288 HISTORY OP THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



Now, in the natural order of things, and especially in 

 this happy land of freedom, the farmer should be the 

 most fortunate man in the community. Owning his 

 land, with good health, dependent only upon the bounty 

 of the Giver of all Good, his should be a life of abso- 

 lute independence. Not that this should free him from 

 the great necessity of earning these blessings by the 

 sweat of his brow, but that his hard labor should be 

 blessed with a fair reward, and that he should be able 

 to look forward with confidence to a comfortable pro- 

 vision for his old age, and a fair start in life for his chil- 

 dren. Y<fet, looking around upon the community, we 

 find matters very different. The condition of affairs 

 which meets us at every turn is not that which should 

 exist in a well-regulated state of society. 



Instead of the lighthearted, independent, contented 

 owner of a domain sufficient to support him in comfort, 

 we find the American farmer a toiling, overworked 

 man from the beginning to the close of his life. How- 

 ever intelligent he may be, however determined to 

 succeed, we find him, as a rule, doing little more than 

 providing food and clothing for those dependent on 

 him, often struggling under a load of debt, and con- 

 scious that he is not receiving as fair a return for his 

 labor as the merchant or mechanic receives for his. 

 There is something wrong in the system which thus 

 dooms him to perpetual slavery, and it will be interest- 

 ing to endeavor to ascertain the causes of the evil 

 which has come upon him. 



It is a common saying that " no man makes a for- 

 tune on a farm." It is true there are instances of great 

 wealth amassed by farmers, but they are the excep- 

 tions. These fortunate persons have been possessed 



