Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-03-04
THE SOCIALIST CANDIDATE.


titude Of the GLASSES and the sup.
porters Of the two "busineSs men"
candidates for mayor, towards the
working class candidate. ought to give
food for deep reflection t0all working
men In the city. 1t is quietly assum.
ed that The Socialist candidate stands
no chance of being elected. But why ?
Why should it be hopeless to expect
the return Of working man, In a city
like Barre, where nine.tenths Of the
electorate are working men?
Is 1t jealousy that induces working
men to sacrifice their principles snd
vote for wealthy man rather than
see fellow-workman raised to q posi-
tion OF trust? l can hardly believe IT..
think the reason is to be found
rather In an unexplicable feeling of
hopelesSness on the part of the work
ers. A kind Of admission that they
are of no Importance.
The electi3n time comes round and
handful Of "business" men get to.
gether aud pick the men for otice.
There may be two hdndfuls, each
with their men for office, and there is
a fight. A fight between tweedledum
and tweedledee. But it is always
business men," always meg of
money. And why? The old story
that we require "business" men to
conduct our city affairs is played out.
What virtue is there in plumber or
grocer that they are the particular
business men that are wanted? Why
not Stonecutter or a blacksmith?
That would not be the proper kind Of
business, would it? You take q PLAN.
ber or a grocer and II they are wealthy
place them at the head 0. the munici.
pality and feel that you have done
your duty as citizens. Ten to one
they have had no experience In CON
Quoting meetings, know nothing Of
rules Of order and infinitely less than
nothing of the proper management of
public funds. #
But 1T is all well. They are ''busi-
ness men and the people are all salts
fed Their business abilities may
only amount to knowledge Of how
much profit to charge on pound of
tea or how many feet of lead pipe 60
make yard. But it is all right. They
are "businesS' men and "all's we'll
with the world" 1t is lime these
things were changed. a
1t is time working men made an at
tempt to assert their supelio.ity al
the ballot box. "Free BORN American
citizens" (the phrase is getting criti-,
caD it you were prevented 10y physical
force from recording your vote as you,
pleased you would raise heaven and
earth to have the force removed. But
if You are talked intB j / and smile6 in.
to it by the "b,lsiness" men, sand
where lies the difference? Whyssyou
are even assumed into it, SO te .sasak.
1t is assumed that only ssseusi illsss"
men are wanted and the svoi ag.aVs
is ashamed 70 vote ssrofr nan r. Wsaomi
everyone combines to consider out of
it. But why should a working
man be out OF 1t? There is no
better school for the training
of public men. than the meeting
of trade union. Put an ordinary
cuisines" man into business meet
ing and he will, in most cases, be as
much at home and appear as graceful
as bull ia China shop, whereas the
wOrkingmen who are nominated for
such offices are usually specially quail
fled for the work. Aud then what
about their policy? Can anybody say
what po icy either of the two "busi-
ness" men candida.es purpose to pur.
sue? Mr.. Smith has given forth the
startling announcement that he Is no
spring water man. This is comfort
ing, so far as il goes, but those bust
ness men with money to invest are in
terested in so many local enterprises
that it is scarcely possible to get
a business man in the city that will
not find, in some cases, his business
interests conflicting with the city's
goods and even business" men. The
BEST Of them are but mortal. When
wavering self, the balance shakes, tis
rarely right adjusted. For the pro-
per conduct Of city affairs, we do not
want men with large and complicated
UuSIueoS CoHueCUiOuS, ouCu ucu usually
leave the best part Of themselves In
their business and but very seldom
can you find one that has given any
thing like systematic study to nation.
al or municipal affairs. Take the two
business" men candidates for may
or and confront them publicly with
the working class candidate (Mr. And.
erSon) and see who has the best grasp
of pub ic affairs. 1t is true the work.
ers cannot give the same induce ment
to committees to work for them as
wealthy man can, but they can and do
produce platfrom which every work.
ing man ought to support. There Is
no hing in the article Of the socialist