Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-08-14
Col, Albert Clarke's Reply

OF George Fred williams, the sud-
denly-COnverted Apostle of Free Sill
yer.
Col. Albert Clarkes speech at Putney
Tuesday evening was an able and carefully
prepared reply to the speech which George
Fred Williams of Massachusetts made to
the Democracy at Newport on the first day
of August. Here are some of the more
interesting portions of the speech:
On the first day of this month my elo-
quent and exuberant friend, the Hon.
George Fred Williams of Massachusetts,,
told an intelligent audience at Newport,
this state, that according to the United
States census there was fall in the value
of farms of Vermont of S30,000,000 from
1880 to 1890, and this, he claimed, was due
to the appreciation of gold.
When a man misrepresents Vermont he
assails my mother, and am going to take
up reckoning with him. (Applause.)
There are no such statistics (Applause.)
Mr. Williams has apparently taken the to-
tai valuation of real and personal property
combined, and for cities and villages as well
as farms. Those figures show a decline,
but it was more apparent than real, as
other figures prove. Values as given to
census takers or as estimated by them vary
with individuals. Just before the last CEN
sus was taken great NAM thrifty Yer
monters had invested their surplus in West
ern mortgages and in several "South Sea
bubbles" like Fort Payne. The census es-
Inmates of"true valuation, as distinguished
from assessed valuation" were, as the
census itself explains, but imperfect esti-
mates, gathered largely from bankers and
investors, who at that time doubtless felt,as
Mr.. Bryan soon will, that this is very
shifting, transitory and unsubstantial
world, and they didn't seem to think that
anything was of very much value anyhow.
Then, too, the farms, though generally
more fertile than in the past, and produc-
ing more per acre than the average in any
other state, with one or two exceptions,
were Just then deprecated by the increas-
ing competition of the West and of Cana
da and other foreign countries, which lat
ter Mr.. Bryan and Mr.. Williams were then,
and are now, trying to make freer still.
But when we look more carefully into
the censuswe find the true story as to Yer
mont farms and thrift. The assessed val
uation, which is made by the local assess
ors for the purpose of taxation, was found
by the census takers to be, in round num-
bers, more than SS4, ,00O,0 ,060 greater in 1890
than in 1880, an increase of 1882 per
cent, although the population had gained
but few hundred, because many of Yer
monts sons and daughters have gone to
the cities and the West. Moreover, $71,-
OO0,OOO OF this gain was in real estate,
and as farming is the chief industry, 1t is
obvious that the most OF 1t was in the
farms.
Let us carry the comparison a little fur
ther. Remember that Mr.. Williams is
making an appeal to class and section
to prejudice the gold standard, just as he
has often done before TO prejudice the
cause OF protection. In 1S6O, on gold
basis and after IA years of Mr.. Williams's
kind OF tariff, the census valuation OF
Vermonts wealth was $3.50 per capita. In
1850, after 20 years of protection and again
on gold basis, 1t was S199-a gain OF
more than lO5 per cent.
The report OF Mr.. Spear, your state in
dustrial secretary, shows that from 1891 to
1873 more than S4,OOOOOO have been in
vested in manufactures in Vermont, which
give employment to 6OOO persons, and ev-
cry farmer in the vicinity knows that those
factories add to the value of his farm and
its products. Really what bad showing
this makes-not for vermont, but for Mr..
Williams.
After misleading the Vermont farm au-
dience about the condition of their state,
Mr.. Williams unwittingly gave away his
whole case by declaring that the evil is
world wide, Then how is it reasonable to
suppose that this country alone can cure
it? Granting that bimetallism or a fixed
par OF exchange between the metals, would
afford a broader basis for commerce,
truer measure OF value for long deferred
payments, what conceit and rashness it is
to assume the only way to get even with
the tyrant wealth is to declare, with Jack
Cade, that every quart pot shall hold three
pints."
There is no medicine for such delusions
equal to cold facts. The last census show
ed that of the more than 12,OOO,OOO farm
homes in this country only 3It per cent are
under any mortgage whatever, and that the
amount OF the incumbrance is less than 2S
per cent OF the value of the property mort