The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1893-07-12
Editorial NOtings.

Editorial NOtings.
OUR lively, able and chivalrc con-
temporary, the Mirror and Farmer, APP
pears in strikingly new role, as GEN.
sor of Governor Russell of Massachu-
sets for taking a stroll through the cen.
tennal grounds Gin a strictly private
capacity on Sunday. Governor Rus
sell is a democrat; but we would not
for moment imply that this had any
thing to do with the Mirrors criticism,
or that there was any lack of prominent
members of other political parties set.
ting an equally bad example. We are
glad to hail the Mirror and Farmer as
champion of due observance of the
Lords Day; and we trust very soon to
see in its columns one of its scathing
articles devoted to the dissertation of
that day by the friends of the trotting-
horse in the suburbs of all our large
New England towns-Mancheste not
excepted.
WE did not expect to start ripple
on the surface of Vermont's solemn
serenity by our casual suggestion that
she ought more closely to connect her.
self, commercially, with the rest of the
world, by opening Lake Champlain to
commerce. We are accordingly sur
prised, as well as pleased, to see our
few lines on that subject taken up and
widely commented on by the press as
far away, at least, as New York.
though the Tribune, which copied our
remarks, attributes them to 1.-the
Waterman of Boston," With Cassius,
in Shakespeare great tragedy, we may
say of any Of our Vermont contempor-
aries, {" l am glad that my weak words
have struck but thus much show of
fire from amy of them.
THE Bennington Banner says: "The
reason why Vermont capital is not de-
voted to the project of making our
states tributary to a channel of CONT
mental commerce is owing to the fact
that the right man or set of men to push
the enterprise has not appeared and
taken hold of the matter. Moreover,
the chances are that if the most able,
energetic and popular business man in
Vermont at the present time or num-
Der of our best men were to unite to
undertake such project as an invest
ment, Vermont capital would not be
forthcoming, although a good profit
might be practically guaranteed. If a
stranger or set of strangers were TO
undertake the work, or if the canals
were to be built in the South or West,
there would be no difficulty in raising
money for the purpose in this state"
The Brattleboro Retormer touches
the subject thus: The comments of
the Darlington Free Press and Editor
Hoskins of the Waterman, quoted in
another column, about canal from
Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence
river, are worth some thought. 1t is
an old idea, and one that was brought
close to realization by Ira Allen.
Probably the canal would have been
built century ago but for the financial
disaster that overlook that remarkable
man, one of the most fertile in valuable
practical ideas that America has pro-
duced. 1t is an enterprise that will be
carried out now within few years in
the better times coming for Vermont,
when her capital, instead of being sent
rainbow chasing in the West and South,
will be invested at home for home de-
velopment and home prosperity. When
Canada becomes part of the United
States, one of the chief obstacles to the
enterprise, its location in a foreign
country, will be removed. But it may
be built in advance of the union with
the certainty that the union will follow"
WE may here remark that Maine has
P"SSNN thAOuSh q llhS era, III WHICH
that states great resources were under
valued by its ablest and richest citi-
zens; and Maine, like Vermont, nearly
ceased TO make progress for two or
three decades. But the time came
when Maine-born men Cike the Wash
burns, for example, from Minnesota,
and others from other western states
and from California;, returning to visit
their old homes, did not hesitate to tell
their old friends in plain words that
Maine was not inferior in natural re-
sources to any state Of the West. These
words sank into the hearts of many;
and they are now bearing abundant
fruit, which fact will be made plainly
evident in future census returns. Let
us see if we cannot have n like rnsur.