The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-11-20
CURRENT COMMENT
Mn. Fletcher,s Candidacy.

Hon. Allen NJ Fletcher of Cayendish,
through the medium of the Ludlow Trib
une, announced last week his candidacy
for the Republican nomination for gov
ernor of Vermont, and later, in an article
purporting to be an interview, but not
containing a single word quoted directly.
a statement of the policies he favors APP
peared in the Burlington Free Press.
All Nermonters believe in the abstract
principles of better roads, better schools,
publicity for the state more scientific
farming methods, development of natural
resources, and of the removal OF in
CAPABILITIES in the burden of taxation. We
have all heard these things reiterated
year after year.
Instead of generalities which sound
well, We here in Vermont want some
thing concrete, something specific, some
thing which will guide us in producing
tangible results. Among men, we want
those who do, not those who talk. And
in this connection, right at the out
set of the campaign, it is pertinent to
ask, what has Mr. Fletcher ever done
for Vermontl
Mr.. Fletcher says that special atten-
ton should be devoted "to the removal
of inequalities in the burden of taxa
ton" That, too, is a platitude oft re-
peated by candidates for office and on
this subject, like the others he mentions.
the best test ID what a man does, not
what he says. Mr.. Fletcher is rated a
very wealthy man, who has repeatedly
sought from his town and county the
favor of an election to the legislature.
The first thing to do to cure inequalities
of taxation is for wealthy men to freely
and fully bear their fair share of the
burden of taxation. 1t is a Just COM
plant that the great difficulty with
the operation of our tax laws is that
people Of large wealth seem to escape
their fair burden. We do not know what
taxes Mr.. Fletcher has paid. It is GER
tain, however, that the most effective
argument that could be made for him is
to show, if it is true, that he has, from
the time of his coming to the state, free
ly, openly and frankly met the require
ments of our law in the payment OF the
proper tax on the large property it is
understood he has all the time possessed,
We hope that his own friends from his
own town and county who are promot-
ing his candidacy will, right now, tell the
people of Vermont fully of Mr.. Fetch
er's record as taxpayer. The Phoenix
will gladly give full publicity to his rec
ord in that regard .-Brattlebor Phoenix.
The question of the republican nom
nation for governor in Vermont grows
suggestive and interesting. Joseph A
DeBoer OF Montpelier, president OF the
National Life Insurance company, and
admirably qualified to fill the governor
ship, early declared that he would not
enter into a scramble for the place after
the long prevailing fashion involving the
expenditure of money. There was an
enthusiastic mass-meeting in Montpelier
Wednesday evening, which Endorsed Mr..
DeBoer as the man who ought to be
nominated, 1t was declared that while
he would never 90 out chasing public
honors, If called upon to serve the state
he would willingly give his time and en-
ergies to such service. Resolutions were
adopted pledging sincere and untiring
efforts in support Of his candidacy. In
response Mr.. DeBoer said that after
studying political conditions in the state
for quarter of century, he believed
the time had come that the people
SHOULD themselves decide more nearly
their candidate for the state office, upon
the grounds that existing methods de-
prive them of their really self-govern-
Ing interest" This is a true bill. OPP
posed to Mr.. DeBoer for the republican
nomination win be Allen M. Fletcher Of
Cavendish, millionaire, who has been
for weeks making a personal canvass
of the state, and whose friends, until the
entrance of the Montpelier man into the
fight, have ben claiming that he had the