144 CHAPTERS IN RURAL PROGRESS 



and more on hoof and in fleece; less in lint and more in 

 warp and woof. To systematize our work, and calculate 

 intelligently on probabilities. To discountenance the 

 credit system, the mortgage system, the fashion system, 

 and every other system tending to prodigality and bank- 

 ruptcy. 



We propose meeting together, talking together, work- 

 ing together, buying together, selling together, and, in 

 general, acting together for our mutual protection and 

 advancement, as occasion may require. We shall avoid 

 litigation, as much as possible, by arbitration in the 

 Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire 

 harmony, good will, vital brotherhood, among ourselves, 

 and to make our order perpetual. We shall earnestly 

 endeavor to suppress personal, local, sectional, and 

 national prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry, all selfish 

 ambition. Faithful adherence to these principles will 

 insure our mental, moral, social, and material advance- 

 ment. 



For our business interests we desire to bring producers 

 and consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into the 

 most direct and friendly relations possible. Hence we 

 must dispense with a surplus of middle-men, not that 

 we are unfriendly to them, but we do not need them. 

 Their surplus and their exactions diminish our profits. 



We wage no aggressive warfare against any other 

 interests whatever. On the contrary, all our acts and 

 all our efforts, so far as business is concerned, are not 

 only for the benefit of the producer and consumer, but 

 also for all other interests that tend to bring these two 

 parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence we 

 hold that transportation companies of every kind are 



