Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-05-21
q. W. WILLARD.
Progress

ETOHTtSS.
There was, after all, about as much of
wisdom as there was of laundering in the ex-
preston of the man who proposed to g. tike
a retrospective view of ten years to come
We have to look backward to see that we
have gone forward. So eldying and refluent
are the currents of the affairs Of whole PEG
pies that men are deceived and sometimes
imagine vain and sOrrowful things needlessly
The present time is nothing if not critical.
We are blessed with an independent press
and the independent press is blessed, it must
be confessed, with plenty of raw material to
exercise it's lash upon. The young whc
begin now their political reading mus
imagine that never before did men do such
things " both horrible aud awful, while the
secret, in part, is that more than ever before
the press of the country give full facts con
corning the ways of the world More than
ever before, too, people make up their minds
from the facts themselves. Re dy-made
thought, and custom-made thought fol
that matter, it has ceased 20 be the province
of the newspaper to furnish. What is needed
is the news and such comment upon it as
will perhaps give aid 10 viewing it fatty and
such a. may serve to open discussion upon
it. We hope that, while the time for in
dependence of thought and expression has
a. g ---L---~L - not to h.
succeeded by that of mud and slime. The
independent editor running muck /,
but a slight improvement on the veriesr
organ grinder of the old regime.
Free criticism is needful and righteou.
Indignation is blessing at times, but discon
tent and chronic grumbling are very un
comfortable companions. Besides there i
no need of other than an equable frame 0
mind. The revelations of the last winte
are not Of worse things than have been here
tofore done but are heralds of an avoidance
of such performances again. They wer
revelations Of ways in which men, hitherto
trusted have yielded to that very old tempter
Avarice. There are disorders in the South
Ten years ago there were greater disorder
there and these are but the remnants of tina
great CONFUSION which it is marvel to our
selves we survived as a nation.
Whichever way we turn, at home o
abroad, there shows a substantial advance
Too slight, perhaps, to be seen from yea
to year, but easily percephble a
the end of any moderated y long period
The evil of this day, personal dishonesty
hop bal ~ he oh. I
of great questions of national existence
1t would be conclusion most lam
and impotent if a self-governing people
who overthrow the Shareholders polite;
power made strong by hundred year
social influence and public defense and az
gression, are not able to put stop to pilfer
ing directly or indirectly, to any great e2
tent from the general treasury.
There was, no doubt much petty THE,
ing in p litics before the war, and much
larger kind during the war. The diffe
ence is that there is time to attend to it no
and it is going to be unhealthy weather #
those who have been at the crib. The con
ing schemes of vast national appropriation
for the commerce of the Mississippi Vale
and for the various other parts of the couI
try that have not yet held Congression
consultations, will have to be fought manfu
ly when they are developed more fully it
true, but with good hope Of success.
Outside of our own country we find Il
same anxiety, the same struggles again
present evils And till the mileniOm the
will be evils and bother for any age SUI
cient therefor. But there is clearly an a
vance, and in places an advance so rap
that very possibly the whole ground gain
will not be retained. To cite no other i
stances the French and Spanish Republi
give promise of good results far hey ond t
reasonablehopes of the most ardent adv
Gates of popular government a short til
since.
At home and abroad the lesson is for m
20 meet squarely and fairly the burdens
their time; to criticize fearessly if need +
to demand and work for the removal of ev
and evil-doers, but to avoid alike a fool
cynicism and disposition to despair of S
ing any good thing.
Mayor Ilavemeyer seems to have THU
pretty much bis own way in New York.
supposed combination among the alderu
To- he If L