Il6 THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 



brought up by the Texas delegate and a discussion ensued in 

 which the delegates from Ohio, Michigan, and Missouri opposed 

 the proposition. A motion was then carried to postpone its 

 further consideration and there is no record of any attempt to 

 bring it up again. 1 



Another branch of federal taxation which interested the 

 Patrons of Husbandry was the internal revenue duty on tobacco. 

 This was a matter which vitally concerned the pocket-books of 

 many farmers in Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, and neighboring 

 states, and the granges in these states early began an agitation 

 for the removal or reduction of this duty. The question was 

 brought up at the eighth session of the National Grange in 

 February, 1875 (the Charleston session), by the delegate from 

 Kentucky, and a resolution was adopted, apparently with little 

 opposition, requesting Congress to repeal all laws levying taxes 

 on tobacco, and to endeavor to secure the reduction of duties 

 imposed by foreign countries on the importation of this product. 

 A resolution in almost the same terms was adopted in the tenth 

 session in 1876, but some opposition developed in the eleventh 

 session, and it was found advisable to change the proposed 

 resolution to a mere request that the revenue laws relating to 

 tobacco be revised. At the next session, the twelfth, the execu- 

 tive committee was directed to prepare a memorial to Congress 

 on the subject, and a year later, November, 1879, the master 

 reported that a reduction had been secured which " had benefited 

 this year the farmers of the State of Kentucky alone to the 

 amount of over three million dollars." 2 This work of the National 

 Grange did not meet with the approval of all parts of the order, 

 however, for the New Hampshire State Grange, in December, 

 1878, adopted a resolution expressing regret at the position of 

 the National Grange on the subject and taking the stand that 

 Congress should lay heavy taxes on tobacco and liquor, " and 

 thus leave the necessaries of life as free from the burden 



1 National Grange, Proceedings, ix. 46, 72, 152 (November, 1875). At the 

 eleventh session, resolutions were introduced by the delegate from Pennsylvania 

 in favor of maintaining a high duty on hides, wool, and linseed, but the Grange 

 refused to consider them. Ibid. xi. 119, 133 (1877). 



2 Ibid. viii. 91. 



