The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-04-17
NUMBER 13.
"DECAYED VERMONT"

DECAhED NEhMONT.'
THE CHALLENGE.
The Atlanta, Ca, Constitution says:
Vermont is great Republican state.
A large majority of its voters follow the
grand old party wherever it leads. They
believe that Ingalls, is a prophet and that
Chandler is statesman, and they would
be perfectly willing to see every Southern
state placed under negro rule tomorrow.
They would gloat over the corruption
and ruin that would ensue, and probably
hold town meetings to celebrate the
SOuths disaster.
''But while Vermont seems to be good
State for Republicanism, its inhabitants
have discovered that climate in which
sectiOnalism and prejudice are the chief
crops is not calculated to satisfy hearty
men. The result is that the rural dis
tricts of Vermont are in state of decay.
The farms are deserted, and the hill
towns are tumbling down, so to speak.
The real situation has never been de-
scribed in the newspapers, but travellers
who have occasion to pass through the
deserted region tell us that the churches
and schools in large number of com
munities are closed and that in many
instances the communities themselves
are about to go out of business.
1.-THE condition of affairs is so serious,
in fact, that the authorities in Vermont
have been for some time hunting around
for some method of replenishing the fast
dwindling population. 1t is singular,
considering the politics of the State, and
the love the Republicans profess for the
negro, that the eyes of these authorities
have never turned to the South. Here is
a vast negro population, which, according
to the Republican theory, is restless and
discOntented, and anxious to escape
from the political bondage, worse than
slavery, which the whites have imposed
upon them Many of them are good
average farmers, and not few of the
women are good cooks and house SER
wants.
1T would seem that the mutual inter
ests of the Vermont Republicans and the
discontented negroes would cause them
to rush into each others arms without
formal introduction or the exposure of
the long concealed strawberry mark.
But the Republicans of Vermont have
entirely ignored the colored brother.
Apparently, he does not enter into their
programme at all. They have forgotten
that he exists save as a political issue,
which can be discussed by candle-light
in the deserted halls of the desolate
towns.
Instead of offering the oppressed neg
ro an asylum, they have gone off to
Sweden for emigrantS, and to these Ver-
mont offers great inducements. The
Swedes are informed that they can get
farms of from seventy-five to one hun
dred acres each at prices ranging from
two dollars to five dollars an acre. Each
family will be loaned twenty-five dollars
in cash and furnished with a cow for a
stipulated period.
| Evidently the negro is not wanted in
Vermont"
THE REPLY.-BoURBON LITERATURE.
The st. Albans Messenger copies the
above and says:
| SIT is seldom that our readers are per-
mitted such treat. 1t is to be noticed
that the Constitution is admitted to be
the special oracle of the New South"
and the fairest of Democratic journals
in that section. If such can be its stoOp-
ing posture, the question arises as to the
full bent of its more rampant cOntem-
poraries.
1.-The aim of the Atlanta paper seems
to be the justification of disfranchise-
ment on account of color and to belittle
| pttp nnnrla hNr mis- ntnf hn
article is strange conglOmeration of
politics, prejudice and cant, made up of
misrepresentation and eXaggerations.
The Constitution, which never thought
well of greasy mechanics and small
listed farmers" thinks it has good hold
now and improves its opportunity. An
other trouble is that Vermont casts the
largest percentage of Republican votes of
any State in the Union. Its people are
represented as being submissively led
rather than leading. Whatever weak
nesses the State may be guilty Of this is
not one of her characteristics, as the
Southern soldiery will attest who met
her representatives in the field.
| vermont is not led in matters of pub
lie or private morality, patriotism, tenn
perance or temperance legislation, but
leads. DefalcatiOns here are of the rar-
est, and justice is not lost in its wander
ings for friends. The State has never
been misgOverned and its people do not
gloat over misrule anywhere. Neither is
| Vermont sectional. 1t has always been
the claim of the old slave holding section
that is was national, and ToOmbs of
| Georgia was free to assert on the floor of
Congress that he would yet call the roll
of his slaves at the foot of Bunker Hill
monument. But he didn't do it. There
came a decision that VermOnts ideas
were broad and national, from which
there was no appeal. And to-day the
Green Mountain State occupies position
opposed to all sectionalism.
| "The Constitution has discOved that the
rural districts of Vermont are in state
of decay Vermont is an inland State
and is but rural district of itself
Georgia has lengthy seaboard, is one of
the original thirteen States, and was set
tied much earlier. Yet with all its nat
ural advantages the population of Georgia
per square mile in 1880 was only as five
to seven in comparison with Vermont,
negroes and all, the white population of
Georgia being as eight to seven in pro-
lpOrtiOn to the negroes. Vermont's pop
ulatiOn has increased at each decade, and
it will be found to have still further aug
mented when the census is reported, in
spite of calls made upon the State by
Georgia and other languishing commu-
nities for settlers. But the climax of
righteousness is reached in the COnstit,t-
tiOn's statements, when it says:
1.-THE real situation has never been
described in the newspapers, but travel
ers who have occasion to pass through
the deserted region of Vermont tells us
that the churches and schools in large
number of communities are closed, and
that in many instances the communities
themselves are about to 90 out of bust
ness
perhaps one of the travellers in ques-
ton was the fellow who wrote us bitter
cOncOctiOn on the race issue from Enos-
burgh Falls, in this county, last summer,
and it may be that our enterprising
neighbor on the MissisquOi is among the
dilapidated towns referred TO. He seems
to be angry enough with himself to say
anything. Things have not yet come to
such pass here as to call for the organi-
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