508 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



public. The opposition which the Grange must en- 

 counter has, as jet, scarcely begun. The rapid and 

 astonishing growth of the Order has taken its enemies 

 so entirely by surprise that they have not yet recovered 

 sufficiently to organize their opposition; but it will 

 come. 



But let the farmers remain steadfast in their purpose, 

 and above all, let them confine their Order to their 

 own class. The very life, the very existence of the 

 Order depends upon the oneness of the interests of its 

 members. Such outside support as it needs it will 

 quickly obtain when the people see, as they soon will 

 when the fight is fairly opened, that the Grange is 

 battling for the rights of the whole people as well as 

 those of the farmer. The Grange has the good of the 

 nation at heart, and its aim is to be just and generous 

 in the exercise of its powers. 



With political parties as such it has no affiliation, 

 and yet it must act as a political party itself in one 

 sense. Many of its ends can be attained only by exer- 

 cising the political rights of its members. It desires 

 to break down abuses and secure the adoption of just 

 laws. To accomplish this it must put men in power 

 who will faithfully carry out its wishes. It proposes 

 to do this ; to see that its individual members entitled 

 to the right of suffrage cast their votes only for men 

 who are pledged to the accomplishment of the objects 

 which it is working for. Patrons under these circum- 

 stances will vote for no man as a Republican or as a 

 Democrat, but as a man pledged to the adoption of a 

 definite reform. Already the politicians, appreciating 

 the power of the Order, have sought to use it for their 

 own purposes; but the Order has declined, and will 



