News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1910-12-14

gently looking for goat. One man
selects the tariff, high or low; Others
select men and measures, from Cannon
to Roosevelt, from wooden schedules 10
high prices. And what scramble
among the "interests to find goat
to account for the high cost of living
''imm grafton" " decadent soil, I" "poor
farming" "wa stetul housewives among
| the poorer classes,' who won't buy the
cheaper cuts and gnaw the meat more
closely from the bone. This is the scape-
goat selected by the "meat trust"
While | watched the scapegoat pro
cessicn in its frantic efforts TO ascertain
the high cost of living, [ certainly
thought that somebody would charge it
to Halley's comet, or the changes of the
moon. OF course the overthrow in pol
tiles was not the Judgment day for I'M
righteous rule; nor the increase in the
! cost of living, the result of human greed
in those who control by ther predatory
wealth the breadstutfs of the world, and
thereby the comfort and welfare of the
people. But it is not any one man alone
or any one measure alone that is pre-.
eminentiy the cause of decline and
trouble in any department. of life. 1t is
the wickedness and Indifference of so
many people, combinations of people,
false leaders and teachers of the people.
1t is result of government of wealth,
by wealth, and for wealth. We have
no such thing in state or nation as a
government ofthe people, by the people,
and for the people. And the American
nation has confessed this before all The
world, and now the scapegoat reformer,
limpiDg around the country, is so silly
as to try to make people believe thai an
ex-pre~idenJ is the scapegoat Bur the
masses smile, and the nations Of the
earth fairly hiss such men More than
any other man, r o.evelt put h is finger
upon the cause of suffering and COM
planning i'll the land-tha cruX of the
whole matter; just as great physician
some years ago put his microscope On
The germ Of CONSUMPTION, and maue the !
medical world see that consu mption !
could be cured If taken in time, and |
that it could be prevent ed, 80 This |
t arless leader put his fiEger on the |
germ of political corruption, Privilege"
and ma IL men see that it could ne cured, |
when it had not gone too long; coald be
prevented He focused the eyes of the |
the people on this sin, and patriots who
tr mble for the nation they love, rose
up to stay the coming ruin. And now
is heard the opinion of those whose wish
is father to the thought: "He can never
come back" This too is silly. We shall
see. But it is of little consequence
he Goes or not The thrilling
asts Of truth upon his bugle horn have
been heard the world around, and are
worth a thousand men. And should
his enemies assassinate him to-day, ten
thousand men of the same fibre aud
nettle would, like the Old Guard of
ring their muskets at the
toUt of his bier, and give their lives IT,
jhe reform he gave such momentum.
This is the way the common people
elG they were ashamed of their rulers,
-ired of the empty boastiugs, the brag
Of mere biguess, mat proved how small
we really were, tina swagger of lawless-
less that tried to hide its guilt. Here
Wa the true cause of the landslide :"
lot from one p ,rty to another, equally
corrupt, but out of all parties, to men
and principles The brag of the Amer
can people is justly sileuced We
Joasted of great wealth. We sang "My
It's of thee, Sweet land of lib
,rty," till the words stuck in our hroats,
We b0asted of being free republic, a
rue democracy, and all the while we
lid not possess the real substance.
lust now in Vermont we see the
capegost methoj applied to our educa-
ional problems After bewailing the
ow conditions of education, and Jug
ling facts as to her place in the scale of
lllteracy, the would be reformers, in
rue Aarouic style, put their hands upon
he Normal Schools, and confe ss all the
ms of education in Vermont upon
hem, and propose to send them away
nto the wilderness. The State, after
aving alternately nursed them and
uTsed them, rep prted favofably and !
to the public, stabbed them
n private, voted them lease of many
ears; now repudiates her solemn pledge.
omething which no honorable man
ould or would do But if there is great
literacy IN Vermont, If education is at
low ebb, the real reason is because the
len in authority have corrupted the :
,w-making power, until education has
ecOme the football Of unprincipled
oliticians. The Normal Schools are
OF responsible for present conditions.
tut for them illiteracy would have in
and there would have been lost
lazy fine teacher and guiding spirit
, the childhood and youth of our com.