Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1888-03-30
WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YER
MONT2
Non Resident Natives of Vermont Equal
81 per cent of Her observation-disclosures
tionaliy More Emigration from YER
mont than from any other State
-Une of the Best of all the
states in Want OF Pop

d.
That Vermont is the most fertile State
of New England there is no question.
More than this, there need be no question
among those who examine the statistics
of production, that it is one Of the best
agricultural States of the country. Such
being the fact, is it not unacco untablc
that this STATE should fall behind every
other State in increase of population,
and that thousands of Vermont farms
should be offered for sale without pur-
chasers From 1870 to $780, as shown by
the last census, Vermont only escaped an
actual loss of population by a fraction of
one per cent. Maine gained 3.5 per cent,
New Hampshire 0 per cent, Connecticut
Is s, these three States having next to
Vermont the least increase of population,
that for the United States being about 80
per cent Had the gain in Vermont aver
aged with that of the whole country, it
would have been equal to an increase of
nearly 100000.
The gain in the large towns and vii
lagos has been several times as much as
the whole gain in the State, indicating a
loss in the agricultural districts. This
was shown by the last census, the number
of persons engaged in agriculture being
reported, in 1880 as 2132 less than in 1870. If
there has been a change during the eight
years since the census was taken, it is
hardly probable that it has been for the
better.
Various theories have been advanced to
account for the low price of farming lands,
and the unsatisfactory growth of the
State. One says that it is because so
large part of our capital has been sent
away for investment in western bonds
and mortgages, leaving little to be used at
home, and embarrassing the debtor
classes. Another says that the railroad
companies are chiefly responsible, having,
by high charges, put Vermont at disad-
vantage in competition with the West and
with neighboring States. Each of these
causes may have helped to place one of
the best of all the States at the foot of the
line of progress but both are not suffi
Gent to account fully for the situation.
Opposed to these theories, it might be said
that money can always be had at the
legal rate or less, by any one who can
give undoubted security for it, and that
farms are selling-when they can be sold
at alias low as any where in Vermont in
a corner of the State where he farmers
pay but little tribute to Vermont rail
roads, and that the loss of population in
the small towns and in the farming dis
tricts of these sections is even more
marked than in other parts of the State.
There is one cause of our slow progress
one for which there is really no sufficient
reasou--more potent than all others. II is
the desertion of the State by her own peO-
| pie 1t is wholesale emigration Immi
lratiou is invited to other states, but
never to Vermont. Emigration from the
| State is encouraged, when we might with
more consistency hold out inducements to
| immigrants to make homes among us.
| At the extremely low prices at which
farms and other real estate can now be
bought in many parts Of Vermont. here is
a better field for Immigrants from other
| States and from other countries than
thousands are finding elsewhere. Yet we
never publish that, hardly ever, even at
| private expense.
Los Angeles, CAL, a city of 10000
inhabitants has been built up within a
few years upon what was barren waste,
and where nothing now grows without
irrigation. Land in the neghborhood of
the city, it is said, has been sold for fruit
raising, at $1,000 an acre. These IeSul Is
have been brought about by what is call
ed, in recent technical language, "boom-
ing" What contrast to our methods
For the last quarter of century, Yer
mont has been blooming" men and mon
ey out of the State. No other part of the
country has been depopulated to so great
an extent. No other State has sent to
other States so large a proportion of its
native inhabitants. According to the
census of 1850 there were were 43O, OH ma
tives of Vermont in the United States
and Territories, only 25l,1S0 of whom
We're living in the State of their nativity,
leaving us POI natives of Vermont resid
ing in other States. If to these were add
ed the natives of Vermont in Canada and
other countries, it is probable that the
whole mum Der of persons born in Yer
mont but not living in the State is not far
from 200 900. Substantially the same pro-
portion of native residents to the native
non residents was also shown by the census
of 1870 There are only four northern states
that have not a larger population than
the whole number of natives of the State
in all the States and Territories viz
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont ant
Ohio, The, natives of Vermont II
ton of the State by 91,'55-t
much greater proportional excess thar
inlany one of the three other State.
in which the natives of the State exceed
the total population. The native residents
of each of the following States are Rivel
below, according to the census of 1880
and have computed from the census
figures the aggregate number of non
resident natives, in the United States anC
Territories of each of these States ant
( the percentage.tab which follows;
Native Native
Residents. NONRESIDENT Is
) Vermont .;;.:...... 25l,7so I l5'
3 New Hampshire. 242,157 l2S,601
+ Rhode Island ..... l52,418 1928
Massachusetts,. ..lOso,565 2bl,l30
Maine .......... 5630l5 1872 .257
Connecticut........ 39.,2ll li0,62l
Vermont, total population, 332,@s6.
Not regarding fractions, the proportion
| of natives of each of the following States
living in other States and Territories, t
! the total population of the respectiv
States, is shown below in the first column
3 of percentages The second column show
Q the proportion of the native population il
f each State, to the whole number of ma
s tives of the State in all the States ant
. Territories.
g e
e a5