The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-03-24


us it seems to this paper that the
Tines is mistaken in assuming that
political strength is purely a matter
Of votes The State of Rhode Island
sends two men to the United States
Senate. One of her Senators is Nell
son w. Aldrich the most powerful
personality in that august body; the
other is George Peabody Wetmore,
Gncse in.Dence in national aIuh )
nopaDly is as near as"O asI
that If any man in the Sen
at'. senator Wetmores w.t. counts
e.; as mucn AS ~, of
his colleague, but in real strength
that SHOWS itself in the shaping of adj
n'nistl rtive policies Aldrl;1 counts
fol- ore than all the Wetinorcs that
might be packed into the Capitol, and
Ills vho1ly aside from the point as I'll
whether the Aid rich influence is good
or bad.
The action of the New York State
Republican convention furnishes
another illustration. In 1906 and
again in 1908 the will of one man,
Theodore Roosevelt, who did not
have a vote in the convention, COM
PEELED delegates from nearly every
assembly district in the Empire State
to vote for Charles f. Hughes as
candidate for Governor, an action
II iy,1 Loo n 1,oh tn 1or
jority of the convention. This is not
an ideal form of party government,
but it does show that strength does
not always consist merely in votes.
Real political strength of the high
est order is based upon leadership.
When the leader points the way
by force of logic and eloquence
and sound judgment the men
with the votes follow. The su-
preme test of strength is the ability
to accomplish results, and the man
who by force of character and intel
lect and will is able to compel the
support of his associates, is a greater
man and a stronger man than his
colleague who votes as he is told to
vote
When George F.. Edmunds was
chairman of the Judiciary Committee
aad Justin S. Morrill, was chairman
of the Finance Committee, little
feeble Vermont" furnished the chair
men of the two most important com
mittees of the United States Senate.
| Their votes counted only two or II
| roll call but their actual strength
was equal to that Of a score of or
binary Senators. In the last analysis
the proposition reduces itself to the
declaration, almost absurdly simple
that leader is greater and stronger
than che who is led.
1t is because Vermont has furnish
ed leaders that our State has over
come her natural handicap of limited
area and sparse population and has
eXerted a strength out of all pro
portion to her size. The Times says
that Vermont is SO far outnumbered
in Congress that it's influence is neg
ligible." That statement would not
describe correctly the state of affairs
when Redfield Proctor made upon
the floor of the United States Senate
the speech that turned the scale in
favor of American intervention in
Cuba and subsequent freedom fol-
the island The Journal does not be-
lieve that it is a correct description
of conditions as they exist in Con-
gress today. The action of the Sen
ate in taking Senator Dillingham;
word regarding the work of the I'm
migration Commission, the promin-
ent part taken by Senator Page in the
debate on the postal savings bank
bill, the position held by Congress.
man Foster as the ranking member
of the important Foreign Affairs Com.
mittee and one of the influential
members of the House, the activity Of
Congressman Plumley in behalf OF
the Weeks forestry bill, do not indi.
in Congress is negligible, by any
means.
A State which produces great mer
is great State Vermont has pro-
duced great men and the breed is
not extinct. We are not content to.
day to depend upon the glory of the
past to fill the measure of our salts.
faction. Vermont never looked with
more hope toward the future, never
was more determined to assume the
aggressive in the struggle for success.
than in this year of our Lord 1910
The fact that she has furnished 6
goodly number of great men is not 6
source of weakness, but rather an in.
centive to achieve still greater lie.
nown.
j An empty past and barren pres.
ent do not constitute an ideal prepar.
alton for a great future.