Grangers

a popular name for the Patrons of Husbandry, a secret association devoted to the interests of agriculture. The order originated in the mind of O. H. Kelley, a man of New England birth, who went to Minnesota in his early manhood and became a farmer. In 1864 he was appointed a clerk in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. Two years later, in January, 1866, Mr. Kelley was commissioned by Hon. Isaac Newton, commissioner of agriculture, to visit the Southern States, for the purpose of obtaining statistical and other information. While traveling in the South, in obedience to these instructions, the thought of a secret society of agriculturists, for the protection and advancement of their interests, and as an element to restore kindly feelings among the people, first occurred to Mr. Kelley. The association was organized at Washington, D. C., December 4, 1867. The secrecy and work of the order amount to little more than executive sessions. The term grange, meaning farm, was substituted for the lodge. The order consists of a national grange, a grange for each state, and local granges. Between 1872 and 1875 the movement spread rapidly until it included over 1,500,000 members living in every state and territory in the Union. There were in 1910 about 1,000,000 members. Any reputable man or woman interested in agriculture or horticulture is eligible for membership.

The constitution of the grange forbids participation in politics. The order is willing to be credited with the movement which resulted in the appointment of a secretary of agriculture as a cabinet officer and his admission to the president's cabinet, and with the establishment of agricultural experiment stations. Its members protest against being confounded with the Greenback Party, the Populist Party, or the Farmers' Alliance. There is still a tendency, however, to call a law pertaining to rural interests a "granger measure." The Patrons of Husbandry take a deep interest in education. At the opening of the forty-third annual session of the National Grange at Des Moines, November 10, 1909, twenty-seven states were represented. National master N. J. Bachelder proposed the following platform of the grange upon national legislation:

Federal appropriation for highway improvement.

Establishment of rural and general parcels post.

Establishment of postal savings banks.

Election of United States senators by direct vote.

Appointment of a permanent non-partisan tariff commission.

Defeat of ship subsidy legislation.

Retaining or strengthening the present oleomargarine law.

Liberal appropriations for farm schools.

Opposition to agreements between organized capital and organized labor to the detriment of the farmers.