THE FARMER'S WAR AGAINST MONOPOLIES. 541 



condense the weight of our exports, selling less in the 

 bushel, and more on hoof and in fleece. To systematize 

 our work and calculate intelligently on probabilities. 

 To discountenance the credit system, the mortgage sys- 

 tem, the fashion system, and every other system tend- 

 ing to prodigality and bankruptcy. 



We propose meeting together, talking together, work- 

 ing together, buying together, selling together, and in 

 general acting together for our mutual protection and 

 advancement as occasion may require. We shall avoid 

 litigation as much as possible by arbitration in the 

 Grange. We shall constantly strive to secure entire 

 harmony, good will, vital brotherhood among ourselves, 

 and to make our order perpetual. We shall earnestly 

 endeavor to suppress personal, local, sectional, and na- 

 tional prejudices, all unhealthy rivalry, all selfish ambi- 

 tion. Faithful adherence to these principles will insur* 

 our mental, moral, social, and material advancement. 



3. For our business interests we desire to bring pro- 

 ducers and consumers, farmers and manufacturers, into 

 the most direct and friendly relations possible. Hence 

 we must dispense with a surplus of middlemen ; not 

 that we are unfriendly to them, but we do not need 

 them. Their surplus and their exactions diminish our 

 profits. We wage no aggressive warfare against any 

 other interests whatever. On the contrary, all our acts 

 and all our efforts, so far as business is concerned, are 

 not only for the benefit of the producer and consumer, 

 but also for all other interests, and tend to bring these 

 two parties into speedy and economical contact. Hence 

 we hold that transportation companies of every kind 

 are necessary to our success j that their interests are in- 

 timately connected with our interests, and harmonious 



