The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-09-21

this reason every citizen should make
a serious study of politics. But citizens
can do this only when they have good
understanding of the nature and true
province of popular government. With
out that they are liable to be continu-
ally led into the support of measures
injurious alike to themselves and to the
whole country. Therefore we need
better schools, and more general inter-
est in popular education.
SPEAKING of the mortgage debts of
farmers, the intelligent agricultural
editor Of the Manchester On. H. Union
says: The attempt to reconcile people
with condition of permanent indebted
ness with all that the latter condition
means to an honest and ambitious man
who is slave until he is free, will not
have much effect in allaying the wide
spread dissatisfaction at the conditions
beyond their control which keep them
in debt in spite of their efforts" To
this he adds: "That the present fnan-
cial condition of our farmers is nat
ural result of our conditions, and the
abuse of our laws is very evident, but
whether it calls for regret or not de-
ponds on which side of the transaction
the person stands. To the man who
pays the interest and does the work it
is a serious matter to be unable to escape
from such a condition; while the man
who lives on the interest is very well
satisfied with the plan"
WE are not of those who believe that
farmers are in debt, and their farms
under mortgage, entirely by the fault
of laws. Daily observation easily
proves the contrary. Men without
business sense, however industrious,
will not succeed very often in lifting a
mortgage from the farm. But farmers
should not be put at disadvantage
compared with other citizens through
bad laws, giving advantages in the
form of special privileges. Here is one
of the prime reasons why, work as hard
as farmer may, he so often finds
himself, like Sisyphus with his tabled
stone, which slipped down during the
night as far as he had rolled it up dur
ing the day. While favored corpora
tons can tax and toll us at will, with
no regulation but their will, so long
will farmers, even though intelligent and
industrious, see those corporations en-
larging their wealth and increasing in
power, while their own debts remain.
THE only remedy to this state of
things is the governmental ownership
of railroads. They have become the
highways of the people, and should be-
long to and be controlled by the peo-
pie. So long as private corporations
own the public highways so long will
the people, and the farmers above all
be taxed and tolled beyond any possibil-
ity of general prosperity amongst them,
The transportation companies univer-
sally adopt the principle of putting on
all the toll the traffic will bear. What
else does that mean but that the pro.
Queer who depends upon the corpora
tions for necessary services, shall be
kept as poor as he can be without &C.
tually driving him out of business? And
what chance has the average man tc
pay off his mortgage under such a con-
dition of affairs? 1t is manifestly i'm
possible, for there stands the railroad
to snap up every spare penny. The
farmer is too heavily loaded. How
soon will he find it out, and see the
remedy?
Farmer Governor RenOminated.
Nnrthnn q n aifxv