The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-06-12
Unfair to Vermont

Under a heading that literally bris-
ties with suggestion OF III repute,
even to one that does not read the
editorial under it, wake Up. Yer
mont The New York Sun discusses
William s. ROSTERS recently pub
lished article on this states apparent
losses in population by towns as
shown by the census Of 1910. The
Messenger among other Vermont pa
pers, has already paid its respects to
Mr.. Rossiter and endeavored to show
that he has become so absorbed in
his statistics that, as some men can
not see the woods for the trees, so he
cannot see the facts for the figures.
II regrets that such brilliant
newspaper as The Sun should lend
its great circulation and influence to
the still wider propaganda of this
curiously mistaken conception of
Vermont. This state suffers enough
in reputation every day from the ig-
norance or Indifference of cartoonists
and photographers, and the general
public through persistently reiterat-
ed nonsense or misinformation about
the state has come to have a pretty
positive impression that ii is q for
bidding region and the people that
dwell in it are not up to the average
American standard in most things.
Then when such a newspaper as The
Sun gives additional editorial impulse
to the idea, Vermonts protest against
injustice certainly is justified Be
cause The Sun is next door neigh
Dor and ought to know better And
II is evident from its text that the
man that wrote the editorial, Wake
Up, Vermont" knew something more
about the state than the average out
slider does, and, if he did, he must
have known that he was sacrificing
something Of the truth just to poke
fun at us
The Messenger cannot hope that
its attempt to correct the errors in
The Sun editorial will have chance
OF reaching any considerable number
of the many thousands of people all
over the country that have read that
editorial, but it considers 1t a duty to
the state at least to direct the atten-
ton of The Sun itself to the fact
that 1t is helping to spread broadcast
mischievous ideas about this little
state that probably no amount OF
press propaganda, no amount of pub
Lefty bureau tactics, however lavish
ly financed. can altogether overcome.
And as such little state as this can
not lavishly finance anything the
wrong done Is still more difficult of
remedy.
/ Let us take few of the comments
of The Sun from the text of the edi-
troial which will be found reprinted
in full elsewhere.
Here is one:
Time was when Vermont had L.
1873 sheep and produced 1858, 235
pounds of wool That was in 1910.
There are few sheep on her hills
now"
The inference is that Vermont has
become shiftless and abandoned a
once profitable industry. Nothing of
the kind The cause of the dlsap-
pearance of Vermont sheep is not To-
cal, but national, yes. in "A certain
sense, worldwide. The sheep indus
try in this state began to wane when
the great ranges of the West, South
west, and Australia were opened in
the same time imposing a reduced
duty upon importations of foreign
grown wool. And it declined in all
the other states where sheep culture
was attended by the same conditions
as existed in Vermont.
But, the chief factor of agricultur-
al interests in Vermont has always
been the animal industry. Vermont
ers, on the average makes more
more money on the animals that
Craze on the soil than on crops they
can raise out of it. II was so in the
old sheep days. and, when the sheep
disappeared the dairy COWS took
their place. Today more than half
the farms in the state derive their
principal income from dairy pro
ducts
SO there has been no loss of in
dustry or proflt-merely a change OF
commodity to meet a changing mar
ket
Not only that, but Vermont still
raises the best of blue blooded Mer
inc bucks and sends them to South
Africa and Australia for fancy prices
that the shepherds there are glad to
pay in order TO keep their flocks uI
to standard grade in that exhaustine
climate. Probably more money is
made on one carload OF these rams
than many a farmer made in former
days from perhaps a whole hillside
Of sheep.
Formerly she also exported large
numbers of horses. cattle, and swine.
Does the contemporary know Of
any Eastern state exporting many
horses, cattle, and swine since the
West went into the same business
Yet the government Crop Reporter
says that in January of this year il
the value of horses Vermont anC
Iowa ranked fifteenth. Vermont i:
working hard in these days to restore
the old Morgan breed of horses anC
is beginning to see results in some o.
the handsomest horsefesh that ever
> shamed an automobile. But II Is toe
early yet to show many figures of ex
pqptation. However. write to the
United States department of agrlcul
ture at Washington and ask abou
the Morgan horse business here IL
Vermont if you want to learn the
facts. Inquire about what the govern
ment itself is doing at its breeding
station at Weybridge,
Vermont does not export cattle
now because here cattle business
, consists in keeping a dairy She
used to sell cattle when she KEEP
sheep. Do you see the difference
Yet the Crop Reporter again shows
that Vermont ranks thirteenth in The
average value Of mileh cows.