GRANGE, a word which primarily means a granary or storehouse for grain, but which has been broadly used a5 signifying an estate with all the buildings thereon; used in the United States since 18.67, as the familiar name of the state and subordinate organizations of the " patrons of husbandry," a national association of agriculturists, of which Mr. 0. II. Kelley, a native of Boston, is the reputed founder. The society origi nated in the depressed condition of agriculture following the war of the rebellion, and was especially designed to redress the grievances of farmers at. the west on account of the alleged injustice of the railroad companies in their charges for carrying agricultural freight, and on account of the exorbitant prices paid to middlemen for handling such freight and for supplying agricultural implements and stores. The plan of the organi zation, which is somewhat like that of the odd-fellows, was formed by Mr. Kelley and Mr. William Saunders, who were connected with the department of agriculture in Washington, and was designed to bring the farmers'of the country into active co-oper ation for mutual protection. The plan embraced a common ritual, with secret ceremo nies of initiation, to be observed by the local associations, which are subordinate to the nationzilhody. Each grange elects its own officers, women being admitted to mem bership equally with men, but no one of either sex being eligible unless interested in agricultural pursuits. The national and state granges meet annually, the local ones monthly or oftener. The order has its greatest strength in the north-western states. In 1875 the total number of granges was estimated at 30,000, with a membership of nearly 2,500,000. In 1874 the national grangers issued a manifesto declaring the objects of the order to be "to develop z better and higher manhood and womanhood among ourselves; to enhance the comforts and attractions of our homes; to buy less and pro duce more, in order to make our farms self-sustaining; to discountenance the credit system, the mortgage system, the fashion system, and every other system tending to prodigality and bankruptcy; to secure harmony, good-will, and vital brotherhood among ourselves, and to make our order perpetual." The order is social and economic, and
neither political nor sectarian. Through the influence of its members, laws were passed in Illinois and Wisconsin putting railroad companies under sharp restrictions as to their charges for carrying agricultural products: but some of these laws were declared to he unconstitutional by the courts, and the order has accomplished far more by moral and social influence than by legislation. The benefits conferred by it upon the agricultural community are believed to be very great. The system of co-operation which it has fos tered has assisted not a few farmers in their efforts to get out of debt,.and developed a spirit of enterprise and cd-operatiOn which is of inestimable value.. But, notwith standing this, the order is understood to have declined in the last few years. Whether this is because it is somewhat overweighted with its own machinery of organization, or because other objects have, for the time being, absorbed the attention of its members, is not here affirmed. Certainly there is no diminution of the popular interest in agricul ture, and it is believed that farmers as a class arc as keenly alive to their interests now as at any previous time.