The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-08-05
CORRESPONDENCE.
vermont and its Possibilities,

Vermont and its Possibilities.
Mr.. Editor:-I am Vermonter, and a
thorough believer in Vermont and her
possibilities 1t has been with the
keenest interest that l have noted the
utterances and works of the leading
men of this State, in regard to her ma
terial prosperity and development, and
it was with especial interest that read
in a recent issue of your paper letter
from n. II. II. Mcintyre of Randolph.
To my mind the Doctor touches the key
note of the situation. Money has been
scarce because of n mistaken notion of
economy, especially among a certain
class of farmers and mechanics. Farm
ers who have skinned their farms in
stead of improving them and mechanics
who have tleeced their brains and tool
chests, instead of keeping the former in
formed of the latest improvements and
the latter filled with tools of new and
improved designs; the proceeds of which
they would not loan here in the East, on
gilt-edged security, but have placed it
in wild cat banking institutions in the
West and South. Indeed people of my
acquaintance in Caledonia county have
within a year sunk nearly, if not quite
100000 in some such institutions in
New Mexico.
Another thing has, in many sections
of Vermont and l doubt not in other
States as well, operated as n serious him
derance; and that has been the fact that
in initiation times, during and just after
the war, debts were.incurred at imitation
prices and they were paid, if they were
at all, in gold or on gold basis. SO
that the debtor, in some instances at
tyyn or WI q
the original debt.
But happily these things are now in a
large measure recovered from. and if by
our votes and influence we can keep free
silver where it belongs, in the markets
of the world, we shall not soon see such
times.
Another thing has operated somewhat
to the disadvantage of Vermont, but to
the unreasonable advantage of our
country at large, and that is the migra-
ton of so many of her sons and daugh-
tiers to other and newer fields. Reared,
as l was, in one of the little hill towns of
Caledonia county, that gave to Penn
sylvania Theo. Stevens and James Mer-
rill, for the cause of popular education,
to Indiana and to indianapolis in par
ticular, Samuel Merrill for the cause of
sound finance. To the cause of the
colored man and humanitarian interests
in general, Oliver johnson, that in one
year sent twenty-five young men to es-
tablish homes and business enterprises
i'll the now North Dakota, that has sent
doctors and lawyers and ministers and
teachers, almost innumerable from
Maine to California, that sent mission
airy each to the Sandwich Islands, China,
Turkey and Japan, that contains, in a
flourishing condition. the oldest char
tered educational institution in the
State, at different times presided over by
such names as Carter and Evarts, and
Bradley and Bartlett, and Rix and Chase,
father and SOM, and Thompson of
charming character, whose memory has
frightened the lives and aspirations of
many young men and women, and last
but not least amongst them, Charles A.
Banker, whose work for nearly quar-
ter of a century has had decided and
lasting influence. Indeed these are but
part of those who, in the Academy on
the hill, have given dignity and grace to
the teaching profession in that little hill
town, and made their impress on the
hundreds of young men who have came
under their benefactiOns. | can but
wonder if other towns have given of
their best blood to so many and widely
varied fields? | can but wonder how
there can yet remain so much that is
strong and self-reliant and persevering
in the blood of the old Green Mountain
State
Said gentleman to me some years
ago, a gentleman who had travelled eX-
tensively in the West and South: 81
never went into a county in any Western
State but what found someone who had
attended the Caledonia County Gram
mar School," 1t is to the advantages
offered for education, and the desire for
fame and fortune, that has led so many
of the sons of Vermont to the uttermost
parts of the earth. To-day they are in
some sense like the prodigal, returning
to renew their allegiance to their kin
dred, and with wealth and large ideas of
life to rebuild the the old abandoned
homesteads, and to repair the shop and
mill long since fallen into disuse But
in these last years we hear quite different
sounds here in the old Green Mountain
State. The earth is beginning to yield
up from her bowels, treasures long hid
den beneath the mantle of ages. The
marble in Bennington and Rutland
counties, the granite in Caledonia and
Washington counties, the copper mines
at Ely taking on new life. The soap
stone quarries and lime kilns at
Weathersfeld and Proctorsville: the
slate quarries in different parts of the
State, all taking on new turn and
activity betoken new and enlarged in
terest in home affairs. To be sure there
have been individual failures and losses.
but the tone of events is upward and
Il L ~ ~