Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

And as we meet here in National Grange, and wherever we may meet as Patrons of Husbandry, may the sweet and hallowed influence of flowers be felt in all our hearts, making us more kindly affectioned one toward another, leading us to be ever trustful and faithful, ever tender and true.

Under the call of the roll of states for reports from Masters of State Granges, the following reports were presented:

MARYLAND-J. B. AGER, Master.

Worthy Master:-I regret I am not able to make a more favorable report from my state. The condition of the Order is about the same as it has been for several years, just been able to keep our heads above water. If there has been a new Grange organized or a dormant one reorganized, there was sure to be one or two drop out. There has been organized in the past twenty-seven years one hundred and eightytwo Granges in the state of Maryland. So you will see that the state has been very thoroughly worked, as quite a good deal is sparsely settled, and we find that after a Grange has been dead for several years it is much more difficult to organize a new one in that community than in new territory. We have a good many Farmers' Clubs and other organizations that seem to fill the social and educational feature, but we try to convince them that the Grange is a superior organization, from the fact that the Grange is national and the club is only local.

If we could only inaugurate a plan as Brother Bowen has in Connecticut, perhaps we might accomplish something. But we have no Brother Hale and think it would be hard to find one in our

state. Certainly we have no five hundred dollars to pay him with, and unless the National Grange can see its way clear to help us, I am afraid our condition will not improve very much. We attribute the chief cause of the decline to the dissatisfaction with our trade arrangements; members feeling that they receive no more benefits than non-members in dealing with the Grange House. The matter was brought before the State Grange at its session in December, 1898, and a committee was appointed, consisting of good business men, to work with a similar committee appointed by the Pomona Grange and report at the next session of the State Grange to be held in December, 1899.

They have made a partial report to the Pomona Grange, in which they claim to have perfected a plan which is similar to the plan in use when the Order was prosperous in our state, and they predict that it will be again. We hope that their predictions will come true.

We are glad to learn that the Order is so prosperous in the north and west, and hope that a great tidal wave of Grange prosperity will sweep over all the south in the near future.

OHIO.-S. H. ELLIS, Master.

The Grange in Ohio has not been accomplishing as much as we had hoped it would do by this time. But when one considers the vast work that it has done and is doing, we thank God and take courage. Since my report to the National Grange last year we have placed on our Grange roster the names of ten new Granges, and of twenty-four reorganized and reinstated Granges- making a total addition of thirty-four Granges, and the membership in our older

Granges has steadily increased. We paid into the National Grange treasury as dues on our membership for the Grange year ending September 30, 1898, $874.40, and we paid for dues for the year ending September 30, 1899, $951,59- an increase last year over that of the year before of $77.19. This would show an increase of membership of 1,544 for the year. We have many strong Granges in the state, and we are glad to be able to report that the Grange in Ohio is in good working trim.

VERMONT.-C. J. BELL, Master.

Worthy Master and Members of the National Grange:

In my report of the prosperity of the Grange in Vermont for the year past, I am glad to say we strive to improve our minds, enjoy our social relations, and aid as best we may the prosperity and success of our agricultural interests. Two Granges have been organized; they are strong in membership and start off with substantial prospects.

Many of those organized last year have prospered well, more than doubling their membership, and are useful in their communities.

We have been cleaning house better than usual, educating the members to be more prompt in paying dues and the Subordinate also to mind when the quarter ends and the reports are due.

The result has been a falling off in count in some Granges, leaving a stronger and more useful organization in every instance.

More funds have reached the treasury of the state Grange than for several years past. Every month has added new members, and notwithstanding our house cleaning, a gain of nearly ten per cent. in membership has been made.

We believe a closer study of the ritual and a better observance of its rules, are the first things necessary to make a useful and prosperous Grange.

National Master Aaron Jones was in our state one week in August and spoke words of encouragement and interest.

Bro. J. H. Brigham, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture, was with us one week in February, and wherever he speaks he strengthens the Order.

One Grange hall has been dedicated, another is ready to be. Our agricultural interests are flourishing, although the last maple sugar crop was the smallest known for years. It may educate the consumer that the second quality of syrup is made in some other state. Vermont will be ready to furnish a fine article for 1900.

Allow me to say, Worthy Master, while other states may boast of large Granges and a membership of many thousand, Vermont, with all her modesty, is as well represented in this thirty-third session as any other state, for she has present here of sons and daughters three State Masters, the National Lecturer and one member of the Executive Committee.

RHODE ISLAND.-Jos. A. TILLINGHAST, Master. Worthy Master and Members of the National Grange:

The little state of Rhode Island again sends greeting to the National Grange at its session held in the grand old state of Ohio, and wishes you all abundant success in the noble work of the Order.

Our state has not gained in numbers during the past year as I had hoped to see it, for while some Granges have quite largely increased their membership, a few have deemed it wise and best to prune

out the dead wood and strive to promote a more healthy growth in its place. We have in years past had those come in from mere curiosity, or a desire for financial gain, not caring for nor appreciating the grand work for which the Grange was primarily organized. A sifting out process of such members has been going on for the last three or four years, and we are gradually getting down to the gold; Patrons who are so from love of the Order and its principles; men and women whom it is an honor to know and to associate with, and who are earnest, willing workers.

We are striving to put the Order on a basis where its great possibilities for good, and its power as a factor in the prosperity of the agricultural world will be recognized and the Grange supported by reason of its real merits.

Our little state can never hope to excel in numbers, but we can be a thoroughly-equipped company in the grand army of which we are a part, and many times training and discipline are of even greater value than numbers.

Some of the experiences of the past year, though sad, have taught me even a greater faith in the Grange and mankind than I ever had before. A brother was tried for a serious offense. When I saw men and women striving to uphold the Order, to keep it pure and unsullied, with their natural feelings, though deeply wrought, held in restraint and not one iota of malice or anger shown toward the wrong doer, I gained a new confidence in the Great Master and his most wonderful creation man.

Most of our Granges are doing good work, some of them exceptionally so, and although I can see an improvement in many ways, yet we are far from what we might be if we had a more systematic plan of lecture work and a deeper, clearer undertsanding of

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »