Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1867-06-12
gElatrhman y Stair gOurnaI.
BY Il. p. WALTON
MoNrrEL1ER. IrNE p. 1see.

WIN 4 AfAsif1AAt bANit - AN'NF
Tins RiSe."-some ofthc editors are Of the inn
preston that the people OF Vermont have not fair
share in the selection Of candidates for Office that
there is "a ring somewhere, who make and break
states control Conventions, and 30 force the peo-
pie to take their candidates or throw scattering
votes II is certainly true that there are compared
with'thc whole population, few men in Vermont
who interest themselves in public affairs that there
are fewer stin--perhaps half dozen men--who
love to work for candidates ST their labor is compen-
sated and many more who work out of pure love
and zeal for their friends aud these, suppose.
constitute the imagined "rng' Now our recolloe.
ton covers the time when party lines were not drawn
in Vermont and there were no Conventions
the thirty years and more OF State Committees and
Mass Conventions, and has now covered one Dele
gate Convention; and we testify that Vermont has
always had what is now called "the ring;' that is
few men who had an eye on public affairs and
public officers, and whose counscls have always
prevailed, and always will prevail, simply because
those who have decided preferences or opinions,
always follow the lead of those who do have them,
if so be they are tolerably reasonable The modes
of formal nomination have varied somewhat, but the
rcai nomination has always been made by few in
terested and intelligent men. For instance first,
the "sra of good feeling" when there were no party
Conventions editors looked over the ground and
volunteered to suggest the mares OF suitable men,
and personal friends urged their claims by anony-
nous communications in the newspapers. Then
the newspaper readers began to talk together, and
shortly, in the ncghborhood of every newspaper,
there were signs of public opinion which The editor
respected by putting up the name of the popular
candidate Every body was free to support whom
lac pleased but still the majority Of presses fairly
represented the majority Of public opinion. and tho
treemen confirmed it at the polls. For the sec
ond instance, the era Of Committees and Con-
ventions. Here a new element came I'm, to wit,
Committees, who were the authorized agents Of the
parties they represented, and bound to seek the
good of their party by bringing out good men.
Their mode was TO correspond early with discreet
and intelligent men all the State, and thus feel
the pulse of the people; then the presses too ut
tered their voice, and the whole resulted in Con-
venton that had been thus prepared to act, which
summed up the results Of the best Judgment of ouI
hest men, and presented ticket which their parties
accepted. The third form Of Convention cannot
change this natural law that has always prevailed
Public men iciH be suggested by the press and by
individuals concerned in public affairs their name,
eel be considered before any Convention in refer.
ence to personal fitness location, the demands Of
political cSpediency and justice, and the popular
will and the Conventions will give the result In
formal nomination. Whoever engages in this pre-
paratory work ID one Of the ring, and every body
has the liberty to enter it, Now we suppose this il
all necessary reasonable and right if so be thos,
who are authorized especially to set in motion tn,
machinery Of the party-we mean the Committees
are intelligent, impartial and discreetmen That il
the point that every party should guard carefully
and then there can be no "ring" TO do any harm
10 our proud little renubic.