The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-07-22
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YER
MONT

She's all Right, and an Eminent Citizen
Names Seven Ways to Make Her
Fighter.
Another letter in our Business Mems
SYMPOSIUM" on the condition and needs
of our State, is furnished by Hon. II. H..
Mcintyre of West Randolph, one of Yer
monts ablest and best known business
men. DIR. Mcintyre writes:
"Paraphrasing your good English into
the expressive slang of the day, you ask
What's the matter with VermontP' and
I answer, with the utmost confidence,
She's all right If clouds obscure the
sunshine of her prosperity, we have but
to wait little. They will soon pass,
and their silver lining become our glori-
GUS sunlight.
sour temporary troubles seem to arise
from the fact that the rich agricultural
lands of the West have proved better
field for the peculiar occupation of YER
monters than their own soil, and this, to-
gether with the attraction of wider
range of industries in mining, and manu-
features and transportation than we
could offer at home, has induced our
energetic, brainy young men to leave the
best place on earth for the richer, but, in
every other respect, less desirable West
and South.
The food-producing possibilities of the
vastness of new land have made agricul-
ture, not only in Vermont, but in all
parts of the world, less renumerative
than other employments, and forced a
change by over production. In the
transition from a purely agricultural
community to a condition embracing a
wider range of occupations, it is true
that we have not made gain in wealth
or population porportionate to that Of
other States. But the remedy is to be
found neither in vainly deploring what
we cannot help, nor in the still more vain
endeavor to correct by some dextrous
coup de main the adverse circumstances
under which we are laboring, for they
are as vast as nature and only natural
causes will overcome them. No coloni-
cation of foreigners will bring us pros
perity; nor will advertising to the world
that our farms are abandoned and that
we are poor, help us in the least. The
latter is not true; we are not poor, ana
the advertisement that property is seek
inc owrors is not of the kind to inspire
confidence in its value.
But the natural results Of the growth
of the country and the advancement OF
the world have already come to our aid.
The seemingly boundless food producing
areas of the West are not in fact as
limitless as they appeared a few years
ago. The best lands are already under
cultivation and their price has advanced
far beyond that of our own fertile acres
the demand for our manufactured goods
and for such of the finer products of
agriculture as we are slowly learning to
produce is constantly increasing, and we
are gradually changing our crude
methods to meet it. The reaction has
already begun in our favor, and the
future is full of hope for the next gener-
alton of Vermonters.
We should not, however, sit down and
wait for the change, and we could not If
we would. VermonGers are not built
that way. The air on which we are bred
precludes the possibility of idleness
whether at home or abroad ald there
are many things we can do and some we
can refrain from doing to our advantage.
LIST. We can stop sending all our spare
money to the West and South and build
up profitable industries at home.
I'd. We can make our beautiful farms
and villages more attractive by more
liberal expenditure of money and reap
our reward from the increased tide OF
summer travel.
Sd. We can most proftably improve
our highways with The same end in view.
4th. We can improve our school sys-
tenn and thereby our schools, and support
university which shall be the pride and
glory of the State; with department OF
agriculture and the mechanic arts SO
fostered as to realize the dream of our
venerated Senator who founded it, where
by in future agriculture shall derive the
advantages from scientific preparation
that are now enjoyed by other occupa-
tions.
5th. We can stop croaking, contem-
plate the millions in our savings banks,
the still greater millions in our western
investments, and the abundant posi-
bilities of adding to them from our own
boGndless resources.
9th. We can thank God that we live
in Vermont and induce all who come
here to join in our song of praise,
It'll. We can each. Cue OF US sit down
and mink what he can individually do to
bring prosperity, and when he has
thought it out, set about doing it.
II. II. MCINTYRE,
West Randolph, Vt, July 18th.
st. JohnSburV Republican.