Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1902-04-25
\ Confession That Was Good for the Soul"

A Confession That Was Good for the Soul
1t is with its most solemncholy EN-
phass that the Phoenix of last week
bewails the "use of money" in oul
Vermont political campaigns, charac
terizes it as "the real question under
lying all others before the people" al
present, and recognizes that "tht
entry of Mr.. Proctor has been sigma
for redoubled efforts" in this cor
rupting and demoralizing' business.
Such had been our surmise as We
had seen the neighbor filled full Of
shoutings steadily growing louder, and
to the exclusion of all other editorial
discussion week after week, while sim.
ultaneously the mails were stuffed
with "sample copies" of it. To keel
on ground of definite fact, it is at least
safe to say that Mccullough is not us
ing any more money in this "sample
copy" business than Proctor whether
he will prove to be so shrewd and close
a buyer remains to be seen later.
Let us commend something very like
| frankness on the PhoeniX's part that
in over ii column of ohiurgation of Nc
Cullough for the business, it doeen t
anywhere pretend to deny that Proctor
is doing the same thing. In fact, it
admits that the methods in use are
not essentially different from those
which we have seen used repeatedly
in the past dozen years Only this
time it is ''summer resident million
aire''-' several times millionaire"
that has taken hand. And
Let Mccullough methods triumph in
this campaign, and then in four years
let another summer resident million
aire announce himself for the Vermont
governorship, and what Vermonter,
with only the backing of his own abil-
ity and attainments and the good will
of his friends, would care to enter the
lists against him.:
That is, the sin is in bnlling the
market so high as to spoil it for the
future.
1t is with deft and familiar hand
that the neighbor sketches the situa-
ton
Do our people realize what methods
of political work in Vermont have
come to mean? The man who
would be governor 4 goes deliber-
ately at work through paid retainers
to influence and control the action of
the voters. In every locality and
every town men are procured to use
their influence" or ito take care of
things, as the phrase goes. Hired
men are literally put in the field at so
much a day, either for general work or
for house-to- house canvass. The
worst feature of the situation is that
men whose votes cannot be bought,
and who would not themselves stoop to
or tolerate such methods come to hook
on them as a matter of course.
just as the sample copy" business
is tolerated and recognized The pub /
fishers who do their shouting with ink /
and the ''hired men, who do it with /
their mouths are engaged in the same .
class of work; no excuses can be made /
'or the one that do not apply equally |
or the other. If there is any differ
'nce it is in favor of the mouth shout
RS who appear before the people in
ess of false light.
1t is an evil not peculiar to this state
~ any means, but whose evil potency
s due to its gross one-sidedness in
politics, that makes these methods in
aucus fixing and primary purchasing
Iecisive because there is. no practical
ppeal beyond them to the one place
where the virtue and intelligence of
he people can make itself heard at
he polls. What is at stake is the
olitical purity and integrity of our p,
eople," says the Phoenix and adds, [
These are not idle fancies. They are {
ital questions for the voters of Yer
lont to consider "
In other words from the fullness of c
s consciousness its pocketbook- @
confesses the urgent need of Polit- v
al House Cleaning in Vermont. @