Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-10-17
THE GULLRII1TY OF PEOPLE IN
GENERAL.
From the Fair Haven EraD

The fact that the people Of this land
love to be humhupgcd has been known to
numbers of its bright and shining lights
for many years and some of them have
been avcrse to swelling their bank account
by taking advantage Of the knowledge
'rEe Prince of Iiumbugs and those h
humbuggcd died sometime ago but other
princes and other fools have been born
and have multiplied and to-day their num-
bcrs are as the sands of the sea.
The latest invention of the humbuggcr-
the sovereign storY-originally sent out
from Fair Haven would have fooled hut
few had it not been so grecdily swaloWe ed
by the Remington correspondent of Il @
Associated Press. Photographed as it was
hy him to the four corners OF tilc nit d
states 1t fooled It's tens of thousands. The
bennington scribe may claim that he was
fooled by the yarn but those who know
hun best think Linn toe old and lar tul
clever to he caught by one of the fdhr, a.
lions of an ex-postmaster of Fair Haven.
1t was interesting to note the class Of
people that accepted the fable for fact and
fairly tumblcd over one another that they
might make It bid at the shrine of Full,.
No sooner had the knowledge of the pre-
tended find of sovereigns reached New
York. Chicago, Indianapolis, Kansas city
ana other places, than letters hogan to
come from the presidents of banks, st oclt
brokers, seed merchants, coal deal, rs,
ing for the price for specimen coins. At
first amusing, II soon became "A nuisanc,
and an annoyance to the business concern.
whose name was heralded from the At
lantic to the Pacific as the depository Il
the treasure
When the shrewd and far-sghtcd presi-
dents of banks. capitalized at from ST.
100000 to $1,000, 600: promoters Of big enter
prises. the nations diplomats and long
headed and sound business men swallow
so easily such an improbable tale one that
SaNOred 50 much Of the Thousand and Csc
Nights, what can be expected Of the rank
and file, the common every day people +?
To them the extracting of gold from sea
water, the production of the more Valua-
bic from baSer metals. the manufacture o.
the diamond in crucible. the tenn cring
Of copper aud many of the herct ofore sup
posolly impossible things have only 10
have woven about them the glittoring gen.
eralitics Of fact, by merry romanccrs. 10
have them accepted taken up and absorb
ed, to become part and parcel of the os-
tabltShcd order of things until q saVant
or an honest newspaper lets the light #
science and knowledge pcrcolato through
/ them and 10, and behold. they are not even
| air-haVc nothing to rest on. sit on, stand
| On but have only been used to again food
! the people, all of whom can be fooled part
/ of the time, some of whom can be foo, i
! all of the time but all of whom cannot be
! fooled all of the time.
AS TO SECRETARY HOWLANE.
CFrom the Barre Times.j
! Relative to the Times statement that
If Fred a. Rowland wanted another nom-
nation for secretary of state h. ouult,
have it, the Burlington Clipper cXplod, :
with the following result:
The Times makes Il bold statement Ills
no jump at conclusions 'Tis vortabt
If ton ,,,t, f,,,, .. .
with facts and their air castles tumble. t.
itself in this position. Mir. Rowland may
d"sire reelection to the offices of score
tary of state and insurance commissioner
but his chances of getting there do not
present the scntlatng and golden outlook
they did in 1900.
Turn back the pages Of your Nle ono
short year and read what you said rcla-
tive to the senatorial campaign, Mr.. Clip.
per, and then look along to where You
printed the result of the ballotinG and see
how far your opinions and forecasts ant
predictions were substantiated 10y result $
You need not Confinc yourself to the sen
atcrial contest but take any campaign
since the Clipper has been under the pres
cnt management. If you will take this re
Ccipt in full you can figure out with meth
cmatiCal accuracy just what your opinion.
and judgment ON matters political is aC
tualy worth and then--but the Times aim,
, to be charitable and will not pursue tn,
subject to its logical sequence.
AUTHOR or "NEARER, MY GOD. TO