STATE GRANGE OF ILLINOIS. 115 



products have not apprccitited hut instead have depreciated, in consequence 

 of the comhinations that have meantime heen formed against us, and no 

 counter comhinations for our protection liave, so far as I have ohserved, 

 beau attempted or suggested, and the robbery and wrong goes on, and the 

 mniiv are growing poorer, while the few are ani'issing colossal fortunes. 

 In this one word, combination, lies all their power, destroying all compe- 

 tition and we are prostrate at their feet. 



Tlie census of 1870 divided the population into 20,000,000 farmers, 

 8,000,000 mechanics and 7,000.000 of all other lab^r, making 3.5,000,000 

 who create the wealth of the country, against o, 000,000 who create nothing, 

 and yet this small minority, through their combinations, had succeeded in 

 absorbing nearly two-thirds of the entire wealth of the country, by simply 

 handling the products of labor, or loaning money at a rate far in excess of 

 the increase of productive industry. 



I am well aware that it is urged that we can never reach a point where 

 we can successfully combine to meet the combinations against us, but, as 

 yet, we have never tried to do so. Many things are possible where men will 

 and determine, but nothing is possible without eff )rt. I am confident that 

 we can so combine as to keep our corn in our cribs until navigation opens 

 next Spring, withhold it and we shall have accomplished more towards 

 breaking down this great conspiracy against the public welfare, than has 

 yet been done by restraining laws and judicial decisions. They will 

 continue to practice these extortions as long as we submit to them, and by 

 pouring our corn info a gluttfd market, we give to speculators and trans- 

 portation companies all the profit, leavingto us only the labor and cost of 

 production. And here comes in the real test of the benefits to be derived 

 from our Order. 



It is a very simple thing to wear the insignia of our Order, to remember 

 and keep for use the pass words, signs, etc., but when it comes to the 

 point of making practical our rituals, and the lessons it enjoins upon us 

 in our intercourse with, and treatment of each other, I fear the task is not 

 so easy, nor will the way seem clear when we have the power to protect a 

 weak brother by personal sacrifices; or, combining a Grange, to help him 

 over the rough places of life, shielding him by the strong arm of the 

 Grange from the rude grasp of the money-lender and the heartlessness of 

 the speculator, in the products of his labor. "Am I my brother's keeper?" 

 was answered: "Thy brother's blood crieth unto thee from the ground," 

 and the curse may be realized with us, if, while having the power, we 

 failed to use it for his protection. There is no doubt In my mind of the 

 practicability of such a combination, and, what is more, if we cannot 

 accomplish this, to me the most important end and aim of our Order, 

 that of protecting and helping the weak in their time of need, it is i)ut a 

 rope of sand that binds us, and our dissolution will not be a matter of 

 regret to those who hope for something higher and holier than the mere 

 forms and ceremonies that constitute so small a portion of the great 

 objects that underlie our organization. A combination of eight hun- 



