THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 425 



cents for each member of the Order within its jurisdic- 

 tion. The funds of the Order are guarded by a series 

 of judicious regulations, and their proper administration 

 is thus guaranteed. 



The necessity for these payments, as well as some of 

 the leading objects of the Order, is set forth in the fol- 

 lowing communication from a leading Southern Patron 

 (Mr. Wm. E. Simmons, of Charleston, S. C.) : 



" Not quite a year ago, I called one day to see a 

 friend on some business ; this was soon arranged to our 

 mutual satisfaction, and, after chatting a while, I got 

 up to leave. As we shook hands my friend handed 

 me a small pamphlet, at the same time requesting me 

 to read it. ' What is this?' I asked. 'Read it and 

 judge for yourself,' he replied. By reference to the 

 title page 1 was informed that this mysterious little 

 book was the ' Constitution of the Patrons of Husband- 

 ry! ' Who are the Patrons of Husbandry ? I never 

 heard of them,' I soliloquized. Upon reading a little 

 further I found that this was a name applied to a 

 secret organization for the promotion and protection of 

 agricultural interests, which existed throughout various 

 portions of the United States, in the form of clubs, or, 

 according to the Patrons' nomenclature, ' Granges.' I 

 also discovered that there was a head centre or 

 1 National Grange,' located at Washington, to which all 

 other Granges were subservient, and from which ema- 

 nated all authority, information, and plans of work of 

 any importance. Now, the idea of applying for 

 authority to organize a club of farmers in South Caro- 

 lina, to a body of men nearly five hundred miles away, 

 and of submitting to them, for their sanction, every plan 

 of work that we devise down here, for the benefit of 



