The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-10-07
RIplcuLINe VERMONT
Messenger Enters Protest Against
Needless and Reckless calumnies

on the evil consequence OF our own
ridicule of Vermont. The article is
reprinted elsewhere in this paper says
! the ST. Adams Messenger.
Like all people dwelling in semi-ru
raj states more or less outside the
main highways of continental travel
the true nature of Vermont life and
conditions is not very thoroughly I'M
derstood by our fellow citizens III the
country at large.
A superficial notion that All peopie
who live in the country must OF heces-
sitv be stage Reubens mas uhloi-
tunately been encouraged AMONG 'he
4 thoughfless and indiscriminating by
tho etocl coun1rvmen cartoons of the
illustrators and by the criticisms OF
nc naragraphers, and the constant re-
iteration of this suggestion, on tne
stage and on the printed page, uay
after day. wear in and year out, IN any
and all directions, has tended 10 CON
firm the untraveled among the geher-
alton that places like Vermont, TOT III
etonce are yeritable mines OF antique
ahsurdities and rural grotesques ne
worst of It is as the contemporary |
noints ont that our own inside care
less criticism of our own analrs, 100
often expressed in eXtravagaht sdtlle,
bae helned outsiders to believe tneT
own distorted notions are true.
The Messenger has for seVerai
months stored up as a text Tor soihe
such occasion as this the Ioilo"Ihs
| ninnant paragraph, taken from the
| Washington Post: +. .Ao
with a voting population IN
state far less in total than the clly Vi
| Cincinnati- has. the electors OF yer
mont inherit their political opinions
and democrats and republicans ailke
are as unbeatable in their hhes do
Caesars famous Tenth legion. Ne"
| York upon Vermonts very poruei,
NAV go 10000 democratic, as uiu
| when Cleveland defeated roger III
| 1888. or it may go 3OO'Ooo repupi i,.'
| as ii did in 1896, yet the parry
| in ermont are not anecteu W ans
| appreciable extent IN the SAINT ~
Neither state questions at issue III the
airhhorino states nor national ques-
tiona discussed in all the states inhu-
ence the dogmatic orthodoxy OF yer
mont republicans or democrats. IL Is
| the land of steady voting. bach No-
ter feels he is right, was always right
and will remain correct until the iast
trnmnet blows Vermont cast 4l,4el
votes for Grant in 1872. and II cast
Az A5a votes for Roosevelt in l9o4' %
years thereafter 1t makes no pIo
gress in republicanism, and very ~
t1a in ANYTHING else. II neither Wei
| comes nrogress nor desires change IL
1000 Vermont republicans ever vote
tbe onnosite ticket, there Will De
nolitical earthquake in the nation.
Tba members of the democratic nat
,onol committee were right when they
.ofnsad 10 souander their resources
Nv an attempted contest in vermont
Tnhraim is joined TO his idols Let
him rest in peace. ,., 60
That king of editorial Wrillus -
unworthy a newspaper OF the hlsu
nretensions and actual merits OF lhe
Washington Post. Washington II
fuU of men that know Vernon oe1,Sl
than thar and know that pracuealiS
every assertion OF the Post Is misleau
ing not TO say false and crueiil u,
inst to a very intelligent ana stau'e
neople. Vermont is impregha'eu VIZ
the steadfast old New England No.
ions of conservatism, TO be SURE ou'
the assertion that II helOhei
ooroee nroeress nor desires a change
4 is a rank CdluliNAs SUI N'HE*
II is penned by an unknown at ious
distance who prefers to make smar'
naraqraph rather than a true one.
has long been safe TO ridicuie Yer
oont and some newspaper oihceS
countenance the vaudeville enorts OF
wouId.be resistance at times as tn'
elan.stick comedian does TO tht
mother.in-aw joke. -.
If some of these quilldrivers coul'
visit Vermont and see for themseiNe'
what conditions actually are mere i
tbev conld pass few days in the so
cioi life Of our enterprising villages
and the. little cities and get taste
the simon-pure literary culture ah'
travelled worldly wisdom that preVal
here If they could understand ina
nrohahlv in relative proportion there
ore more people in Vermont that haV'
seen this country and the world an,
tbot have acquired a superior acad
anoic training than there are ID NeN
York CITY. If they could only be per
shaded that home after home on iura
free delivery routes takes in a hlghe
standard of periodical literature an,
is intelligently familiar with woriu a.
fairs and the true inwardness OF IN
philosophy of the day than the 'hous
ands of blase cosmopolitans tha' uaW
die along the Great White Way-W
might see new spirit influencing tn
distant press in the treatment OF u
"countrymen."
Vermont has her faults, some o
Them serious and it is the plain dut
of her press to properly diagnos
them and discuss appropriate remeo
les. But it is hardly fair to mistak
extravagant ridicule of some OF IN
most important things that are our
for the corrective tonic of merlte
criticism, and we ought to know b
this time that when we ourseNe
hold up these things for the world
laugh at, we cannot complain IL tn
world laughs at us, too