The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-11-29
To Advertise Vermont.

A special train bearing governors of
far western states and exhibits Of the
products OF their commemorative will
tour some Of the eastern states next
week. And all this in the interest of
advertising the possibilities of life and
living that lie beyond us people Of the
Atlantic slope.
Vermont could not spend a handsome
bit of money TO better advantage along
the same line than to rig up ear with
attractive exhibits of Green Mountain re-
sources or craft and send man or
two out with it, fortified with an abund-
ance of good descriptive literature, TO
make practically tour of the whole
country. 1t would take a year or more,
perhaps, and il would cost what might
seem TO most Vermonters to be good
deal of money But il would help TO
SOW the seed of a new understanding and
appreciation of Vermont by the great
mass of people that now so completely
fail to understand and appreciate her.
And it would be worth all IL cost in
the end.
Another thing that hight help Yer.
mont to establish herself in her prop
err place in the good opinion Of her sis
ten states would be systematically TO
educate her own people to understand
and appreciate that place themselves. Up
to this time what little has been done
to tell the truth about Vermont's con.
dition, socially and materially, has been
In a desultory kind of spontaneous and
volunteer newspaper work that reached
only a comparatively few people and
that in an uncertain way. We hear a
great deal about the people Of the west
being so ready and so earnest In 'boom-
ing" their home city or home state on
every occasion, but one reason for il Is
that they know what to say in order
to boom IL. Touch one of these western
ers on the right key, and he will rat.
tie off volume of facts and figures
about his home and put up the most
persuasive argument in support Of the
significance he attaches to them.
Can Vermonters do thatl Do they
ever do itY
For one thing they haven't been edu.
Gated to IT, For another thing, they
haven't been educated as to what to say
ii they wanted TO do it.
prepared and published a handy little
reference book on Vermont that anti
cipated and answered in an easily avail
able form, every reasonable question
about her social and governmental con-
ditions, physical resources and business
possibilities that reasonable man might
be inclined to ask, and if such a book
were distributed TO every householder
and taxpayer in the state. Just as the
blank tax inventories are, for instance,
two good purposes would ultimately be
served:
First the people of Vermont would
have handy by" as we say in New
England, something that would educate
them about salient points in their own
state situation and its possibilities.
Second, they would acquire a battery
Of information about their state that
they could either quote or refer TO OFF,
hand when strangers asked questions
about it.
How many questions about the geog.
raphy. topography, census statistics,
governmental institutions, laws, social
conditions, natural resources, business
interests, natural prospects of Vermont
can the average man answer otfhand
We all think we know our home state,
but how much detailed knowledge about
specific things in ii could we give in
precise and definite shape if we were
asked
q The first step in booming state Is
to understand its affairs yourself-St.
Adams Messenger