854 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
DEC. i3 
Farm Politics. 
Here it is proposed to discuss with freedom and fairness, ques¬ 
tions of National or State policy that particularly concern farm¬ 
ers. The editors disclaim responsibility for the opinions of cor¬ 
respondents. The object is to develop a true and fair basis for 
organization among farmers. Let us think out just what we want 
and then strive for it. 
WOMEN’S WORK IN THE GRANGE. 
It is well known to most persons that the Idea which 
resulted in the formation of the Grange, sprang from the 
brain of 0. H. Kelley, of Minnesota. Mr. Kelley was sent 
South by the Commissioner of Agriculture, in 1866, to col¬ 
lect reliable information relating to the condition of agri¬ 
culture in the South. While in South Carolina the con¬ 
dition of the country, the feelings of the inhabitants and 
the stirring events going on around him, led him to believe 
that could a strong association, like Masonry, be formed 
among the agriculturists, binding North and South into a 
common brotherhood, the wounds left by the war would 
be healed as nothing else could heal them. Correspondence 
with his niece, Miss Carrie Hall, of Boston, and subsequent 
talks with her in regard to the new project, led him to 
consider the idea of admitting women to membership in 
the organization. 
His first idea was that women should have but one de¬ 
gree and that their membership should have more of a 
complimentary than practical standing. When this idea 
had been presented to the others who had associated 
themselves with him in founding the new order, it was 
combatted. Anson Bartlett, of Ohio, said: “ We ask the 
cooperation of woman, and advance the idea that she is to 
be considered the equal of man in all respects. But here 
comes a proposition to ingraft in the ritual that which, 
at a glance, declares that we do not regard her as an 
equal. Depend upon it, earnest, active, energetic women 
will look upon this as an attempt to secure their patronage 
and propitiate their favor without placing them in a posi- 
pected to use voice and influence in behalf of temperance, 
purity and truth. 
Granges which have not been aided by women have in¬ 
variably gone down, but this has never been the case where 
women were determined that the organization, which 
means so much for them, should be a success. If all else 
fail, the women of a Grange have one last and never- 
failing resort. They spend a day or two in their kitchens 
in diligent work ; then they pack great lunch baskets and 
start for their Grange rooms, and there are few men who 
care to refuse an invitation to a Grange feast. 
Among the most improving accessories of the Grange is 
the Grange library, and there is nothing which gives a 
Grange a stronger hold on life than this. Successful trade 
does something, fire insurance insures paid-up dues, but 
the Grange library is an incentive to personal attendance, 
for when a member goes to the Grange room to change a 
book, he is more than likely to remain through the ses¬ 
sion. This matter of attendance is one which at one time 
or another is sure to puzzle all organizations, and nothing 
solves it so effectually as giving every member something 
to do which will show him off most creditably. So one 
branch of Women’s Work is to make each member feel 
that his or her personal presence is necessary for the good 
of all concerned, and if his or her absence becomes a fre¬ 
quent occurrence, means are used to ascertain whether 
trouble, sickness or vexation causes the delinquency, and, 
if possible, the obstacle is removed. In all these offices 
and branches of work we must have the active cooperation 
of men, and, if women are thoroughly in earnest in their 
work, men will catch the enthusiasm and “ lend a hand.” 
“ What classes of women should join the Grange” do 
you ask? We want all women who are farmers or the 
wives or daughters of farmers, or whose interests center in 
farm life. We want the strong, masterful women to lead 
us. We want the firm, quiet women to give us dignity. 
We want the shy, timid women to give sympathy and 
tender care when those are needed. We want all pure, 
once say no. We are the greatest nation on earth and we 
propose to go onward and upward. In this connection x 
would repeat the old quotation: “You are with us or 
against us.” Let every farmer think of that; there is no 
half-way ground, no place for resting; each must move 
forward or backward. Will you see your country dragged 
down into more degraded corruption than it is floundering 
in at present, or will you help to purify and bring it to a 
higher plane of morality and civilization? 
I wish to call attention to a few planks suitable for 
every farmer’s platform. 
1. No one should be entitled to vote unless he can read 
and speak the English language. 2. The President, Vice- 
President and United States Senators should be elected by 
the direct votes of the people. 3. Immigration should be 
nearly or completely stopped at once. 4. The currency of 
the nation should be controlled only by the government. 
5. The railroads, express companies, telegraph and tele¬ 
phone lines, coal mines, oil wells and all kindred in¬ 
dustries should be owned by the government, and their 
services or products should be furnished to the people at 
cost. 6. Our legislatures should be composed of men 
selected from among the producing and industrial classes. 
7. Prohibition of the liquor traffic. 8. Woman’s suffrage. 
In regard to the third plank mentioned above, in many 
towns in this State there are but few American families 
remaining, and these few are selling out as fast as possible. 
I have been on the road for the past two weeks, and on 
some days I have not found an American family. Nearly 
all are foreigners, and many are entirely unable to under¬ 
stand the English language; but the vote of each is at 
present worth just as much as that of the best educated 
American. After one year’s residence here they become 
voters, and an American coming from another State must 
also be here one year before he can vote. Although he has 
always been a voter in the State of his nativity, he has no 
advantage over the ignorant foreigner who has just 
arrived in the country. This is all wrong and must be 
AN INSIDE VIEW OF BUSINESS. Fig. 413. 
DROP A DOLLAR IN 
THE SLOT 
ANO SEE THE 
PRODUCER CET HIS SHARI 
W ~~7 
j T7~. 
i 
ii 
Ilf 
::•! V. .-4.5371 
iiin 
1 
iffi M m -i# i- 
W/Jmk 
u 
AN OUTSIDE VIEW OF BUSINESS. Fig. 414. 
tion where they can wield such an influence as they otherwise 
might.” Mr. Bartlett’s opinion carried weight, and it was 
decided to admit women on an exact equality with men. 
It was not a question of “ women’s rights” in the common 
acceptation of the term, but the fact that an organization 
designed for the real benefit of the farming community 
must have the aid of and give its support to mothers and 
daughters exactly as it did to fathers and sons. 
Women in the country were even more shy and isolated 
than men. The nature of their regular duties kept them 
closely at home. The constant improvements in our com¬ 
mon schools were helping the rising generation, but to 
those who were too old for school the Grange came like a 
benediction. They were aroused from the lethargy of 
premature old age and awakened to a belief that the 
world needed them. I could name scores of men and 
women who owe more to the Grange than to all other 
educational factors which have ever been brought to bear 
upon their lives. 
Until very recently there has been no boundary line be¬ 
tween women’s work and men’s work in the Grange, and 
it is not desirable that the line shall ever become very 
marked. At the session of the National Grange held at 
Topeka in November, 1888, a Standing Committee on Wo¬ 
men’s Work was appointed, with Mrs. J. H. Hale, of 
Connecticut, at its head. Mrs. Hale is an enthusiastic, 
energetic woman, and she pushed the work so vigorously 
that nearly every State Grange had appointed a commit¬ 
tee to take charge of the work in its own State during her 
year of office. A division of work where women were re¬ 
quired not only to take special charge of certain branches of 
work, but to report the results of their labors to a central 
committee was something new, and considerable time 
must of necessity be consumed before the machinery could 
be put into satisfactory working order. 
The special lines of work in which women are asked to 
exert themselves are the adornment of their Grange halls, 
looking after the poor, the sick and the afflicted, not only 
inside the Grange, but wherever they may be found. The 
arrangements for literary and social attractions are also 
intrusted to women as well as the task of preparing for oc¬ 
casions for the amusement and entertainment of children 
and young people. Added to this, indeed going hand-in- 
hand with it all, is the great work of keeping the moral 
tone of the Grange pure and elevating. Women are ex¬ 
good women, not only because they can help the order ; 
but because the order can help them. Restless, aspiring 
minds will find a broad field for labor. Weak, desponding 
natures will find a support upon which they can safely 
lean. Together with men we must work for the best in¬ 
terests of our class, and through improving ourselves, we 
shall improve all other classes, for many go forth from the 
farms yearly to rule and to govern, to teach and to heal 
our whole land The field for work open before the women 
of the Grange has no limit, for as each effort is carried to 
successful issue, a new cause presents itself and demands 
our aid, and this will always be the case till the millennium 
is reached. s. A. little. 
Chairman, N. Y. State Committee on Women’s Work in 
the Grange. 
R. N.-Y.-—A practical example of women’s work in the 
Grange is a fine library of more than a thousand volumes 
in the subordinate Grange of which the writer of the above 
is a member, and in the formation of which she was the 
prime mover. It comprises standard works of history, bi¬ 
ography, travel, fiction, science, poetry, agriculture and a 
large number of miscellaneous subjects. Additions are 
being made annually and the beneficent influence this 
library has exerted and will exert is incalculable. It is a 
standing testimonial to the value of women’s work in the 
Grange. _ 
"MONEY AND RUM.” 
FOREIGN AMERICANS. 
After the past election, in which the farmers have done 
so bravely, there can certainly be no reason why any farm 
paper should not take up the political issues of the day in 
favor of the farmers ; but I am glad that The Rural took 
part in the contest before the election. There are two 
great questions before the American people to-day that 
either embrace or overshadow all others—they are the 
curse of the liquor traffic and the power of money in the 
legislation of State and Nation. These two great evils 
work and fight together and in order to put down one we 
must put down the other at the same time. Every 
farmers’ organization should insert the principles of pro¬ 
hibition in its platform. If we look back we And several fine 
Republics, like those of Greece and Rome. Where are 
they to-day ? Is our destiny to be the same as theirs ? I 
think every educated man and woman in the land will at 
stopped, or this country will soon be ruined as the great 
republics of the past have been. All industries on all sides 
are combining as fast as possible, and the farmers must do 
the same, and that at once. L. H. read. 
Jefferson County, Wis. 
R. N.-Y.—Representative H. C. Lodge is to introduce at 
this session of Congress a bill to prevent the landing of 
undesirable immigrants. This bill will exclude all persons 
obnoxious to our laws, including the alien contract labor 
law. Every immigrant must show a certificate from some 
diplomatic representative of this country, attesting that 
the person to whom it is given is of good character, not ob¬ 
noxious to the laws of the United States, self-supporting, 
not assisted by charity or otherwise to emigrate, able to 
read and write in his native language, and to read the 
Constitution of tjie United States, either in his native lan¬ 
guage or in English. He must also show a medical certifi¬ 
cate proving his mental and physical soundness. Immi¬ 
grants are not taxed ; but steamship companies bringing 
them must pay $5 for each one. 
"Justice for the McKinley Bill.”— Will The Rural 
permit one of the farmers to intimate that it is piling 
blame on the McKinley Bill almost too freely. The 
Republican leaders, too, seem to be tumbling over one 
another in their anxiety to get squarely on top of it among 
the first. It is not what ails us here. I am paying $28 
per ton for bran, and 60 cents more than that for corn, 
and getting for hay, our main crop, $8 to $9 per ton, and 
I do not lay this condition of affairs to the McKinley Bill 
either. But all over New England feed and flour are high. 
Most crops are failures, hay being the only good one and 
that is too cheap to pay, and no wonder in view of the 
abundance of the crop, but the tariff law has to stand the 
blame for it all. The season has done more to punish the 
dominant party than all other causes put together. I 
notice one thing somewhat in point in my own town—a 
fair election day almost insures the success of the Republi¬ 
can party, while bad weather is as certain to insure its 
defeat, and if the complexion of a day can do so much, 
what may not that of a whole season do to help to unseat 
the ruling party. It is not the first time that poor crops 
followed by high prices have upset the calculations of the 
party in power. (}. 8 . PAINE. 
Kennebec County, Maine. 
