The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-04-23

the Wall. Who but the erstwhile
Bayard of the Messenger how art
thou fallen, o pink of knighthood's
quill would keep watch and ward
at the Canadian gate to prick with his
feathered lance any skulking alien or
caitiff millionaire seeking entrance,
or to attend any princely railway
magnate on his forays abroad? If,
perchance, there should come to the
gate some chivalrous knight not to
the manner born" having wealth
elsewhere accumulated to put into
railways to advantage the native citi-
zens of the walled principality, into
banks to furnish funds for the yeoman
in their enterprises, into industrial
and development associations, into a
Home for the poor and needy who
have suffered wounds or are enduring
sickness from service in the wars of
the country, into many charities and
institutions of beneficence, and, with
al, into the Kingdom treasury in the
shape of large and many taxes, admit
him, spare his life as did the brigands
of Macedonia the life of Miss Stone,
but before admitting swear him by his
knightly spurs that he comes to the
State for the sole purpose and privi-
lege of being squeezed like an orange
for it's golden juice, renouncing for
ever any right the Constitution con-
fers of holding Office or of being a
candidate for office-such privileges
being reserved exclusively for real
Vermonters, for "every day in the
year Vermonters, for straight-out-
thorough going born on the soil and
tethered- to-it Vermonters
Aliens of the kind in question are
| not numerous in Vermont-and will
ever crowd the native born, home
reared scions of Vermont royalty. But
the incoming of such adventures
should not be countenanced or encour-
aged, even under the most rigid safe
guards The affairs of this little King
dom of Vermont should be managed
on lines that will not invite disturb
ance of its Rip Van Wrinkle slumbers,
I The more eminent in talent. the great
er his experience, the larger his
wealth and the better the use he
makes of it, the greater the public
menace True, the Constitution pre-
scribes for a citizen formerly an alien
no disability in the matter of hold
ing offices or of being a candidate for
office, but that dusty, effete and obso-
| lete instrument is at variance with
methods now employed in State poll.
| tics. The trust" idea has come and
seems to be employed to further po-
| litical rather than commercial or in
dustrial interests, and fifty marks the
progressive spirit of the new century.
Under Crust" methods one small
family can readily dominate the whole
State, convert its voters into mere
| puppets, and save them the burden of
notwithstanding always the bur
dens of taxation.
With the safeguards suggested, Yer
mont would be secure from industrial
invasion and growth from the outside,
and the trust principle Of keeping
Vermont for Vermonters and Vermont
ers for Vermont would be handed
down to unborn and grateful genera
tions. Thus, and not otherwise, can
the State maintain its stagnation, its
| condition of finished product, -
without the energy or ability to iu-
crease her wealth, material develop
ment or population, the latter having
remained practically stationary for a
half century past, while her sister
States have been advancing with
mighty strides.
where's the coward who would not dare
To fight for such land!"