The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1891-04-01
justifying the confidence of his friends
and fulfilling their prophecies.
Vermonts Windfall-.-What Shall
She DO with It.

1unueu ID ABOUT SlSU, UOO. What dis
position shall be made of this money?
The NeUs and Citizen, speaking for
Governor Page, says, Z" Set the money
aside for educational purposes" The
suggestion is good one, but in adopt
ing it we should wish to exercise our
choice of educational purposes"
The common schools of the state
already have the benefit of the interest
on the United States deposit fund
some $3.50, 000-and on the Hunting
ton fund, some 100000 more. The
state school tax also contributes a large
sum yearly to the common cause of
education, which is further sustained
and in most of the communities of the
state adequately and even literally sus-
tained-by local taxation. There is no
need of haste in deciding what use
shall be made of this money. The
legislature may accept it now and its
final disposition can very properly be
left to the decision of the legislature at
its next regular session, in 1892. Dis
cussion will have developed public
opinion, and public opinion deliber-
ately formed may be different from and
wiser than public opinion hastily
formed and prematurely embodied in
law. The conclusion may be reached
that common school education is al
ready sufficiently provided for; that
some branch of special education may
reasonably claim the aid of this legacy
from the taxpayers of 1851. The great
body Of men who contributed this
money to support the federal govern
ment were farmers. The farmers year
by year have been clamoring loud and
more loudly for share in the benefits
of legislation. The WATCHMAN es-
poused their cause from a sense of its
essential justice. 1t championed their
fight at the last session of the legisla-
ture for what it believes was the most
just and rational demand the farmers
of the state ever made on their law
makers-the establishment of separ-
ate and independent agricultural col
lege. The house heard the prayer of
the farmers; the senate, the voice of a
lobby, led by doctor of divinity. The
great expense of establishing an agr-
cultural college was the ostensible rea-
son of honorable senators for serving
the DID,, instead of their constituents.
Now here is Vermont's opportunity.
Let this legacy from the farmers of
former generation to the farmers of
this generation be devoted to the es-
tablishing of separate and independ-
ent agricultural college-a school that
shall be in fact as we'll as name school
of agriculture and industrial arts. The
sum is ample. The interest alone,
with what will be contributed by the
place where the college may be To-
Gated, would very likely, with other
available funds, be an ample sum to
buy the farm and erect the buildings.
The government appropriations supply
the money for the support of the
school. A large part, if not the entire
amount, of the $4,000 could thus be
invested and the interest applied to the
support of the school in those particu-
lars for which the government money
is not available under the restrictions
imposed upon the use of the federal
appropriations. So the college would
have from year to year generous
fund upon which it could rely, without
seeking legislative appropriations, for
such additions to its capacity for use
fulness as circumstances should de-
maud. No wiser use could be made of
this money. The interest on this
sum distributed among the $500 dis
trict schools of the state would produce
no appreciable benefit; concentrated
upon one school, school of agricul-
ture and industrial arts, its blessings
would be inestimable. By 1892, Yer
mont will be environed by states hav-
ing richly endowed-and separate
and Observation-Disclosures colleges,
drawing and using the federal appro-
priations. New York and Massachu-
sets already have such schools, and
New Hampshire, with a wisdom Yer
mont may emulate, is enacting the laws
that shall transform the agricultural
annex at Hanover into a dignifed, in
dependent, self-respecting and separ-
ate institution, a contamination to
which Dartmouth College-to her honor
and glory, in happy contrast with the
selfish and unpatriotic course of the
University of Vermont,-is contribut-
ing by her willing aid and assent.
Farmers of Vermont, here is the oppor-
tunity you long have sought. Prepare
to seize it in 1892. Do not suffer it to
elude your grasp.