UNION OF CLUBS AND GRANGES NECESSARY. 83 Men of known worth and strength of character must be induced to take office-men whose sturdy integrity and intelligence shall make them proof against the sophistry and blandishments of the insinuating lobbyist, no matter in what disguise his "job" may be presented. When this is done, "politician" and "corruptionist" will cease to be synonyms, and the cloud of dishonor which now rests on our legislation will be lifted, and, let us hope, forever. CHAPTER VII. CO-OPERATION AMONG THE INDUSTRIES. WHAT ORGANIZATION MAY ACCOMPLISH. It can not be doubted that, if organizations of a social nature were established in every school district, auxiliary to County Societies having for their object the protection and advancement of the best interests of the agricultural classes; if these, again, were the units of a State Society or Club which, in similar manner, should guard and conserve all the varied elements concerned in making agriculture respectable and successful, and should secure for it a just share, through its own members, in the management of state affairs; and if, finally, these State organizations, through delegates elected each year, should meet at some designated point in the country to agree upon principles of action, and arrange and provide for the necessary means for carrying them out—it would be but a short time before the agricultural fraternity of the nation might— First. Arrange for a co-operative system of trade. Second. Purchase implements and machinery at wholesale rates. Third. Dispose of grain and other agricultural products at the highest prices. Fourth. Direct shipments on the most favorable terms, and at equitable rates to all. CO-OPERATION AMONG THE INDUSTRIES. 85 Fifth. Store grain and negotiate advances, at the lowest rates of interest. Sixth. Establish banks to be controlled by farmers. Seventh. Replace the credit with a cash system in all the ordinary transactions of life. Eighth. Through co-operation, sell or hold, as circumstances rendered necessary, the various products of the national industries, thus controlling, or entirely abolishing, the present system of gambling in the prime necessaries of life. Ninth. Dispense with a large proportion of commission and middle men. Tenth. Reduce railroad and water freights and fares to a minimum. Eleventh. Break up monopolies, whether in trade, commerce, manufactures, or money. Twelfth. Through co-operation of the farmers with mechanics and other laboring classes, establish manufactures at home, as near as possible to the production of the raw material, so that we might gradually produce at home nearly all that may be needed, in place of importing heavily from foreign countries. Thirteenth. Encourage the breeding of superior stock. Fourteenth. Establish a more thorough system of cultivation, and a greater diversity of products, thus preventing a glut of any one of them, such as there has been of corn during the last two seasons at the West. Fifteenth. Promote education to the industries by insisting that every college or university which has received endowment from the State or General Government as such, shall use the funds for instruction in science, and the application of science to art. Sixteenth. Through co-operation with the several industries of the country, present and future, insist upon a just representation of these industries in our State and National Governments, in proportion to the voting powers of each, and its legitimate importance and value in the nation. SUPERIOR ORGANIZATION OF OTHER INDUSTRIES. Many of the industrial classes, not only in the United States, but also throughout the civilized world, and especially in England, have been for years assiduously engaged in organizing for the elevation and advancement of their several trades and industries-socially, financially, and politically-by means of Unions and Societies of various kinds. For one reason or another, the most important of these industries, and the one upon which all others are based-Agriculture-has not yet been organized so as to present a united and solid front to the encroachments of capitalized power, as existing in corporations and monopolies, or the overweening political aspirations of the so-called learned professions. The result is, that, while the various Trades' Unions have measurably held their own as against these encroachments, the farmer, contenting himself with raising raw material with which to feed the great masses of progressive humanity, has suddenly found himself with but few rights which any one seemed bound to respect. THE PENALTY PAID FOR PAST NEGLIGENCE. Our farmers have helped to elect congressmen who legislated away the public lands in the most shameful manner to those who would divide the proceeds of this knavery with them to the largest extent. They have made legislatures which have granted to corporations vested rights dangerous in the highest degree to the well-being of the com |