Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1904-09-16
PLAIN TALK Fon PLAIN PEOPLE.
Crisp and Breezy Comment on dat
tiers in the Public Eye
written for the REFORM ~

III out mt the polls. The latter was
the local optionist. and, as soon as ne
noticed the caucus call he quietly
filed papers getting In day amend OF
the primary. The temperance man
wasn't wise and massed forces ON the
caucus
Look here" said his henchmen,
the boys amt coming down from
MllviHe To this caucus onless you
give 'em some inducements"
"Well" said the incautious candi-
date. you take this ten-dollar bill
and hire some teams ana bring EN-
The teams were hired for 81 and the
remainder was invested In beer ana
red-eye. Result: a busy caucus, no
opposition and the temperance cahdl-
date triumphantly nominated.
Then came trouble. The boys
talked too much told one local option
man this: You can't have none OF
this booze; you're Black man.
The story spread. Even then the
mischief might have been confined TO
a few, but Satan prompted the tenn
perance man to rush into print with
feryid denial Then ii was all OF
and the local option man. one OF the
"accursed crew who want the open
saloon" won out with fifty TO spare,
thanks to the support of the temper
ance men who didn't approve OF US
ing rum in politics
Politics sometimes constitutes n
hammock that suspends vice and vir-
tue from the same veranda.
Sweet memories of the paleozoic age,
what's this dismal tale of josiah
Grout. Ex-Governor. wirepuller eN-
phony- farmers candidate and a Few
other exes trying to occupy con-
tested seat i'm the legislature this fall?
Since the memorable Grout-Dilling-
ham Prouty- Ross miXup of 1900
haven't heard the name of Grout
breathed except In fevered dreams
and vet here's Josiah, the dearest
daddy of them all. projected batwise
into the spotlight of public regard.
and actually talked of as candidate
for speaker.
one sometimes breathes silent
wish for the vocabulary of lconoclast
Brann when confronted with the
spectacle of the Trilobite in politics.
and vet It's unquestioned that offices
don't care who runs for them. VIII
ness the past supremacy OF the
Grouts. Smiths and other convention
compromises of the past. | wonder II
any of you know just how JOSIAH
Grout landed the governorshlp' /
know one episode of that memorable
scrap, but it's signiticant-bad enough
to suppress. Twas thus:
| don't remember how many votes
Josiah lacked on the preliminary cam
vass. but | do know that ne located
some Grout delegates somewhere near
Huntington and that powerful political
ally, the Central Vermont railroad
was called upon to get them 10 Mont
heller in time to vote. | was pound
ing brass in telegraph office at that
time and l remember that the engine
James r. Langdon, then one OF the
feetest on the road, was manned by
picked crew. hitched 10 PASSENGER
car and exhorted to get those dele
gates TO the capitol or sprain SIDE
rod. Freights were sidetracked. pas
senger trains were held up and the
I.angdon loitered down the Central
division at an average speed OF ABOUT
S. lis miles per hour ana tnat was
going some in those days. Ihey sot
there voted their delegates ana
Stickney. was sidetracked ior ailothe.
four years. And here's that ancient
crag-scraper up for office again.
But he won't figure. What we nave
to deal with in the speakership Is the
Proctors. comprising propIeih III
napotism that Is highly instructive
AZ 7 said once before. | admire the
senator and respect the amiable SON
DESPITE all that labor men say against
them both. but | simply rise 10 en-
ouire II they propose to carry Vermont
Marble company policies into state
notifies. Every one knows now tha'
has hooped up the mar
bile business. and stood competitors
unions and theories of sociology on
their heads. Now | want to know II
this second translation OF tietcher
D. to the speakership means that al
influences other than the ProctoIs
have got to travel on their hanus
hereafter. II so, let's begin ordering
gloves at once!
Your candidate, Mr.. Merrlheld' lsh
going to make any scramble Tor lle
office. If it comes to him ne II take
il and make a rafting good speaker
NV friend Frank Agan, is going 10
rel wreath and If he gets there rev
of MS who don't believe in political
entail will throw up our sunshades' ii
Proctor lands again, stand from I'M
der, Governor in two years, senator
in six and political dictator until
somebody like Clement gets out
nair of shears and rips the bran out
If the dolly again. How dye like the
Moral: vote for Proctor
It's about time that the principle OF
political succession received another
half-hook on the maxillary and l don't
care who lands it.
Funny how the st. Adams Messeh-
ger. one of the ablest advocates OF po-
Iitical independence, erects It's quiils
and waves the CORY chemise OF the
1902 campaign as soon as something
is mentioned that touches the pet per
auisites of the Proctors. Editor Greene
disclaims the sacredness of anything
or anybody political and yet the hoyal
FAMILY mustn't be criticised or OPP
nosed. Clement has been taken back
and forgiven-on paper. How VIII II
he when he gets after the crown
prince in 1906? Agan is graclously
permitted to contribute to campaign
funds. do hustles in the past election
and vet he must bring forth fruits
meet for repentance, bow at the penl-
tents bench. and do n few more SHY
stunts before he is permitted to run
against the Heir Apparent.
If il comes to a protracted meeting
there may be a contest for first posi-
ton in the amen corner, to say noth-
ing about the seat of the mourners.
And only wish the requirements
of the strenuous life could be modifed
to leave my workaday half on my Jop