News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1910-03-09
, Vermont Opportunities
[From the Montpelier Journal

The Springfield (Mass.) Union in re
cent issue said.
1.-THE advice given by Governor Prouty
Vermont, at the annual dinner of the
Brooklyn Society of Vermonters deserves
to be needed by the people OF the com
| monwealth and the other New England
states as well. The Governor declared il
was the duty. of Vermonters to teach
their sons to remain at home, and that
parents should qualify their children to
make use of the natural resources of their
native State, so that it would be unneces
sary for them to go the large cities of the
country to make their living Especially
is it the duty of Vermonters he said to
| instruct boys in the art of farming, since
| the Green Mountain State must always
be maintained an agricultural State. :, In
| retuting the statement that there is no
| profit in farming, he reierredto one farm
er who made $4,000 last year raising
| apples. The Governors remarks were
ably supplemented by an address by
President Thomas, OF Middlebury Col
lege, who is doing much in his way to
promote the advancement of that COM
| monwealth.
1T is to be hoped that the younger
generation of Nermonters will give heed
| to the advice uttered by such men. Too
| long has it been the custom of Vermont
youth to seek their fortunes beyond the
confines OF their native state and beyond
the borders Of New England. 1t is time
that the advantages that lie in it's hill
sides and in its beautiful valleys were
better appreciated. If the part which
Vermonters have sustained in building
up other states from Massachusetts to
California, were definitely known, the
showing no doubt would be surprising.
Every American city is the better for its
admiXture OF Vermont blood, and Spring
held among Others. is proud of it's -four
lshing society of Vermonters All the
same. when Westerners are talking of
starting migration eastward to buy and
reclaim abandoned farms, it is time for
Vermonters to open theireyes to the pos
sibilities that lie at their own doors.
There is profit and happiness to be had
on New England farms, if the seekers
after these blessings will only order their
work Alright"
Governor Prouty is good press agent
for the State as well as good Governor.
and his remarks at the BROOKLYN dinner
have attracted much attention. The
Journal does not think that the Governor
intended to give the impression that Yer
mont must always depend upon agricul-
ture as its most productive industry If
this paper remembers correctly manufac-
turing already surpasses agriculture in
the value OF its products, but he did mean
evidently that agriculture always must
be one of our chief pursuits. 1t is certain
that our farms may be made to produce
much more than they do 1t the present
time
There always have been opportunities
in Vermont for energetic, wide awake |
men, but they are more apparent now |
than they were fifty or twenty-five, or |
even ten years ago. 1t is inevitable that |
in state constituted like our own the |
great cities should attract some of our !
brightest young men. The country al I
ways has been a feeder to the city, and, |
to a certain extent, always will be, but it |
is possible to check this exodus. When
we are able to offer good opportunities
here at home for men of brains and am
bition to make money, fewer young men
will seek their fortune in the west or in
the cities. The opportunities exist, but
we have not yet been able to make the
fact as plain as it should be made. This
work is being done by newspaper, it is
being done by State Superintendent
Mason S. Stone and the able men in his
corps of speakers. 1t is being done by
our capable commissioner of agriculture,
0. L. Martin, and his valuable assistants.
In this connection the following para
graph from the Ludlow Tribune is of
interest:
'No benefit results from the holding of
the so-called farmers meetings about
the state, at which is served a lot of old
hash talk and ancient rot"
White River Junction Landmark.
This is a pretty radical statement
with which the Tribune cannot agree. If
the recent farmers meeting at Cavendish
can be regarded as typical, then antedil-
uvian hash talk and ancient rot have
not been prominent features on Commits
sioner Martins programs the present
winter. Certainly, there was a lot of
common sense IN what the two
afternoon speakers had to say on topics
that appealed directly to the crop raising
and dairy sides of farming.
The Journal believes that both Mr..
Martin and Mr. Stone are preaching a
industrial gospel that is of the
greatest value to the State. 1t believes
hat if the Landmark will take pains to
investigate the work being done it will
DC willing to admit that its characterize
ion was unjust. Mr.. Martins work
seems to this paper to be conducted on
intelligent lines, and exceedingly bene-
icial
We need more missionary work to
show our people that the land of oppor-
unity lies on our own hillsides and in
mr. own valleys The more preaching |
If this sort we can have the better it will
De for Vermont.