Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-02-27

All efforts to unite the two st. Johns
bury papcrS,-a~ We are sorry to hear,
have failed. This is Il pity. for the inter
ests of all Concerned. In place of the
size of St ,johushurY, circumscribcd hy "A
circle Of other newspapers, at Lyndon
Danvilr. Barton and Newport. there is IA
field for one strong, lirst-class weekly;
but hardly for two. Tue enterprise which
came 10 the surface in tine purchase of the
Iuti.r. had its ORIGIN. doubtless. in the
natural and proper feeling that strong
Republican county, like Caledonia, ought
to have Il Republican paper. The Gaze
dOniuH ceased to bc that, during the last
campai gn-and whether il could he relied
OH to support Republican candidates and
principles i'll the future was felt to be un
certain. Several persons OF ample means,
with the approval of Il large proportion of
the leading Republicans of the town and
county, associated themselves, for the pur
pose of establishing Il Republican paper.
Under all the circumstances, it is impOS-
sblc that they could have had any desire
to crush Mr.. Stone" or boycott" his pa
per, as has been 80 freely alleged. On the
contrary their plan was to buy out bout
terms, and in place of the two To
establish one strong and reliable
paper. They bought the IHdcr and
! tried hard to buy the Cdlcd0nidn. As
the circumstance. have been related to us,
the prices offered and asked for the prop
erty differed by $500. Failing to agree
they left the fixing of the price to three
appraisers, from other parts of the State.
Two of these named price double what
1.-The syndicate" had offered, and not far
from double what Mr.. Stone had asked
the other and most experienced apprais
| er not concurring. The Syndicate" there
| upon refused to accept the appraisal, Mr.
Stone, the proposition to refer the matter
to appraisers having come from the other
side, considered the refusal Il violation of
good faith. The resulting state of feeling
| rendered futile all subsequent attempts to
arrange the differences, and negotiations
have ended. The purchasers of the lIUicT,
having previously secured the services of
Mr.. Edward johnson as editor, have pro
| cured new and ample outfit of type and
presses; have engaged Mr.. living Van
| BuSkirk, for many years the competent
| superintendent of the job printing depart
| mcnt of the FREE PRESS establishment, as
| foreman of their printing Office; and i'll
| TWO or thltt weeks expect To Issue the ilrSt
| number of IL large, handsome and well
equipped weekly-undcr the title of the
ST. Johusbury RcpHbticdH. 1t will start
| with IA very strong backing of capital,
| friends and business patronage. As Mr..
| stone is not without means and friends
| though it cannot be denied that he has
| lost some of the latter,-a sharp cOmpeti-
| ton, considerable sinking Of money ON
| both sides and it is to be feared not II little
unpleasant feeling in that community is
| likely to follow. In the end the two
papers will he consolidated no doubt; and
friends of both, like ourselves, cannot but
! regret that they were not consolidated at
| the outset, with retention of the old and
| respected title of the CdlCdOninll-as they
| could have been at one time, by the aC-
ceptance of the price first fixed on that
paper by its owner