Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-01-06
YOUNG MAN, STA Y EAST.

| with much interest an article IN the
| Monitor in regard to the financial
condition of Washington State and
other parts of the far West near this
State, and will say first, that the man
who wrote the article gave the facts
as far as he went. Much more could
be said on this line and not depart
from the truth. In regard to the gen
eral condition of affairs in this State,
they are simply terrible. The laws in
many cases are in the most crude
state, compared with the State laws in
the far East, and the expense of run
ming the affairs of state, county and
town is enough to frighten any man
who has been reared in the grand and
solid state of Vermont.
One would think it hardly possible
for community to change as they
have here in the last two years and
still growing worse. Money is SO
scarce there are plenty glad to pay
interest for it. The common rate
of interest charged by banks c. the
best security is - per cent payable in
advance. It is safe to say that in this
entire community nineteen farmers
in twenty are so heavily in debt that
they will sooner or later lose all they
have. know Of many farmers rails
ing hops who have not picked them
this fall because they can not get
money to pay pickers. Berries and
fruit are largely raised in this state,
but the supply is SO large and the de-
mand so limited that fruit growers
make nothing at all.
There are many towns here where
half the houses are deserted. They
were built by people who were simply
wild. Towns by the score built up in
few months without anything to
keep them up, built in the wilderness,
with no farming community near
them. I have visited some of these
towns, as they are called, with hotels
nearly as large as the Memphremagog
House at Newport, that are yet wait
inc for furniture, and in some cases
$4,000 have been put into hotels
where they never got even the win
dows in, to say nothing Of the inside
finish, and there they stand to rot and
decay as time goes on. People gen
orally are very poor and we see many
cases of extreme poverty.
The price paid here for farm help
per day is from seventy five to eighty
cents a day and at this time board
themselves. There are few excep-
tions where towns are not in deplor-
able con ditiOn, suchas [ have pictur-
ed. Travel the state over and you
will not find a town to compare with
hundreds OF the villages iii New Eng
land in regard to general appearance
or thrift. In this city of about $500
inhabitants, don't suppose there is
cellar. The houses are all set on ce
dar blocks, it being too much trouble
to build Or dig cellars. This commun-
ity has been kept up only ON the fact
that it is great hop growing section,
but here, probably eight farmers in
ten are hopelessly in debt.
Two, three and four years ago mon
ey was very plenty, and most people
managed as though they expected it
always to be, and now they say if they
only could get money enough ahead
to buy tickets for the East, they would
be happy. [ can say to all who think
of going West to better their condi-
ton, don't do it; you will probably
in no way better your condition. On
the other hand, in very few months
you will more than likely regret that
you did not know that you was well
enough off where you were. Remem
Der that big stories about the West,
are, if true, something that has been
accomplished in times past, and that
conditions have very much changed
can only say, be content where you
are. If you are not, you probably will
not be anywhere. I assure you that
not one man in ten has bettered his
condition in the last two years by
coming West. This may read like
doleful tale, written by some one who
has certainly ''struck it hard" Such
is not quite the case, but it is written
by one who knows the real condition
of things and gives them to the Mon
ITOR readers as they are.
The school districts, towns Or coun-
ties, even, have no money to pay run
ming expenses, and issue warrants,
drawing, in most cases, per cent,
which are paid, usually, in from one
to three years, and the parties to
whom these warrants are given, as
school teachers and all city officers,