Norwich bulletin., 1910-11-19
THE GOOD OF EACH IN THE WELFARE OF ALL

CWritten Specially for The Bulletin.)
 don't believe in lambast ting my fellow farmers all the time. l don't know everything, and I'm not always absolutely and infallibly right. Uncle Jedediah. now, just for an example, is always right. in his own belief. He never yet has made mistake, if you'll let him tell it. Way back. three thousand years ago. the Delphic oracle had a great reputation as a prophet. because of the uncommonly shrewd way in which the officiating priestsS 1vOuld reel off a jingle which, after the event. could be seen to have meant either thing. There's the famous story of King Mfdas. He sent to find out whether it would be safe for him to make war on the next-deor Kingdom. Rack came the answer bidding him go forth and predicting that in the first battle the kingdom would fall So Midas pitched hand the first time he met the enemy they licked him to a frazzle, destroyed his army, took him prisSner and turned his own Kingdom into z vasSal province Whereupon the ora~le loudly advertised it's accura- sy-beaause 1t he'd predicted that the fingdoHI~ would fall, but never said which kingdom.
 Uncle Jedediah has something Del phie about him, l think. He is rather Hush with his opinions and not at all chary of making prophecies. but he usually manages to word them so that he can claim q verihcation, no mat Ter how they turH out He's almost as ca my as the government weather bu- reau. And l really wonder how that bureau is going to square it's early November forecasts with the facts, this time It has been declaring fair weather probable in any part of inc country every day but one for the last eleven days And it has rained or snowed on my farm every consecu- tive day of the eleven. I'm mighty curaotse 10 see hew Professor Moore is going tO get his customary boast of IS ps. cent verihcatlon for his predic- fi0us out of this November. But l rather expect hell do it. somehow.
 Now. Uncle Jedediah, since he's a ways right, feels himself authorized to spend most of the time, when he isn't setting forth his own opinions, in crit icisinG or snearing at or abusing oth- CTS who don't chance to agree with him. Not lssing as sure as he IS of my own iufallihility. I am little more inclined 10 hesitate before fulminat- ing too loudly against those farmers who differ from nae. or those charac- terietics in farmsrs which don't meet my approval There IS apt to be no lack of critics in any ural community -critics of the town. critics of the state. critics Of the president, critics Of their own Heighbors. I never found that these chaps were very popular nor that they had much real influence Really when you go back to the true meaning Of the word criticism you'll find that t doesn't originally include merely denunciation; 1t ss often means Ia stidation. Trns criticism is keen ex- rert judgment of whatever is criti- ciseG. Right criticism of good thing or good deed or a good man is un- -tinted praise. just as right criticism 0f a bad thing and bad deed and a pad man is frank censure. ] wish lot cf the chronic yelpers in my imme- diats bishoprie could be made to ap- precfate this.
 Juss before election the stump speakers try to make us believe that farmers are the salt Of the earth. 9th CT times there are those who act as if they considered us the scum of the earth. ! can't agree with either judg- meut. My sixty short and evil years have led me to the conviction that we're just folks-and about the same as other folks We have our "outs' and we have our good points. It's ul uleassnter for me to think about the --rits than the faults. l admit that Nevertheless and notwithstanding. we Go. as class have certain failings p nd foiblss which we should be bet for For overcoming. And l want to hint gently at just one. this talk
 Picking up an Iowa farm paper this morning. my attention was attracted t1 the vsry first edftorial article head rf Good Roads or Battleships? 9" It told how the tres sury was freely spend ing millions every year on the fleet and went on.
 "What we need is for the govern ment 10 quit spending these millions on bsttieships and spend it on high way improvements. II will then do some good every hoHr of the day, and zo far iowa rds making the country a desirable place to live in"
 Tlf= from Iowa. you'll observe. lows. hss Do se0puuSs. no ocean shore, and all its cities and farms and warehouses arc far enough inland 10 be beyond Tho reach of rsVT,l auLack from either inc Atlantic or the Pacific. The Iowa farmer doesn't need a battFe.ship to pro teot bis front windows from the shells firsd by q hostile fleet. and therefore his spok esr1an denounces the spending of money on war vessels, which he doeut need, and demands that 1t be ptz into good 1oads, which he does n~ed
 You see the point7 This Iowa farm ad5fDr sees what lse thinks Iowa wants and bz Is quite bot because the gov erT1nent doesn't spend it's money for pihat Iowa wants regardless of the wants or percis Of Massachusetts and Connecticut and New York and Vir-