The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1911-08-18
YOUNG MEN IN VERMONT.
A Sermon With a Former Brattleborean
as the Text.

"James Il. Hooker went from Brat
tleboro to Schenectady less than three
years ago and now he is being doomed
for mayor of that prosperous city. How
long would he have had to live in Yer
mont to be recognized9 Is it any wonder
our best young men leave the stateF -
Vergennes Enterprise.
The Messenger shares with the con-
temporary in acceptance of the broad
general principle that young Vermont
ers should be given a fair and proper
tionate opportunity for reeognltlon' ae-
cording to merit and desert, in all the
activities of life. There have been
times when it seemed to some people
that this was not being done and some
attempt would accordingly be made by
the more ambitious of the young men
to secure the rights of their generation.
The Messenger well recalls the Young
Men s Republican club of the early ZOOS
that was organized with this particular
object in view and that did yeoman SER
vice in those years in helping to educate
the popular mind to disposition to be
more regardful Of the young man that
was eager to do the best that was in
him and come along to some of the, re-
wards of life before he was too old to
make the most of them. But those
were the years when we were still un.,
dergoing the peculiar political and social
conditions that had overcarried from
| the civil war, or that grew up under the
| influence and control of the men that
| fought in it. There were times in the
political history of Vermont when the
| survivors of that conflict had things
pretty much their own way here, and
naturally enough and properly enough,
too. The veterans composed a very
numerous part Of the active population,
their leaders were unusually strong and
influential men, and public gratitude for
their patriotic services in war was quite
content that they should divide the
spoils of peace But the cold soldiers
began to age while still retaining their
power, and this, coupled with the some
what conservative habits of thought al
| ways characteristic of rural New Eng
| land life, soon developed and maintain.
ed more or less steady public policy of
putting into public office only men for
| the most part in or toward what we
loosely term middle life. The spirit
of the times came to distrust the wis
dom of employing in the public service
men that had not already acquired some
| thing like mature experience In one
| tendency to exclude ambitious young
men from the opportunity that many OF
them felt belonged to their generation.
In that day there was not such COM
mon recognition of the fact that the
times and the manners of the times had
changed, that, for one thing, the supe-
rior educational advantages of later
period had prepared men for public re-
sponsibilities of one kind and another
much earlier in life than the means and
methods of former years could have
done. And so something like revo-
luton in this phase. of our politics was
gradually brought about by little well
| employed missionary work. The Mes
senger doubts very much whether the
Young man of Vermont is denied his
| fair opportunity for political or business
| achievement today, all things consider
ed. 1t is very much inclined to believe
| that, taking the experiences OF men OF
this generation by and large throughout
the state, the young men have no reason
to complain that the public is not will
| ing to give them every reasonable ,op-
portunity to prove Themselves in polltl-
cal or business trust. There has been
very perceptible change in the pubic
period to which reference has been made;
And, so far as that goes, an analysis OF
the political history of the state pre-
| vious to the civil war will show very
plainly that from the very beginning OF
| the settlements here, the younger men
were represented in the activities of the
state in all the proportion that they
could reasonably expect, or demand.
So, the Messenger would suggest to
| its esteemed Vergennes contemporary
that it is exceedingly doubtful if James
Fiske Hooker was ever refused a far
opportunity to prove himself politically,
| while he lived in Vermont, if he had
wanted to do so, and the Enterprise
will doubtless recall that he was elected
a delegate to the republican national
convention at Chicago in 1904, chosen
to represent all the republicans of the