160 IOWA DEPAIJTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



to speak for the bill. It was my privilege to be the first one to 

 speak, and others followed me. Then after a while, one of the 

 honorable gentlemen said, that he thought the railroads should 

 have a chance to have a hearing, and they finally called out the 

 name of Judge Collins, and the arguments were carried on for some 

 time. Finally the gentleman, who had told me the week before 

 that the bill would go to sleep at his desk, told me that it looked to 

 him as though there had been some effort put forth and that the 

 result of the hearing would be that it would be reported favorably. 

 The result was the bill was passed in the senate and also in the 

 house. 



If I had time I could go into detail about the various measures 

 before congress, Grange measures. It was a Grange measure which 

 first gave us the right for a department of agriculture, presided 

 over by a Secretary of Agriculture. When this measure first went 

 before congress it was laughed at. It was the Grange that secured 

 the rural mail delivery. The Inter-state Commerce Commission is 

 another creature of the Grange. 



What are you going to do about these great problems confronting 

 you ? You want an organization of national character. Our inter- 

 ests are identical. The Grange is working along the lines to uplift 

 the American farmer; it has been working for the parcels post, 

 postal savings banks, improvements of public highways, and a num- 

 ber of other measures have been taken up and looked after by the 

 legislative committee of the Grange. There is no important matter 

 before congress but what they consult with the national committee 

 of the Grange, realizing, as they do, they are the only organization 

 that has stood the test of time. 



I want tQ say to you, for your own benefit, that at the present 

 time this great national organization has a membership of approx- 

 imately one million people, scattered over thirty states of the 

 Union. You should have seen the demonstration in the city of 

 Hartford, where over thirty thousand were present. I should have 

 been glad to have welcomed you to my own state, in Atlantic City, 

 where nearly one thousand members gathered in annual session, 

 and the various questions discussed here were taken up. We are 

 laying our plans, whereby we may create an increased growing 

 sentiment among our people. We are endeavoring to wake up the 

 farmers to a realization of the importance of their interests, so that 

 they can be everlastinglj^ at it 365 days in the year, as we are 

 working. 



In the little state of New Jersey we have 119 subordinate Granges. 

 If the state of Iowa was as well organized as we are accordingly, 



