The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1912-05-15
PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS
APPEAL TO THE VOTERS
Washington County Branch of Party Be-
heves Reorganization of Party in
State Is Necessary for Ad-
vancement Of Party.

The progressive" Democrats of Wash
ington county have issued an appeal Il
the voters as follows:
Fellow Democrats of Vermont:
Has our party in this state during The
past thirty or more years of its exist
ence increased in numbers and influence
as the party has done in every Other
state of the union2
A casual review of the organizations
history will suggest the answer, "Most
emphatically, no."
During the past twenty years, feel
ing of unrest and dissatisfaction among
the rank and file Of the Republican party
has grown apace, and how much has our
party benefited thereby?
A striking example of our utter in
ability to attract the independent and
dissatisfied Republican voters was shown
in the returns of the state election of
1910 when, with as strong a ticket as
was ever named by either party in the
nounced detection in the ranks of the
dominant party, we polled approximately
four thousand fewer votes than were
cast for the Democratic ticket thirty
years before, and the returns also
showed that more than ten thousand Re-
publicans remained away from the polls.
And why?
We are firmly convinced that the con-
dition of our party and its failure to
advance as the Democracy has advanced
in every other state in the country, is
due, in the main, to its past and present
leaders and their methods 1t must be
apparent to every observing man of the
party who is guided by purely patriotic
and unselfish impulses that the men who
have controlled our organization in the
past and their successors of the present
day, with rare exceptions, care little
for the party veal and are more inter
ested in improving opportunities to pro-
mote selfish interests than they are in
developing an organization that will be
power in contributing to the best good
of our commonwealth and country.
At the present moment, people who
are adept at self advertising and posing
in the limelight of political opportunity
and whose credentials we're obtained by
methods that deserve the condemnation
of all decent men, are seeking your en-
dorsement on the ground that they will
be able to secure and distribute a larger
amount of federal patronage than the
states accredited portion in the event of
our party's success in November, thus at
once placing a slanderous estimate upon
your intelligence and patriotism and re-
vealing their utter lack of genuine love
of party principles and their complete alb
sorption in the mere question of spoils.
The loyal followers of Thomas Jeffer
son in the Green Mountain state who
have persistently stuck to the party
faith year in and year out deserve bet
ter than they have received from the men
who are responsible for the party man
agement.
What remedy therefore should be APP.
piled to this state of affairs? We are
convinced that thorough reorganization
is the party's only hope. Surely there
is little to lose and perhaps much to
gain by placing new leaders in charge.
In every section of Vermont may be
found clean, able and upright Democrats
who enjoy the respect and confidence of
their neighbors; men of marked ability
and sterling character, who are not seek |
ers after federal patronage; men who
would handle the financial affairs of the
party in a business-like manner by pub |
fishing an accounting of all money en-
trusted to their hands, telling YOU how
much they had received, the source from
whence it came and what it was eXpend |
ed for. Such are the men you must |
elevate to the positions of trust and in
crease in membership and influence.
For many years the Vermont Democ-
racy has been in class by itself, as in /
every other state in the sinion the Demo
cratic party has either achieved victories
or maintained a consistent growth. We
believe it is possible to duplicate the
record of our fellow Democrats of Maine
in the near future if the proper course
is pursued and TO this end we appeal
to the rank and file to be up and doing.
See to it that no man shall be elected
delegate to the coming state and dis
triet conventions who is not determined
to place new leaders in charge.
In this year so full of promise of the
supremacy of genuine Democratic prin
ciples, let us demonstrate to our fellow
Democrats of the country that the Yer
mont Democracy is alive to the progress
sive tendencies of the time and deter
mined to build up an organization that
will attract the thinking men of all par
ties to our standard.
Washington County Progressive De-
mocraey.
Montpelier, Vt, May IA, 1912.