MICHIGAN STATE GRANGE. 471 



the State coininittee on womau's work. Anions the acconiplishincnts 

 of this hist named committee, the one that yearly excites and enlists the 

 utmost syni])athy and interest is what is done in "Grange Fresh Air 

 Work." The committee reports: 



"Fifty-seven poor children and working girls have-been given respite 

 from homes of squalor and poverty to all the comforts and joys of 

 two weeks of sunshine, friiit and flowers and of abundance in country 

 homes. .More than this, we can swell the nuuil)ers of those already 

 ado})ted in former years to twenty-seven. 



"This year three children have been adopted through the Fresh Air 

 agency, all babies. If nothing else had been accom})lished, this turn- 

 ing the current of three human lives, from the foul, stagnant stream of 

 evil into which they would have in all probability drifted, into the clean 

 strong life of a good home, has been worth every effort that has been 

 made, and who can tell of what the harvest will be?" 



The co-operative arm of the order has grown and is winning the con- 

 fidence of Patrons and business houses by its simple plan of operation. 



To the Patrons' Fire Insurance Companies in all of the stronger 

 Grange counties of the State is no doubt due much of the present growth 

 and success. Believing that extracts from the report of the committee 

 on (Jrange insurance will be of value as well as of interest, they are 

 herewith (juoted: 



''In reporting on I'atrons' Mutual Fire Insurance, it would seem 

 beneficial to look over the history of this line of work. In the East, 

 notably in New York, they have been very successful. 



"Profiting by their experience, the Patrons of Michigan are agitating 

 and organizing these Patrons' Fire Insurance Companies, Lenawee 

 county having the oldest; Hillsdale and a number of other counties 

 have perfected or are ]>erfecting their Patrons' Insurance Companies. 



"It might be of value to compare the cost of insurance in the Ix'nawee 

 Patrons' Insurance Comj)any, carrying risks of one and a quarter mil- 

 lion, with that of the Lenawee Farmers' Mutual, cari-ying risks of nearly 

 ten million. 



"While the cost in the old companies has been from 12 to |l\50 on a 

 thousand, yearly, the entire cost in the Patrons' Mutual Fire Insurance 

 Company during the two years and eight months of its existence has 

 been only |l..'i() per thousand. This cheap insurance we believe due to 

 the following causes: 



"First, to the excellent class of risks; second, to the machinery of 

 our organization, thus saving excessive salaries; third, by having a local 

 director in each subordinate (Jrange who can look after the risks in that 

 locality, and lastly, bound l>y that fraternal feeling, the mutuality of the 

 company is brought to its highest degree of jK'rfection." 



To give an exhaustive report of the year in Grange work in Michigan 

 would recjuire far more space than is here available, but these ])hases 

 of the various departments have been briefly dwelt upon in order to 

 show, if possible, the trend of the work being (lon<' that is jdacing Michi- 

 gan only second or third in the list of strongest (Jrange states. 



JENNIE BCELL, 



Secretary. 



Ann Arbor. Mich. 



