354 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



ship, or precinct associations, one auxiliary to the 

 others all the way up, and when the machinery is per- 

 fect, I say you have a combination that is irresistible, 

 for the reason that you hold in your hands the bread- 

 stuffs which feed the world, and when you look at your 

 corn-cribs and granaries and refuse to open them, you 

 bring the world to your feet at once, because it cannot 

 exist one day without you. 



" Increase in taxation, then, is another wrong which 

 we have brought upon ourselves, and we might as well 

 look it squarely in the face and right it. When I went 

 on the farm seventeen years ago it took a $10 gold piece 

 to pay the taxes, and now it takes seven and a-half of 

 them, which is an advance of a little over seven hundred 

 per cent. But what corresponding benefit have I, in 

 God's name, for that increase of taxes ? Is it not time 

 for us to look into it, and inquire of our public servants 

 how it happens that our taxes increase, and what they 

 give us in exchange for them ? Did you know that 

 they are multiplying officers and expenses, and voting 

 away thousands upon thousands of dollars with a per- 

 fect disregard of the interest of the tax-payers ? I am 

 told that a county not a hundred miles from here used 

 to be run for $300 a year, and now it costs $2500. 

 Did you ever stop to think that it takes the product of 

 a whole township to feed a judge ? Our Circuit Judge 

 eats up all we earn in a township in a year. Is not he 

 a monstrous eater ? Is it not time we tried to look into 

 this matter and see if we could not get some man who 

 would eat less ? It costs too much to board that kind 

 of cattle. Think of what you are getting for your pro- 

 ducts, and of what you are -paying for his service. Is 

 there any reason, justice, or right in all this?" 



