St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-06-16
Current Opinion.
TOO TRUE.

TOO TRUE.
In Vermont, where states are made
up in way that would put Don Cam
eron to the blush, the name of Gen.
BarStow, the present lieutenant-gOv-
ernor, is written down for the govern
orship, though some of the people are
inquiring why the State does not de
serve to have such a governor as Jud re
Barrett would make Detroit Mich
Post and Tribune.
JUDGE BARRETT.
The st. JOhnsbury CdledOnidn hearth
ly indOrses the suggestion that Judge
Barrett be made governor of Vermont.
1t is certainly true that the people of
the state can elect their own governor
instead of ratifying the appointment
of Il railroad boss, if they will only act.
And the cleanest nomination Vermont
has had for a great many years was
given to man never announced as a
Candidate" His name was Peck
another rugged character associated
with the judiciary of the state, the
Judge who refused to adjourn court to
allow the lawyers to go to the conven-
ton which nominated him. Spring
field Republican.
THE GARFIELD PARTY.
With bOssism the Garfield republi-
can party of Pennsylvania can declare
no truce. No more powerful appeal
can be made to the people than in
holding up to their gaze the broken
and shattered remnants of the Garfield
policy. We mean to take this work up
y1-1a -, oil lnt off Eni+an1,fs
bullet struck him down, and, with the
help of the people, to finish it for him.
We mean to stay in this fight until
bOssism and Cameronism are wiped
out of the politics of this state, and
that done we mean to keep them out.
Anti-bossism and the vindicatiOn of
the Garfield policy will be our leading
issues. One cOmprehends the other.
If Garfield were living to-day this
movement would not be i'll existence.
There would be no need of it. But
Garfield is dead and all his friends and
all true friends of the people are dead
too, so far as the policy of Arthur and
his satellites are concerned An In
dependent Republican of Penn.
LINCOLN AND BOSS POLITICS.
The Providence Star lately remarked
that Abraham Lincoln's idea of govern
ment was one "of the people, by the
people and for the people :" while
President Arthur's government is got
| the bosses, by the bosses and for the
BOSSES" This comparison knocked a
plug out of the Rutland Herald, which
straightway gurgled that Simon Cam
erOn was LincOln's first secretary of
war, and at the time boss of Pennsyl-
vania, and it asked if there was any
proof that Lincoln believed less in
bosses than Grant, Garfield or Arthur.
The Star calls the Herald's attention to
the fact that Cameron was within nine
months removed from the war depart
ment by the president, and severely
censured by the House, because he was
working IA system of favOritism, letting
contracts to political allies who coined
money at the governments expense
in short, because he was guilty of en-
plOying the spOils system.
THE MACHINE IN VERMONT.
Almost everything is made by ma
chinery at the present day. Our Yer
mont politician is as regularly turned
out by it as any other manufactured
article. 1t is il process that suits man
ufacturers, for that is something which
they understand, and by which they
can easily rule the farmers. The inter
ests of our state would be on far better
footing to-day if we had not been rep
resented during the last % years by
machine men. Any community will
be run down and crushed out by ineffi
cient administration and by heavy ex-
penditures and taxes under such a
mode of selecting its representatives.
In order to get the best class of men
to represent us at Montpelier and
| Washington, our nominating conven-
| tiOns must be taken out of the hands
of the machine managers and turned
over to the people, where they belong
Nominations to office, as well as cleo
tiOns, should be established by law
The freemen of each township should
assemble on a fixed day and have free
choice in the selection of candidates
for the offices to be filed. Some of
the most important political acts are
done here in Vermont by less than
One-tenth part of the voters. If the
people undertake to govern the cOun-
try they must attend to it and select
their own officers and agents and not
leave that all-important work to be
done by boss machine men and ring
sters. Our average Vermont farmer
has no more to do with selecting the