cent over those in 1879. More
QGranges had been organized than in any year since 1874. The
growth was especially marked in New England. The State Grange
67

of Connecticut was revived after a dormancy of six years, and!
Maine began to claim more Grangers in proportion to population
than any other state. At the session of the National Grange for-
1885, held in Boston, delegates were present from all the States
and Territories but eight. It is not easy to explain this growth,
as there seems to be no great principle underlying it. Some New
England Patrons_are agitating. free trade, but that can not be
ealled a Grange issue, as Pennsylvania- Patrons want protection
extended to farm products. The harmless practice of holding great
fairs is gaining ground. At #« recent one in Pennsylvania, lasting-
a week, the local paper says: ‘‘Over fifty thousand people were:
present on one day, and the sale of machinery direct to the farm-
ers ran up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Never were
manufacturers and consumers brought into more direct and friendly
relations.’’ This is, perhaps, the latest development of Grange
anti-middleman ideas.

The most enthusiastic Grangers at present are the farmers’ |
wives and daughters. who are attracted by the social-opportuni-
ties. In fact the order seems to be going back to the eel
and social .besis of the founders, and its boasts are no longer -cto-
eperative ventures so much as Grange buildings and libraries, and
the Grange schools that exist in several States. In these directions,.
and in what it has done to heal sectional differences between
North and South, the Grange can boast its best achievements.

Address by Founder O. H. Kelly

Prepared for the Fortieth Anniversary of Fredonia Grange
No. 1 at Fredonia, N.Y. (48 %

Worthy Masters and Patrons: I thank you for your compli-
ments and assure you that it gives me great pleasure to be with.
you on this occasion. As Chautauqua county is historic ground in
our Order, you will permit me to try to entertain you with a few
reminiscences of the early days in our history.

I eonsider that all the work done in Washington was merely
preliminary and that the actual work of establishing the Order
sommenced when I packed all the documents of the embryo Na-
tional Grange in my gripsack and started out to tramp my way
to Minnesota with the hope of organizing a sufficient number of
subordinate Granges to defray the expenses of the trip . )

The day I started, I called upon Brother Saunders to bid hinw
farewell, and I received his blessing in these impressive words:
‘“You are a fool to start on such a trip!’’ I had plenty of
grit in these days—and the stock has not given out—such encour-
aging words rather stimulated than depressed me. After a few
days of good, valuable experience on my way, I reached Fredonia..
N. Y., and found good Brother A. S. Moss ready to receive me.
Or Thursday evening, April 16, 1868, I organized Fredonia Grange,
and in so doing we laid the corner stone of the Order of Patrons-

 
68

-ef Husbandry and Brother Moss stands eredited as the father of
that grange. He was a ‘‘founder’’. I yet have the old ritual used
-on that oecasion.

I reached Minnesota in just one month and have never had
the least desire to repeat the trip; yet the information gained
proved of value in after years—the ‘‘fool’’ had gained in wis-
dom. Twenty-five years after, Brother Dodge told me that I
looked like a tramp when I came to organize Fredonia; my trip had
not improved my appearance. In August of that year (1868)
‘Sister Hall returned from Boston and commenced active work with
me, as assistant in my office. In ’69, I had increased the number
of my acquaintances and had enlisted several good men in the
work. Our constitution then warranted general deputies, with
membership, in council and senate of the National Grange. The
‘prospect of being recognized there proved an inducement to them
to exert themselves in building up the order.

In July, 1870, I made the acquaintance of the Hon. Thomas B.
‘Bryan of Chicago, who afterwards became an important factor
in our work, and he was a ‘‘founder’’ He told me that the ob-
jects of the organization met with his approval, but that he did
not see how he could assist me unless it might be with money as
-occasion might require. You have all seen a hungry dog grab a
bone, haven’t you? The sensations I enjoyed at that information
were decidedly pleasant; the results I will mention later. As a
eoincidence, some 30 years after, it was good fortune, quite unex-
‘pected, to do him a far greater favor, which was appreciated.

In 1870 Miss Hall and I decided that the headquarters for
our work should be in Washington. Our work was gradually in-
creasing and we were satisfied that letters and documents, mailed
from that city, received more respect and attention than those
‘sent from our farm.

In January 1871 we moved. Mr. Bryan furnished me with the
‘sum of $260, with which to move my family from Minnesota to
Washington. It was a wild venture but the ‘‘fool’’? made the
move. The results were evident in about six months. Granges
were being organized and the general deputies were earning their
reputations as faithful and earnest laborers in the good work.
‘They were ‘‘founders’’ too. The year closed with 123 new
granges against 38 the year previous. In February of 1871, I bor-
rowed of Mr. Eryan $184 to enable me to settle with the printers
and this placed the National Grange on the cash paying basis.
Never since that date has the National Grange contracted a debt
without having the money to meet the bill at sight. The ‘‘fool’’
was making his mark. The year 1873 opened with a bright sun
cand the work was proving a success. We closed that year with one
thousand and seventy-four new granges.

Now came the time to call all the leaders together and to or-
ganize the National Grange permanently. Up to this time it had
been something of a myth. Invitations were sent to all the gen-
eral deputies and masters of State Granges which had been or-
ganized, for under the constitution then existing they were all en-
titled to full membership. I considered them as the real founders
of the Order and presumed that they would be recognized as ful!
members of the National Grange. In January 1873 all who could
make it convenient to attend, met at my home in Georgetown..
Seventeen of the twenty-seven I had counted on arrived. My as-
sociates in Washington, with the exception of Brother Ireland,
were present; they were in session four days. The work done, was
the revision of the constitution and this was done in such a man-
69

ner that it put nearly all of those who had worked so faithfully
inte ‘‘cold storage’’, Only four, whom they elected to office, were
reeognized as belonging to the National Grange. This was a
damper on Miss Hall and myself. Only the State Masters and
their wives were entitled to votes. The Order was, in fact, under
an entirely new Constitution. It is quite reasonable to suppose
that those who had been thus unceremoniously ‘‘turned down’’
felt hurt. Most of them were my personal friends. I advtsed
them to attend the next session at St. Louis, and see if some
measure corld be adopted for their reward. But nothing was ae-
complished for them.

_ I determined to write my history of the first five years of the
existence of the Grange and to give every one full credit for what
ie or she had done. I had on file every letter which had been writ-
ten to me and by publishing them would verify my statements
ever the writers’ signatures. I decided to publish the most im-
portant of those letters and I did so a year later. The writers
of the letters were all living when the book was published. It
made quite a stir but. of all the letters published, the authenti-
city of one, only, was ever questioned; to convince the author of
it, I had this letter photographed, actual size, and sent him two
copies—that settled it. It contained these words: ‘‘I eall it your
Order for you not only conceived the idea but are making it go
unaided and alone.’*

In my history, in order to give every one full credit, I pub-
lished. not only their letters, but as far as possible, their photo-
graphs. I put their names on the Roll of Honor, and IJ supple-
mented that with a list of the names of one thousand nine hun-
dred and twenty-five deputies, with the number of granges that
each one hand organized.

Now, Jet me get back to old Fredonia. I am at home there.
It is in that Grange that I am both a life and an honorary mem-
ber; it is the only Grange in which Miss Hall or I have ever been
entitled to a vote. We never have had the privilege of voting in
the National Grange since the Georgetown session, in which it was
decided that only Masters of State Granges and their wives should
he entitled to votes in that body. I am told, however, that I am
also a member of this Chautauqua Pomona. That being the case, I
feel here that I am right in the family and, perhaps, some of the
younger members here will be encouraged to persevere in good
work, despite discouragement, if I note some of the results of the
stubborn perseverence of one called a ‘‘fool’’.

When in 1867, I put the postage stamp on the’ first letter I
ever sent in the interest of the Order, addressed to Anson Bart-
lett :n Ohio, I made the first investment for the National Grange,
six years and a half later we had deposited im the Farmers’
Loan and Trust (o., in New York, £110,000 and there was not a
cent of debt. If $50,000 of that amount had been invested in
Washington property. which was offered to us at that time, it
would today bring a return of fully $275,000—its present value;
Instead, the money was given back to the States and there is no
one Hving who ean tell today of any practice] good a single dollar
ef it ever did. From that ‘‘fool’s’’ trip and the founding of Fre-
donia Grange over 24,000 subordinate Granges have received char-
ters—surpassing any other organization ever established in this
or any other country! At various times we had nearly 2,000 depu-
ties in the work of organization and of that number only twe

were dishonest. Rol
This recalls a huge joke that one member of the National
70

Grange played upon himself; he was one of those unfortunate
people who could not see any honesty in any one—except himself.
He knew that there had passed through my office over $350,000;
for some reason he had a grudge against Miss Hall and myself and
was confident that we could not have handled so large a sum with-
out stealing some of it. He introduced a resolution asking that a
committee be appointed to examine our books. The committee was
appointed and he, of course, was the chairman. I think they were
in session for two weeks and then gravely reported that the Na-
tional Grange owed my office the sum of $8.40! I claim no credit
for this, Miss Hall was the cashier of my office and all monies
received passed through her hands. When the committee left, we
immediately set an expert at work on tne books, with the result we
expected. His report showed that there was over $400 due the
office and it was promptly paid. : :
The first year's work of organizing resulted in ten subordi-
nate granges. Compare that record with that of two days in Feb-
ruary 1874, when we received 165 applications each day and $15
with each application. making $2,475 a day. Now, if that was a
part of the result of the labor of a ‘‘fool’’ you young folks with
good, sonnd common sense may take courage and persevere.

ReMANO ETI Ne Me

History of the Grange Movement

Or the Farmers’ War Against Monopolies

The above is the title of a large octavo volume of 534 pages,
written in 1873 by E. W. Martin, which was ‘‘issued by subscrip-
tion only and is not for sale in the book stores.’’ It is long ago
out of print and only scattering copies are now in existence. It is
a most interesting werk, the first 400 pages of which are given up
to a detailed discussion of ‘‘ Railroad Monopolies’’ and an account
of the Farmers’ Wrongs, and concludes with a History of the
Order of Patrons of Husbandry.

The main facts of this History necessarily coincide with those
given in the previous pages of this booklet and need not be here
repeated, but there are some incidental touches of historic interest
to which I will refer in the following paragraphs.

The historian says that the most remarkable growth of the
Order was manifested in the State of Iowa ‘‘in which as many as
SO Granpes per week were organized at one period of the present
year,’’ (1873). The number of subordinate granges in Iowa was
then 1800 with a membership of nearly 100,000. It seems that it
was the custom of the then Secretary of the National Grange, O.
H. Kelley. to issue from his office in Washington, a weekly Bulletin
showing the strength of the Order in each state. The total number
of granges on Oct. 4, 1873 was 6914 ‘‘being an increase of 852
in a single month.’’ From this particular Bulletin it appears that
the number of subordinate granges in each state at that date was
as follows: Alabama 94, Arkansas 61, California 75, Florida 10,
Georgia 213, Illinois 652, Indiana 421, Towa 1811, Kansas 577, Ken-
tueky 9, Louisiana 24, Maryland 2, Massachusetts 5, Michigan 81,
Minnesota 358, Mississippi 362, Missouri 872, Nebraska 327, New
Hampshire 4, New Jersey 9, New York 11, North Carolina 96, Ohio
147, Oregon 35, Pennsylvania 26, South Carolina 161, Tennessee
71

158, Texas 23, Vermont 27, Virginia 3, West Virginia 16, Wiscon-
‘sin 209, Colorado 2, Dakota 20, Washington 5, (Canada 8).

A comparison of these figures with those of the present day
(1911) will show how great a change has been wrought in 38
ears, 1p respect to the strength of the Order in the various states.
Where the Order then flourished so conspicuously, now ‘it is very
weak, while in the states then weak, the Order is now strong.
Speaking of the wonderful growth of the Grange at this time the
New York Tribune had this to say:

Tt took its origin a few years ago seeker SS amen
founders were not farmers, but-governm rks. They under-
stood, however, fhe temper and wants of the agricultural class,
and they devised, with aid, perhaps, from the prairies, one of the
most ingenious and effective organizations ever invented in so
short « time. From Washington the Grange spread all over the
great grain region and back again to the far East and southward
into the country of cotton and tobacco. Everywhere it found en-
thusiastic adherents. Everywhere it found farmers who needed its
‘help, farmers’ wives and daughters, who picked up new life and
a fresh spirit under its social and intellectual influence, and gave
it in return the attraction of a refined and cheerful membersbip.,
‘Business and pleasure surely were never so profitably combined be-
fore. Tt was the old principle of the husking frolic and the quilt-
‘ing bee, applied to loftier objects and practiced with a sterner
eye to the main chance. The women:and' the young people, who
met at evenings to go through the little ceremonies of the grang-
ers’ ritual,-and pass an hour or so in decorous amusements and
conversation, and song, and reading, may have fancied that they
were onlv breaking the monotony of toil by a bit of harmless en-
tertainment; but the grange knew better. They were learning, and
teaching others, to be better farmers, to be thrifty, to buy eheaper,
to sel] better, to rid themselves of creditors, to keep out of debt,
-and finally to check the enormous power of the railroads which
have so long been driving the farmers to the wall. In fact. the
grange succeeded so well because it had the art to take the aver-
age men and women of the West and make them work without
knowing it, and accomplish what they hardly dreamed of. That it
did succeed is a sufficient evidence that it was founded upon a
genuine and general popular need, and directed toward a really im-
portant object. Even if it-should be worsted at last in the strug-
vle against monoply, it. will still have done ample good to justify
‘its existence. Je Wa Ds

OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL GRANGE.
From the Foundaticn of the Order to the Year 1911.

Worthy Master.

William Saunders, Washington, D. (., Dec., 1867, to Jan., 1873.
suary, 1873.

D. W. Adams, Iowa, January. 1873. to November, 1875.

J. T. Jones, Arkansas, November, 1875, to November, 1877.

x. E. Adams, Minnesota, November, 1877, to November, 1879.

J, J. Woodman, Michigan, November, 1879, to November, 1885.

Put. Darden. Mississippi, Nov., 1885, to death, July 17, 1888.

James Draper, Massachusetts, July 17, 1888, to Nov, 1888.

J. H. Brigham. Ohio, November, 1888, to November, 1897.
12

Aaron Jones, November, 1897, to November, 1905.
N. J. Bachelder, New Hampshire, November, 1905, to preseat.

Worthy Overseer.

Anson Bartlett, Ohio, December 3, 1867, to January, 1873.
Thomas Taylor, South Carolina, January, 1873, to Nov., 1875.
J. J. Woodman, November, 1875, to November, 1879.

Put. Darden, Mississippi, November, 1879, to November, 1885.
James Draper, Massachusetts, November, 1885, to Nov. 1889.
Hiram Hawkins, Alabama, November, 1889, to November, 1891.
E. W. Davis, California, November, ‘1891, "to November, 1895.
Aaron Jones, Indiana, November, 1895, to November, 1897.

O. H. Hale, New York, November, 1897, to ‘November, 1899.
O. Gardner, Maine, November, 1899, to November, 1903.

Tk. Atkeson, West Virginia, November, 1903, to present.

Worthy Lecturer.

J. R. Thompson, Washington, D. C., Dee., 1867, to Jan. 1872.
D, W. Adams, Iowa, Jan., 1872, to Jan., 1873. :

T. A. Thompson, Minnesota, January, 1873, to November, 1875.
A. B. Smedley, Iowa, November, 1875, to November, 1877.
M. Whitehead, New Jersey, November, 1877, to Nov., 1879.
H. Eshbaugh, Missouri, November, 1879, to November, 1885.
M. Whitehead, New Jersey, November, 1885, to November, 1893
A. Messer, Vermont, November, 1893, to November, 1899.

N. J. Bachelder, New Hampshire, Nov., 1899, to Nov., 1905.
George W. F.Gaunt, New Jersey, Nov., 1905, to Nov.. 1909.
Oliver Wilson, llinois, November, 1909, to present.

Worthy Steward.

William Muir, Missouri, Dec. 4, 1867, to Jan., 1873.
A. J. Vaughn, Mississippi, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1881.
‘William Sims, Kansas, Nov., 1881, to Nov., 1885.

J. E. Hall, West Virginia, Nov., 1885, to Nov., 1887.

X. X. Charters, Virginia, Nov., 1887, to Nov., 1889.

E. W. Davis, California, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1891.

A. E. Page, Missouri, Nov., 1891, to Nov., 1893.

M. B. Hunt, Maine, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1895.

J. T. Cox, New Jersey, Nov., 1899, to Nov., 1903.

W. C. Jewett, Massachusetts, Nov., 1895, to Nov., 1899.
J. A. Neweomb, Colorado, Nov., 1903, to Nov., 1909.

Cc. D. Richardson, Massachusetts, Nov., 1909, to present.

Worthy Assistant Steward.

A. 8. Moss, New York, Dee. 4, 1867, to Jan., 1873.

G. W. Thompson, New Jersey, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1875.
M. Whitehead, New Jersey, Nov., 1875, to Nov., 1877.
William Sims, Kansas, Nov., 1877, to Nov., 1881.

J. J. Rosa, Delaware, Nov., 1881, to Nov., 1885.

W. H. Stinson, New Hampshire, Nov., 1885, to Nov., 1887.
J. H. Hale, Connecticut, Nov., 1887, to Nov., 1889.

O. E. Hall, Nebraska, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1893.

A. M. Belcher, Rhode Island, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1905.
J. A. Newcomb, Colorado, Nov., 1895, to Nov., 1901.

C. O. Raine, Missouri, Nov., 1901, to Nov., 1903,

G. W. F. Gaunt, New Jersey, Nov. 1903, to Nov., 1905.

Cc. D. Richardson, Massachusetts, Nov, 1905, to Nov., 1909,
L, H. Healey, Connecticut, Nov., Tage to present.
ber,

73

Worthy Chaplain.

. B. Grosh, Washington, Dee., 1867, to Nov., 1875.

ts Ellis,’ Ohio, Nov., 1875, "to Nov., 1877.

FP. Forsythe, Illinois, Nov., 1877, to Nov., 1879.

. H.. Ellis, Ohio, Nov., 1879 "to Nov, 1881.

. O. Devries, Maryland, Nov., 1881, to Nov., 1885.

. J. Rose, Texas, Nov., 1885, "to Nov., 1891.

Charles McDaniel, New "Hampshire, Nov., 1891, to Nov., 1893:.
. L. Wilson, Mississippi, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1895.

H. Hale, New York, Nov., 1895, to Nov., 1897.

O. Bowen, Connecticut, Nov., 1897, to Nov., 1901.

.K, Thompson, South Carolina, Nov., 1991, to Nov., 1907.
8. Wood, Connecticut, Nov., 1907, to Nov., 1909.

F. Smith, Vermont, Nov., 1909, to present.

Worthy Treasurer. :

W. M. Ireland, Washington, D. C., Dec., 1867, to Jan, 1872.
J. R, Thompson, Washington, Dz S, Jan. 1878, to Jan., 1873.
F. M. MeDowell, New York, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1893.

wes; 1 Bs Alebowell, New York, Novy., 1893, to present,

Worthy Secretary.

©. H. Kelley, Minnesota, Dec., 1867, to Nov., 1878.

W. M. Ireland, Washington, D. C., Nov., 1878, to Nov., 1885.
John Trimble, Washington, D. C., Nov., 1885, to death, Decem--
30, 1902.

@. M. Freeman, Ohio, Jan., 3, 1903, to present.

Worthy Gate Keeper.

E. P. Tarvis, reidence and time of service unknown.
©. Dunwiddie, Indiana, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1881.

J. V. Seott, Arkansas, Nov., 1881, to Nov., 1883.
James Draper, Massachusetts, Nov., 1883, to Nov., 1885.
H. Thompson, Delaware, Nov., 1885, to Nov., 1887,
A. N. Brown, Delaware, Nov., 1887, to Nov., 1889.

A. E. Page, Missouri, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1891.

W. H. Nelson, Tennessee, Nov., 1891, to Nov., 1893.

W. E. Harbaugh, Missouri, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1897.
A. B. Judson, Iowa, Nov., 1897, to Nov., 1899.

H. E, Huxley, Wisconsin, Nov., 1899, to Nov., 1901.
G. W. Baird, Minnesota, Nov., 1901, to Nov, 1903.
B.C. Patterson, Connecticut, Nov., 1903, to Nov., 1905..
A, C. Powers, Wisconsin, Nov., 1905, to "Nov., 1909.
D.C, Mullen, Idaho, Nov., 1909, to present.

Worthy Ceres.

Mys. D. W. Adams, Iowa, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1875.

Mrs. J. T. Jones, Arkansas, Nov., 1875, to Nov., 1877..

Mrs. 8. E. Adams, Minnesota, Nov., 1877, to Nov., 1879.

Mrs. J. J. Woodman, Michigan, Nov., 1879, to Nov., 1885.

Mrs. K. A. Darden, Mississippi, Nov., 1885, to Nov., 1889.
Mrs. J. H. Brigham, Ohio, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1893,

Mrs. M. 8. Rhone, Pennsylvania, "Nov, "1893, to Nov., 1895.
Mrs. L. G. Smith, Ohio, Nov., 1895, to Nov., 1897.

Mrs. L. M. Messick, Delaware, Nov., 13897, to Nov., 1899,
Mrs. C. M. Atkeson, West Virgina, Nov., 1899, to Nov., 1901...
Mrs, M. M. Wilson, [Hionis, Nov., 1901, ‘to Nov., 1905.

Mra. C. R. F. Ladd, Massachusetts, Nov., 1905, to Nov., 1907..
Mrs. Elizabeth H. Patterson, Maryland, Nov.,.1907 to present..

CO ¢MOROp> mb ED
74

Worthy Pomona.

-Mrs. O. H. Kelley, Washington, D. C., Jan., 1873, to Feb., 1874.
Mrs. Thomas Taylor, South Carolina, Feb., 1874, to Nov, 1875,
.Mrs. H. Goddard, Connecticut, Nov., 1875, to Nov., 1877.
Mrs. J. J. \ oodman, Michigan, Nov., 1877, ‘to Nov., 1879.

Mrs. M. L. Darden, Mississippi, Nov., 1879, to Nov., 1884.
Mrs. S. J. Blanton, Virginia, Nov., ‘1884, :to Nov., 1885.

Mrs. 8. H. Neal, Kentucky, Noy., 1885," to. Nov., 1889.

Mrs. M. . Thompson, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1891.

Mrs. (. E. Bowen, Connecticut, Nov.; 1891, to Nov., 1893.
Mrs. M. ie Rarden, Kansas, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1895,

Mrs. S. G. Baird, Minnesota, Nov., 1895, to Nov., "1899.

-Mrs. M. M. Wilson, Illinois, Nov., 1899, to Nov., 1901.
Mrs. (. M. Atkeson, West Virginia, Nov, 1899, to Nov., 1901.
-Mrs. E. M. Derby, Delaware, Nov., 1903, to Nov., 1907...

_ Mrs. Sarah G. Baird, Minnesota, Nov. , 1907, to present. |

Werthy Flora.’

Mrs. J. C. Abbott, Iowa, Jan., 1873, to Feb., 1874.

Mrs. J. T. Moore, Maryland, Feb., 1874, to Nov., 1875.

Mrs. 8. k. Adams, Minnesota, Nov., 1875, to Nov., 1877.
Mrs. J. T. Moore, Maryland, Nov. 1877, to “Nov., 1879.
Mrs. EF. M. Nicholson, New Jersey, Nov., 1879, to Nov., 1885.
Mrs. J. (. Draper, Massachusetts, Nov., 1885, to Nov., 1887.
-Mrs. M. E. Luce, Michigan, Nov., 1887, to Nov., 1889.
Mrs. Joseph Bailey, Mississippi, Nov., 1889, to Nov., 1891.
-Mrs. E. P. Wilson, Mississippi, Nov., 1891, to Nov., 1893.
Mrs. A. L. Bull, Minnesota, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1895.

Mrs. E. L. A. Wiggin, Maine, Nov., 1895, to Nov., 1899.
Mrs. Ida V. High, Washington, “Nov., 1899, ‘to Nov., 1901,

Mrs. 8S. B. Wolcott, Kentucky, Nov., 1901, to Nov., 1903,
Mrs. P. F. Raine, Missouri, Nov., 1903, to Nov, 1905. |
Mrs. Amanda M. "Horton, Michi an, Nov. , 1905, to Nov., 1907,
-Mrs. Ida Judson, Lowa, Nov., 1907, to present.

Worthy Lady Assistant Steward.

-Miss C. A. Hall, Minnesota, Jan., 1873, to Nov., 1879.
-Mrs. H. A. Sims, Kansas, Nov., 1879, to Nov., 1885.

Mrs. E.'M. Lipscomb, South Carolina, "Nov. 1885, te Nov., 1887.
Mrs. H. A. Sims, Kansas, Nov., 1887, to Nov., 1889. ‘

_Mrs. L. C. Douglas, Massachusetts, Nov. , 1889, to Nov., 1893.
Mrs. G. B. Horton, Michigan, Nov., 1893, to Nov., 1895.
_Mrs. 8. G. Knott, Ww est Virginia, Nov. 1895, to Nov., 1897.
Mrs. G. B. Horton, Michigan, Nov., 1897, to Nov., 1901.
Mrs. W. F, Hill, Pennsylvania, Nov., 1901, to Nov., 1903.
Mrs. H. C. Raap, California, Nov,, 1903, to Nov., 1905.
Mrs Joanna Walker, Delaware, Nov., 1905, to Nov., 1907.
-Mrs. Mary H. Smith, Vermont, Nov., 1807, to present. °
-

Fen, a