The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-11-28
NUMBER As.
GIVE THE BOYS A CHANCE.
THEN "DEsERTED VERMONT" WOULD
BE BUT AMYTH.

| BE BUT A MYTH.
So Says a Pratical Man of The World
Young Men Too Much Obscured and
Held Back by Those Who See no Good In
Anything New-Another Way of Looking
at the Abandoned Farm" Question.
''All this talk about deserting Yer
mont, and the farm lands, and the cause
for emigration therefrom, has never
been satisfactorily explained to me-"
said well known. ..Rutlander First one
cause has been assigned, and then an
other; but none comss directly to tht
point. don't know as l ever saw my
explanation in print; and you can ust
it or not, as you see fit. II is lack ol
confidence in our young men.
This, to my mind, is the prime cause,
the principal reason why the young men
all get out of the state early, and 60
West or South, where they are gladly
welcomed and given places OF promi-
nence,as well as financial aid, according
to their abilities. Here, in Vermont
and l presume the same is true else
where in New England cities-a young
man is kept under, is pushed aside, IL
considered of no account, his opinions
worthless and his advice unsought, until
he becomes as gray as church mouse,
and then-well, he's got his chance by
that time; and he turns round and gets
even with the generation coming on.
Il am young man, two or three years
the better of 40; and fatter myself
that average fairly well in intelligence
and business capacity. am honest, and
l pay dollar for dollar. read a good
deal and my education has been thor.
ough. l am a business man. in love
with my business and have no doub
of ultimate success. l have few new
ideas, and firmly believe am progress
slve. There am, in nutshell, Now,
look around me, and what do / see?
Almost all positions of prominence,
profit and trust held by old men, hardly
young man in sight. Old men we'd
ded to one iGea, hindering and keeping
back wide-awake, enterprising young
mind by mere weight of years and b
grasp on the positions they hold, only to
be loosened by death. Men who hav
Travelled in one rut all their lives, and
who can see nothing good in anything
new. They may have attained their
places by a steady pull of years-they
cant imagine that short route exists,
There are elderly men occupying
places OF prominence and trust VINO
ought to have retired years ago, If they
haven't got money enough to live on,
then they ought to be pensioned off and
their places filled with younger men.
They haven't got new idea, they art
oehlnd the times. and they cannot OF
VIII not recognize anything good in any
thlng new. How do these men look on
new generations2 Only as poor substi
tutes for them when they are dead and
gone. 1t young man desires to make
a deal, movement which his mind can
see success in, and he approaches some
patrlarchal Solon and explains his idea
pointing out where he expects TO accom-
pllsh his undertaking, he will be met
with Pooh l never heard of such a
thing.' That settles it. His ignorance
Is your destruction.
Again you can perhaps, see what 80
ciety, the municipality, the country OF
the state may derive great ben fit if a
change is made in a certain direction.
You explain your reasons for so believ
ing, and you encounter the crushing
argument oh, no ! we've lived this
way for fifty years; guess we wont
change now
Il intend no disrespect but am free
to confess that the elderly men of Yer
mont are extremely pig headed, their
way is the only right way. They are
blind to the good of anything new.
They have driven, and are now driving
the young men out of the state just as
fast as they reach their majority. There
isn't farmer in Vermont who has son q,
no matter if he be 40 years of age, who
believes that son can hoe hill of beans
as well as he can. There isn't farmer
in Vermont whose son makes a new rule
or follows a plan of feeding or cultiva-
ton different from the fathers custom
without running against the old gents
croaking criticism of disapproval.
"The same is true in nearly every
class of trade or profession. It's the old
physician who last adopts new form of
treatment or purchases an improved
surgical instrument. It's usually the
young lawasr who springs a mine on his
antagonist, his power discovered in a
statute that had slumberd quietly for
years, Even gentlemen of the cloth are
not free from the stirring up that the
divinity student or the recent ordained
minister frequently gives the religious
world.
"It's this one idea rule that has driven
progression out of Vermont. / know
an old Rutland farmer who IN his life
time has made good deal of money out
of cattle, Now, you know, and every
body ought to know, that there is no
money in raising cattle for market al
the present time, owing to the fact that
Western beef can be laid down here
cheaper than native beef; aud it is just
as good, il not better, as our home pro-
duct. Knowing all this, this man will
winter 20 or 80 head and pour the grain
into them by the ton, instead of even
giving them away and going into some
thing that will pay. They are losing
money daily, vet he hangs on, hoping
for a change. Now, if he would sap
his herd and go into horses or sheep, he
would get some kind of a return, There's
a demand for horses and sheep, and
there isn't for beef cattle. l can prove
the truth Of this auy time l sm question
ed, This kind of one-idea business has
been sucking the life out of Vermont.
"a farmer must have market for
his produce. What makes a market ?
Capital Yet for years capital has beer
persistently hunted out of Vermont by
the laws of the state.
vermont capital has developed, and
is now developing, the West and South.
1t would like to come home; but it
can't, Why? Because these good olh
gentlemen won't let it. Why? Because
that would be new idea,
Let me give you little maxim, prov
erb, motto or whatever you may call it,
and tell me If it isn't true:
THE only young man who can achieve
prominence IN Vermont is the son OF hls
father.
81 am happy to say that there is a
growing disposition in Rutland to give
young men a chance. know of one
gentleman who employs a number Of
men in a variety Of pursuits; and they
are all young men. In talking the mat
ter over he remarded to me Il believe
firmly in applying, in practical form,
old men for counsel, yonng men for
action, And he added: Young men
are more ambitious. they will work
harder, they have new ideas, they do
not tire, they are enter prising, ener
getic, progressive aud wide-awake
They are faithful, ,aEd they take a great.
er interest in their employers welfare.
| will have none but young men work
for me. They are not tied down 10 one
idea, and they don't travel in a Tut.
That man. mark you, has achieved sue
cess, while yet a comparatively young
man-and big success, too, and he c n