Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1879-07-30

To watch for hornets' nests and SNAKES.
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The Spirit Of Caste.
We can but admire the simplicity of the
newspaper man (sven though an aagricul-
tursl editor y who believes that great edi-
tors never sacrifice their broader interests TO
their narrower preiudices. We yield to no
body in admiration Of the many excellent
qualities Of the Springfield Republican,. For
most Of the time during the last eighteen
years IL has been the only daily paper we
have taken, and always our favorite for it's
Brightness, newsinecs, and the breadth not
less than the incisiveness Of much Of its ed
itorial writing. Yet the as. RI has its
limitations, like all things human. The
Vermont Central, the Hoosac Tunnel line,
Che New York and New England, and every
railroad that can by any possibility be sup
posed to hurt the Boston and Albany, get
no fsyors ct Springfield. And, especially
since the death Of Mr.. Bowles, neither does
higher education for the people meet with
the approval Of the bright coilegians who
rule in the sanctum Of New England's best
newspaper. The Boston Institute Of Tech
nology, merely as an aid to the manufactur-
ing interests of Massachusetts,, may seem to
BE- an exception but If it has had many good
words for any other similar institution, we
have failed to notice il. The Springfield
iRsps,biiean, Is BELTS the representative news.
paper Of western Massachusetts, is aristo-
cratic. 1t is different style OF aristocracy
from that OF Boston, and not so intensely
mean, but 1t is aristocracy all the same. 1t
seems to try to do some justice to the work
ing-men Of the manufacturing class, but for
the clod-hoppers it does not care to con-
ceal its scorn. we admit that the farmers
have partly merited such treatment A
class strong enough to make itself respected,
and which yet has failed to do SO, must be
content to sup with scorn. A dog will re-
spect lobster when he feels there is muscle
IN ~ claw but not before. JllJlJ I
Not only has the Republican scornfully.
entreated the agricultural colleges, but it
has denied the duty or right Of the state to
support any degree Of free education higher
than the common schools. Free high schools
have its disspproval, as well as free colleges
Such an educational system as that Of Mich
igan, for instance, which gives all its young
citizens every chance they will take for at
tanning knowledge, from the b of the
primary school to the highest class OF the
best free university in the world, is, in the
view OF the Republican, an injustice to the
taxpayer. But the Republican in this is
only representative. The spirit Of the
colonial governor of Virginia, who would
not tolerate a printing press within his ju-
risdiotion the temper which fought so long
against popular education in England and did
not hesitate to say that working men ought
mot to be taught to read because it makes
them uneasy and discontented with their
situation; the disposition which causes the
gilded youth of Yale and Harvard to "pick q"
upon their poor fellow-collegians, and actu-
ally refuse to row in race in which the
" fresh water colleges are to take part the
narrowness that makes the "intellectual
students of Amherst plume themselves above
the pupils of the neighboring industrial
school, and stimulates the sprouting lawyers,
divines, and doctors of Dartmouth to invent
the name of Dungies for their mates in
the industrial departmental this is the
spirit Of CASTE, as rampant, and thousand
times more contemplate in New England