Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-03-02
No, A serpentless Eden.


The Vermont Union Signal, the OH
cial organ of organized labor in Yer
mont, has been publishing an array
of figures and alleged facts tending to
weaken the candidacy of Fletcher ID.
Proctor for the governorship. among
the laboring men of the state These
statements purport to show that the
wages paid by the Vermont Marble
company at Proctor are much lower
than those paid by other quarrying
firms throughout the country. For IN
stance: Cutters who work for the
Vermont Marble company do not aver
age over q cents an hour while, IN
other places, averages of 30 TO GO IL
cents an hour are paid.
of course the faithful Proctor news
papers of the state staunchly defend
the machine candidate against these
accusations. They admit that wages Mt
Proctor may be low, but they point to
the hospital, library and cooperative
store privileges enjoyed (O by the
Proctor employees. clinching the argu-
ment in favor of the complete salts
faction of the jewellers in this earthly
paradise with the reminder of the
$35 900 of store profits recently dis
tributed by the company among its
employees. The faithful are strenuously
sure that life is absolutely all joy and
dividends. as a pet of paternal benefi-
cence in the Proctor paradise.
The silence of the machine candidate
has also been causing some speculation.
Candidate Clement has been publishing
picturesque instalments of up.to-date
state wisdom-frstrate advertising
matter, too, drawn up in Hindley's best
style-but no word has come, even in
directly, from Proctor. What will he
stand for! Why, the platform which
the machine sees fit to endorse, of
course. Yet the people of Vermont,
having begun to view situations for
themselves and liking the experiment.
would be glad to know, before they
declare their political preferences, what
the party is going to advocate and
what it designs TO do. Some poet 90
has voiced the public perplexity whim-
sically in the parody, Everybody
Talks but Proctor, which is now going
the rounds of the state newspapers.
This week little light is shed upon
these obscure complications. A Rut-
land news item tells of great mass
meeting of stone, granite and marble
workers, representing three lines of
industry which constitute the backbone
of the state s prosperity" and declares
that ga strong under-current of strike
or strike manifesto is in the air. y 1t
says that movement for complete
consolidation and higher wages has
been going on secretly for some time;
that the workmen will ask for a shorter
work day and higher wages per hour;
and that special effort will be brought
to bear against the Vermont Marble
company in view of the fact that
Fletcher d. Proctor is running for gov
ernor and might more readily be in
duced to accede to requests at this
time, with the date of election draw
ing nearer,
Thus much that was puzzling is ex-
planned: Candidate Proctor is not Civ
ing his attention to political platforms
because other matters, more urgent
and more vital to the house of Proc
tor, demand it; and the paradise of
Proctor is not serpentless Eden.
Fletcher D. Proctor S record shows
him to be an opponent of trade union
ism and of weekly payments. If his
own workmen now score against pater-
nalism, as exemplifed in the Proctor
hospital, library, Y. M. c. A. building
and cooperative stores, by striking
for more pay and shorter workdays,
Candidate Proctor can hardly expect
the vote of the workingman in Sep