The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-07-08
rN1.IoHrEN US, PLEASE.

~
,.,,,a which landed Uncle John Abner
Mead ON top of the republican breast
-. a, Montpelier. A week Is not a
- long time but lots Of things can DC
forrotten in il il there Is su'hcie, ;.
.s;,,;ncncss 10 forget. For instance !"
was not very much more than week "so
,ha, we read in various upstate papers
of legal proceedings that were hke'y =, !.
he instituted against a certain ma" ~
seems 10 us his name was Meau-on sne
charge Of improper Use oil money III s. ~.
inc delegates to the state convention
Spontaneously We glanced through long
md fervid editorials protesting against
situation that made it possible Tor y
rich man TO go into the open market anu
purchase a nomination and predicting
That forthcoming events would dispro'e
the existence Of any such situation w ma.
hos become OF those charges now! Wha'
has happened to the writers oil 'ho'e
strenuous protests against the money
;nauence in Vermont politics! We nave
NOT vet read any dispatches to the ehect
,h.t the charges were unfounded ana
therefore we are constrained 10 oene'e
that they were true or that the makers
,hereof were insincere at first and are
now too cowardly to admit their ihsi,i'
cer;tv In either case the situation Is
deplorable. It is almost as intoerapie 70
think that charges of this nature would
be made up out of whole cloth for the
sake of political capital as that charges
fraucht with truth would be dropped ior
the sake of political expediency.
As to the attitude of those good edito-
rial brethren who fought Dr. Mead with
every weapon at their command and yet
are now preaching the doctrine OF party
regularity we hardly know what to say
Previous to the convention the Mont
heller Journal literally perspired with
arguments against the fitness OF the kut-
land candidate. If We remember aright'
Il said in effect that the outcome OF the
convention would show whether or not
money was still the all-important factor
in Vermont politics? And yet now 1t
saws that Small majorities are Just as
binding as those that are large" and
'ebows to the will of the majority" Does
this mean that the Journal bows to the
triumph of money in Vermont politics!
The st. Adams Messenger was another
paper that said some pretty plain things
about the methods in vogue previous to
the convention after which it goes on
record thus: Members of the party will
expect to ratify the choice at the polls
not only as manifestation OF loyalty to
the organization but because that is the
way our American spirit of royal sport
teaches us to smile when We win or lose"
And are we to understand that the Mes
senper advocates smiling at a result that
came about through methods such as 1t
protested against so strongly, simply Tor
the sake of loyalty to the organization
Unless we are very much mistaken the
Bennington Banner previous to the con-
yention made use of arguments similar to
those in the journal and Messenger and
vet it now admits chat there is every
reason to expect from the circumstances
Of the case a good administration from
Governor Mead" Does the Banner mean
that the expectation of an efficient admin
istration is sufficient reason for supporting
a candidate whose nomination came about
through questionable methods?
Unhampered by utilization with any poll
teal party The Reformer is perhaps unable
to gain the proper perspective in matters
of this kind although it tries to view
them with an open mind. We can under
stand how in a fight among aspirants
within a party it is desirable and neces-
sary, under certain circumstances, for the
losers to swallow chagrin and get to-
pether for the sake Of future success.
But when the issues involve questions OF
right and wrong we are at loss to under
stand why the question of party is
entitled to the slightest consideration.
Previous to the convention which made
Dr. John A. Mead the republican nomi- |
nee for governor of Vermont that gentle
man was openly charged with spending
money illegitimately in his campaign.
Until these charges have been disposed
of one way or the other we cannot under
stand how any honest man, republican,
democrat, prohibitionist or independent,
can give him support. To our mind,
among all the opponents of DR.. Mead in
last weeks convention Marshall j. Hap
good of Peru was the only one whose
attitude was consistent.