78 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



transportation companies of every kind aie necessary to our success, 

 tliat (heir interests are intimately connected with our interests, and 

 harmonious action is mutually advantageous, keeping in view the 

 first sentence of our Declaration of Principles of action, that "Indi- 

 vidual haj^piness depends upon general prosperity." 



We shall, therefore, advocate for every State the increase in every 

 practical way, of all facilities for transjjorting cheaply to the sea- 

 board, or between home producers and consumers, all the productions 

 of our country. We adopt it as our fixed ])urpose to ''open out the 

 channels in nature's great arteries, that the life blood of commerce 

 may flow freely." 



We are not enemies of railroads, navigable and irrigating canals, 

 nor any corporation that will advance our industrial interests, nor 

 of any laboring classes. 



In our noble Order there i® no communism, no agrarianism. 



We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation 

 or enterprise as tends to oppress the people and rob them of tlieir 

 just profits. We are not the enemies to capital, but we oppose tyr- 

 anny of monopolies. We long to see the antagonism between capital 

 and labor removed by common consent, and by an enlightened 

 statemanship worthy of the nineteenth century. We are opposed 

 to excessive salaries, high rates of interest and exorbitant per cent, 

 profits in trade. They greatly increase our burdens, and do not 

 bear a proper proportion to the profits of producers. We desire only 

 self-protection, and the x)rotection of every true interest of our land, 

 by legitimate transactions, legitimate trade, legitimate profits. 



EDUCATION. 



We shall advance the cause of education among ourselves, and for 

 our children, by all just means within our power. We especially ad- 

 vocate for our agricultural and industrial colleges, that practical 

 rtgriculture, domestic science, and all the arts which adorn the home, 

 OQ taught in their courses of study. 



THE GRANGE NOT PARTISAN. 



o. We emphatically and sincerely assert the oft repeated truth 

 taught in our organic law, that the Grange — National, State, or Sub- 

 ordinate — ^is not a political or party organization. No grange, if 

 true to its obligations, can discuss partisan or sectarian questions, 

 nor call political conventions, nor nominate candidates, nor even dis- 

 cuss their merits in its meetings. 



Yet the principles we teach underlie all true politics, all true 

 statesmanship, and if properly carried out will tend to purify the 

 wliole political atmosphere of our country. For we seek the greatest 

 pood to the greatest number. 



