The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-02-03
Representative Men.

The st. Adams Messenger returns to
its advocacy of representative far
mer" for the next governor of Yer
mont, and says, in answer to the
WATCHMAN's article of last week, that
sit was neither its purpose nor desire
to dictate to the farmers whom they
should select as their representative.
The Messenger says further that " there
is no difference of opinion between the
Messenger and its contemporary in re-
gard to the qualifications necessary to
the proper and effective discharge of
the manifold duties devolving upon the
governor of the state. The high stand
ard of excellence demanded by the
WATCHMAN meets the earnest endorse
ment of this paper"
The WATCHMAN disagreed with the
Messenger chiefly as to the point of
taking up this question of the COVER
norship for the next term. There was
and is still some haziness as to what, in
our contemporaries mind, constitutes
representative farmer" The farmers
of Vermont, as a class, stay at home,
are absorbed in their work, devoted to
the business of making farming pay.
They have to be. They read, reflect
and digest great deal that is said and
printed on matters outside of their vo-
cation. They say little, but they think
great deal, and are in general up to the
high standard of sense and acumen
which our esteemed contemporary of
the Ludlow Tribune develops in the
extract published in another column
among other quotations from the Yer
mont press. They fill the town offices
and majority of the seats in the
house of representatives., and do some
heavy voting, quite generally on the
right side, but they eschew active poll
tics and party management. Their
cheers 60 up with robust vigor when
a stump speaker makes a telling point,
and the campaign orator who appears
before them must hew to the line or
lose the control and confidence of his
auditory. They make up the bulk of
Vermonl's historic majority for the
republican ticket. Briefly outlined, this
is the farmer class, industrially and
politically, and the Messenger, if it has
chosen its term advisedly, must pick its
representative farmer" from this
body of men. If we are wrong, we
trust our contemporary will illustrate
its meaning by citations of examples.
The "object method " is always helpful
in clearing up matters of doubt and
uncertainty.
We question if it is the representa-
tive" man of any class or vocation
or profession that makes the most COM
petent executive. Like the true poet,
the executive officer is born, not made.
1t is not necessarily the representative
lawyer, merchant, business man or
farmer that is most fit for high polit-
ical trust and responsibility. He may
be the least competent of his class. A
lawyer may be expert in his profession,
but lack the commonest essentials of
executive duties. A merchant may
know how to buy and sell merchan-
disc and make money, but fail entirely
as town or state official. Each may
be representative man in his pro-
fession or calling. So with the Mes
senger'S representative farmer" and
the farmer class see this in a great
deal clearer light than any newspaper
man can set it forth. Possibly the
Messenger may have different idea of
what constitutes representative
farmer" 1t may be the man who
makes his money in business or in his
professional practice and spends it in
farming, who has leisure to attend
public meetings and political conven-
tons, has the gift of oratory and is not
unskiled in political manipulation.
But the exigences of real farming in
Vermont, of representative farm
ing, do not admit of this manner of
tilling the soil. The WATCHMAN's
voice, under all the circumstances, is
still for the man, from whatever class,
who best fills the bill of qualifications
it drew in its recent article on this sub
ject.