Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1903-10-16
THE VERMONT PHOENIX, BRATTLEBORO, FRIDAY, OCTOBE
SENATOR PRocToR's SPEECH.
"Our Newly Taken-Up Responsibilities
to the World" Discussed before Of
ficers' Reunion Society.

~ wv WV SS'N'S ~
ficers' Reunion Society.
The government of a people or country
by another people or country not contig-
uous is at the best experimental and tenn
porary. Such a condition may last a long
time, but it cannot he permanent. with
training and development it Is the God
given human nature of all people to wish
to govern themselves and not owe ale
glance across a sea. lie would have been
a great prophet who could rave foretold
only half a dozen years ago tina we
SHOULD have a great army i'm Cuba, that
the island would he turned over to us.
and we. after giving her "a few friendly
lessons in our methods. should peaceably
surrender the richest and finest of all
islands to her own people, who. ! am glad
to say, are fulhlling our most s%anguinc
expectations of their capacity for self
government; or that we should be gov
crning Porto RHO with no military force
on this island of nearly Il million people.
except two little battalions of native
troops wearing Uncle Sans uniform. or
hat we should have "A great army ana a
cruel war in those islands on the other
side of the earth. and that we should i'm
SO short a time bring about a more peace
full condition than had ever been known
there. withdraw four-tifths of our army,
and for the most part depend on the ma
tive cunstabulary to maintain peace and
order: or that we should because we
have assumed the responsibility Of a
world power. have an army i'm China and
take part in protecting the interests of
civilization the world over.
lave we not. Mr.. President, in this
short time given the best answer possible
to the sentiment of the toast. oar newly
taken-up responsibilities to the world
May we so carry ourselves that the world
shall be the better for our having as
sumod them!
TO repeat: In my view the government
of "A country across the seas is tentative
and experimental at the best. England
has found it so across ever the little
Irish sea: for she has tried everything
under the sun in the way of force and
chicane. and at last seems to be travel
ling toward the policy of this sentiment.
She will long remember her experience
with "A few liberty-loving country Dutch
men is South Africa. She has learned
much since her first great mistake in 1775
We shall make some mistakes. for We are
human, but | believe we shall be actuated
by the spirit of this toast. and that We
shall so carry ourselves that the world
will be better for our having assumed
these responsibilities. Go slow should be
and | believe will be. our policy in this
new field
The senator read a letter from Gov.
ernor Taft in which he explained how pa
tience and justice were necessary for a
proper government Of the islands. anG
continued:
one thing we nave in this short time
done there that is a revelation to Ina
people: y Vermont lawyer has establish
ed courts there whose decisions are not
subject of bargain and sale-an unheard
of thing In that land. He has, too, es-
tablished "A financial system tina does
not require two dollars to make one
good one. Vermont has had, and is hav.
ing. and is to nave. a great part in the
affairs there. Two of the five commits.
sionerS. one of them vice-governor, are
Nermonters. At the most trying time the
three most important officers in the mill
tary administration the chief quarter
master, commissary and provost mar
shall, were IN veterans. your COM
rades. Nermonters, above all. will be
slow to believe that our purposes and
government there are not for the good
of the governed.
The longer | live, and the more | see
of other countries and people. the glad
der | am that | was born and live in
New England. The safety of our gov,
m depends. in my own view, more
than anything else upon an Intelligent
middle class. The wise man said, Re.
move far from me vanity and lies; give
me neither poverty nor riches: feed mt
with food convenient for me New Eng
land was happy above all other lands il
her early settlement by the middle clas.
of England. homogeneous in character
ana Intelligence. neither rich nor poor. anC
with an abiding faith in the saving grac,
of hard work. They here at once estab'
lished in the town meeting the purest
democracy the world has ever seen anC
other institutions in the same spirit OF
intelligent self-goVernmcnt. These ole
New England ideas have happily per.
-.-.,AI a4l NA,A-I IT, n4 ~.
polite of the country and given snap,
to our Institutions. The safety Of a gov
m of the people rests not with tn,
rich. who may seek personal ~aggrandize
lnent and to %perpetuate their wealth an,
power. nor with a tClass so poor as t
lack intelligence and interest in publ,
affairs. but with the safe middle class
more numerous in our lands than in an
other, who cannot be bought or bribed
and are too intelligent to be fooled al
the time as Lincoln said. Unfortunate
ly this class is too rare in the warme
countries of the world. II is needless Il
discuss why this is so. Whether due L
climate, which does not stimulate to har,
labor. the nature of their productions
lack of education. their race and blood
or to all of these and other causes com
bined. the fact remains. our insular pos
sessions furnish ne exception to this gen
eral rule. But let us hope. and we hav
good reason to do so. that our admins
~tration may be such as to bring them u
to a safe sel~f-gOverning basis. and tina
this responsibility may be shifted to thei
shoulders as fast as they show them
selves fitted for it.
If | could make the future geograph
of the American Union, | might be a lit
tie uncertain about the northern bound
airy, whether to make it Canada or tn
Arctic ocean, preferably the latter /
Gods good time franklin said in 1-S2
must come some time. and he was a wis
man. But the other lines would be fXe
east by the Atlantic, west by the Pa
citic and south by the republic OF Men
leo and the gulf. And within thes
boundaries may the future government
of our country remain-its eXecutiv
legislative and judiciary, and the votin
population that makes that government