Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1865-03-03

l. -.
Two months age Mrs, 1hoptoA n We i. 10 county
Mo- gave birth 70 three ohldta IN girls, and tout two
weeks ago sister u theslpe lady, in the same county
gave Dir 70 four gft, ssghing two and half pounds
each -Bostoa got-.dL
That books like increase. Why do We have
nc zach prodiges in Vermont Or rather
why is l., that for the past thirty or forty
years, we have increased in population not
more than 7.l0shs. Of one per cent. year,
immigration included. Year after year the
population has remained about the same al
though all the other states around us increase.
What is the cause Of this slow progress in
population and in wealth The answer usu
ally given is BMIeRATIoN. People leave
Vermont, and carry their wealth by hundreds
Of thousands Of dollars. This is acknowl-
edged, but the last census revealed but o
hundred and fifty thousand Vermonters in all
other states. They carry wealth with them
but not an amazing amount. Those who
immqrate are usually poor,-French, Cana.
dians and lrishmen. But they increase rapid
ly. The exchange Of those who 90, for those
who come, is however against Vermont in al
most every respect. Beside there are con-
siderable sums going from this state to be
invested in lands and stocks in other states.
and every dollar thus sent abroad is render
ing the state poor and less desirable as a
residence, because the taxes remain about the
same and the capital less. Because a.so cap
ital is Withdrawn that might make labor here
more remuneratiye. 1t might prepare more
investments and give vastly more oppor tuni-
ties for enjoyment. llinoisans say that
Chicago exceeds the whole state Of Vermont
in her manufactures. Whatever may be true
in that respect, it seems strange that city
of IS 900 inhabitants and no water power
should manufacture more than state of $780,
600 inhabitants with any amount of water
power, fuel and material But the destruc-
ton Of the state, that which uLdermines all
its prosperity and threatens all its institutions,
is the sterility Of its population. The child
rem are hardly sufficient to hold the posses
sions Of the fathers. Where ff;y years ago
fifty scholars were gathered, now there are
scarcely ten. The villages have slowly in-
cteased-a few quite rapidly-but some dis
tricts are nearly deserted-and almost all
rural districts have fewer scholars than they
had forty or fifty years ago. Nor is this en-
tirely owing to emigration. II the families
nov supplying the scholars were as prcduc-
tive as the fathers, there would be an increase
over the multitudes that formerly attended
hCuOOl III must ulhtElCtbs lEut IN sumo pldCts
farms have became absorbed into single pas
lures. One rich-poOr man owns nearly the
whole district But these cases arc not very
common and they ought to be fewer and pro-
badly they will in the next generation. But
the thing which Injuries mos; our prospects
and our prosperity Is tie one above indicated
One hundred and fifty thousand might have
been spared without essential detriment had
families remaining continued to become as
large as the first generation Of families in the
state. All its natural advantages for employ.
ment and for wealth would have been mprov.
ed and the state would have been more like
the garden Of Eden than it is now.