Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1909-11-17


Requests of S25. 600. 900 to various
charitable purposes by an oldtime
New York banker indicate a certain
sense of responsibility to the people.
of a feeling that part of his vast fer.
tune was / cid in trust and rightfully
belonged to the people, but in all the
long list of munificent donations from
JoI n Stewart Kennedy one deserving
charity is unmentioned. The great
est need of aid from multi million
aires is not in any church or college,
or hospital, and certainly not in libra
ries. The greatest field for profitable
work which has been neglected
s%hamefully is the American Boy.
Good citizenship is the best asset
this country can have, yet how little
attention is paid to the method of
training good citizens. Half the
princely fortune given away by Mr..
Kennedy would have established in
any of our big cities a system Of
ooys' clubs which could do more for
good citizenship than any other n
institution. The annual cost of
crime in the United States is estimat-
ed by expert ~criminologists at more
than ST. 900, 00O. 900. At least rs Per
cen of this great burden on the con-
lilulllGy InlSHL NC dNCIGCt NY CdIly
influencing the boys of inferior home
training into good habits and right
ideals. The splendid work Of the
few boys clubs in existence has dem
onstrated that beyond a doubt. One
O. these days some rich man will real
ize the value Of good citizenship and
the fact that lack of opportunity is re-
sponsible for the bad citizenship that
fills jails and penitentiaries. Ten
million dollars to establish the first
we'll endowed school for good citizens
will be a greater boon to the United
States and to the world than all our
colleges and libraries put together
Rutland News.
Money will do most anything under
the sun but it seems to be a most po-
tent factor in politics. Very few men
win any public Office without spending
at least some money. This means of
securing an election or a nomination,
in Vermont, has been used brazenly
in the past. The candidates them
selves may not have furnished the
amounts to the same thing. This use
of money for political purposes is
looked upon by most people as very
pernicious. But is it? 1t must nee
essarily depend upon what uses
money is put to. And then it is a
pretty hard. matter to define the line
of demarcation between Q rightful
and an unla wful use of money for
purposes of this kind. There are
hundreds of ways in which money
may be used in politics without in
fringement OF the laws or moral code
of ethics. One of the most important
uses to which it is put is the educa-
tion of the voters. Education is the
basis of our civic and political liber-
ty and we cannot have too much of it.
Public questions must be thoroughly
understood in order that voters may in
telligently pass their judgment at the
polls, and this can only be brought
about by education. The state will
be better off by this political "educa-
tional MATTER" and is it not better
that it be paid for in the coin of the
realm than by promises of future
emolument. There are other ways,
too, of using money for political pur-
poses which are just as legitimate.
But the man who wins his way to the
governors chair, or any other Office,
and who pays in cash for such ser.
vices as he may require, will be alb
sOlutely Independent and in a position
to discharge the duties of the office in
. the way they ought to be. But the
man who goes around. begging his
people for support with promises that
they will be taken care Of, cannot be
Independent in Office, his hands viii
be tied and his supporters will be
paid at the expense of the public.
The mar who comes out in the open.
states what he wants, is honest about
it, and is willing to pay for services
rendered, will surely have the respect
and support of the thinking people
t and it will not matter whether hi
has a barrel or not. But the old style
hypocritical CRATER who barters hi
support in exchange for fat sinecur'
jobs cannot get any farther than hi
, front door steps. The next governor
of Vermont may or may not have
"barrel' but he has got to play il
the open.-Burlington Clipper.