Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-04-19
NOT TOO FAST.
tst. Adams Messenger. ]

"Brattleboro is experiencing some diff
ficulty in inducing some of its citizens 10
favor new industries because they want
to keep that place a residence town. 1t
is possible to keep place so quiet that IL
finally becomes the habitation of bats and
spider webs, and the nearer that time
comes the less live people want to live
there. - Burlington Free Press.
This is all true enough and the evil
dent purpose of the paragraph is only
to be commended, of course. But back
of all that. as the Messenger has inti-
mated before, there is an aspect of the
situation that renders perfectly sane and
altogether proper the attitude of an ele-
ment in any of our little Vermont COM
munities that may not welcome a too
radical change from the snug Thrift and
comfort of old established New England
custom 10 the wholly Industrial and COM
mercial whir hum and shaxe-up and the
too often Objectionable social complex
ion of a mere factory town.
And one need not have any absurd
ultra -aristocratic objections to business
and trade or Bourbon notions of political
economy to entertain this view, either.
The simple fact is that life is to be lived
but once and there is something in il be
side mere dollars and cents. \ judicious
combination of a wide-awake. enterpris-
ing spirit of business that will keep a
Vermont community alert and alive to
every proper opportunity to advance its
material interests is one thing. The
complete sacrifice of all the healthfulness
and charm of the snug and Cozy social life
of a community merely for the sake Of
building great Noah's arks of factories
peopled with two of every kind of human
creatures on the earth-is quite another
The ideal is the development of business
on n scale not so gigantic as to over
whelm and subordinate all other desirable
interests and prevent the cultivation of a
true social democracy in these communi-
ties. One of the main causes of the per-
sistent desire of the people of the great
cities to have a home in the countryside
is the fact that the city has become an
oVergrOwn market-plaCe noisy with the
babel of the traders and money changers
and there is no longer such a thing as a
compromising social life for the masses
and no longer any such good old fashioned
privilege as having 'neighbors."
Now, of course, it is not likely that Yer
mont communities will be made to face
such a situation or prospect in this gem
Grafton, if they ever are. but the prin-
ciple remains the same and its practical
applica ton to our situation as ii is today
is only to be gagged by the prevailing
tendency in each community for itself
If no Vermont town is likely to suffer
from being given up exclusively to n pub
lie policy of eXaggera ted cOmmercialism,
it may at the same time be put to some
disadvantage by having that policy per-
sistently over-emphasized by various
leading spirits whose patriotic public pur-
pose Is unmistakable but whose sight
of some of the comforts of living that mus
be sacrificed wherever the dollar making
factories are the chief end of communal
life.
There can be a happy medium in this
development that will blend modern in
dustrial development with good old fash
Toned New England social strength and
that should be our ideal. It will be a
great pity If any Vermont town should
ever grow so large that the people in 1t
did not know one another any more.