ORGANIZATION AMONG FARMERS. 295 



motion. Here, then, I point to the first and most obvious advantage of or- 

 ganization to the farmer. By it the isolation of his life is broken into. Under 

 the rules of his club, or grange, or society, whatever you may call it, once a 

 week or once a month he, with his whole family, is drawn away from the soli- 

 tude of his daily home life and thrown into friendly contact and intercourse 

 with his fellows engaged in the same pursuits as himself, each and all of whom 

 have come therewith the same purpose, viz. : To learn something of value, 

 and to impart something of value, and at the same time have a downright good 

 social time. In this way information will be obtained and imparted which 

 may be of very great advantage, and friendships formed whose effects upon the 

 lives and characters of those concerned are absolutely incalculable. 



Let me illustrate this. About two years ago I moved into this neighborhood, 

 and for a year and a half I made no acquaintance except such as I made in my 

 business transactions. My wife and family had previously lived in the neigh- 

 borhood where they were born, and consequently knew and were known by 

 every person in the neighborhood. Here during this year and a half they were 

 called upon by but two ladies of the neighborhood, one of whom was the re- 

 spected wife of the gentleman who has just addressed you, and it was becoming 

 to my family quite lonesome. At the end of this year and a half 1 went with 

 my wife to attend a pic-nio festival of the organization called grangers, which 

 was celebrated a few miles from where we live. There we were met by brothers 

 whose life pursuits, whose interests, associations, and aspirations were identical 

 with ours, and my wife was introduced to their wives, and we began to feel 

 that we had not emigrated beyond the pale of civilization. We had a down- 

 right good time. We joined their organization, and to-day I think I may 

 safely say that Mrs. Trowbridge has made the acquaintance of at least a hun- 

 dred ladies in the region round about, many of whom, I doubt not, will be- 

 come valuable and cherished friends for life. Thus we see that organization 

 among farmers answers to and fills up one of the greatest needs of our nature, 

 by calling out, cultivating, and elevating our social character. 



This sort of systematized, regulated intercourse of thinking, practical men 

 and women cannot but have an elevating and improving influence upon the 

 whole. It must always happen in any community that some men and women, 

 by their sharper wit or superior advantages, will have acquired better methods 

 of culture and better ways of doing things generally, than some, perhaps most 

 of their less fortunate neighbors. It should be the ruling spirit of such an 

 organization that these should ever be ready to impart their better methods 

 to their fellowjaborers, thus advancing the general prosperity and elevating 

 the character of the community in which they live. It is certainly no un- 

 worthy ambition for any man to desire to be able to say ''the communities in 

 which I have lived are the better for my having lived in them." 



But in a financial or business point of view very great advantage may be 

 derived from a thorough systematic organizition. It is right and proper that 

 farmers, who are the producers of the food and clothing for the world, should 

 receive for their products their full real value. Bat how shall they obtain the 

 necessary information which shall enable them to do this ? No single farmer 

 can afford to collect the statistics of production and supply or scarcity of any 

 one crop, which will enable him to intelligently decide when or where or at 

 what price to sell his product. What, then, shall he do? What has he here- 

 tofore done? He has depended upon the statistics and information furnished 

 to him by parties whose interest and intention were to deceive and mislead him, 



