REPORT OF MICHIGAN STATE GRANGE FOR THE YEAR 



ENDING JUNE 30, 1906. 



During the past rear the work of organizing has been carried on 

 with the following results: Four county, or Pomona, thirty-nine sub- 

 ordinate and four juvenile Granges. The strengthening of existing 

 Granges, by grounding them in more systematic and thorough follow- 

 ing of the great lines of work recommended by State Grange, has been 

 continued with gratifying results. 



Contracts for the purchase of goods, made by the State Master, have 

 been maintained with marked effect on general prices in the State for 

 such commodities as have been more directly used. Especially is this 

 true of binder twine and wire fencing. The problem of co-operative 

 selling is being studied and some advance is being made in certain 

 localities. Through the State Grange information bureau a large num- 

 ber of transfers of propertj' of various kinds have been made between 

 patrons and others to the mutual advantage of both. 



The lecture hour is improving in general under the careful direction 

 of the State Lecturer in conferences with lecturers, in bulletins and 

 in personal correspondence. A quiet, but strong, current of educa- 

 tional uplift is thus kept active in hundreds of rural communities and 

 in thousands of country homes. 



In regard to the condition of the order at large and particulary in 

 Michigan, Master G. B. Horton in his last annual address says: 



"We should glean satisfaction from the fact that the order Patrons 

 of Husbandry throughout the whole country is in a prosperous condi- 

 tion and that it is held in highest respect. Wherever its national meet- 

 ings are held, officials of highest note, the public press, and the people 

 in general are lavish in their favorable consideration and efforts to 

 make welcome and to entertain. In our own State the order is progres- 

 sive and is characterized by its good works. Farmers, their wives, and 

 grown-up children take pride in being enrolled as members. The high 

 standard of the Grange in our own State furnishes a conspicuous object 

 lesson in proof of the saying, that we merit and gain the respect of 

 others by learning to respect ourselves." 



JENNIE BUELL, 



Secretary. 



