St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-01-31
PRESS COMMENT


l. someone Win n great QCal Oh
tact must have been at work in st.
Johnsbury to reconcile the differ
ence between two local band organi-
cations, one of which had received a
Village appropriation while the
other had not, SO that the two bands
agreed to consolidate and thus share
4 in the villages increased appropria-
ton. Rival musical organizations
are not the easiest to harmonic, al
belt they may be good on individual
harmony; and, therefore, a tactful
work was done when the two bands
were brought together in the scale
town. ST. Johnsbury is not big
enough to support more than zone
good band, anyway, and the result
is doubly satisfactory.-GB Barre
Times.
To Your Posts, Gentlemen.
1t is a mistake for Democrats to
act upon the, theory that they have
cinch on the presidency. Every day
Mr.. Taft is growing stronger in the
estimation of both his party and the
country. He is profting directly from
experience which has contributed
wisdom and from clamor which af-
fords contrast. Mr.. Roosevelt is
commonly regarded as the smartest
politician of his age, and perhaps he
is-the smartest. But is he the
greatest, or even great, at his own
pastime? Consider the politics he
is playing now. Is it big politics?
Is it even clever? He makes two
issues with the president-one with
respect to the peace treaties, the
Eother on the trust problem. Mr.
Taft personifles a worldwide hope
of progressive civilization; Mr..
Roosevelt stands for perpetuation of
barbaric methods. Mr.. Taft insists
upon impartial enforcement of law;
Mr.. Roosevelt would have the law
fit the case, invariably to his own
| political advantage. Can any one
really believe that the sober sense of
the American people will not ulti-
these propositions, the only two
marked by Mr. Roosevelt for sharp
differentiation? The thought is
Incredible.
Is it not possible that Mr.. Roose-
velt's political acumen has been
over-estimated by both himself and
others? He has been notably sue
cessful, truly; but only when in
power. Given all the weapons of
authority and utter lack of scruple
in using them, he has proven himself
invincible. Witness his, forcing of
money out of corporations, his ter
rifyfng of individuals, his robbery
of Panama. But as a fighter from
outside the breastworks he has won
little renown.-[ Harper's Weekly.
Farm Problem Right at Home.
Here is a farm problem right in
Franklin county that cannot fail to
be significant to those who are in
tendencies. Back in 1913
terested in present day economics.
Back in 1913 came man into East
Highgate who was ready to struggle
with the soil for his existence. First
he built a hut and covered it with
bark; next he put up a plank build
ing and then, his toll being reward
ed in a substantial way, he erected
the brick building that is in use to-
day. This man cleared away the
virgin growth and brought under
cultivation many and many acres. At
his death, his son, now man in
the sixties, took charge of the
er had. In his barns stood 10 COWS,
from his fields he gathered 700
bushels of potatoes and many a
bushel of wheat. He fattened his
own cattle for the slaughter. And
in the spring he tapped 5000 maple
trees.
But today all is different. Only
26 cows are being MIXED; no at
tempt is made to produce any pota-
toes for the market, no wheat at all
is harvested, and only 1,400 maple
trees are tapped Beeves are not
fattened; the farmer drives into the
city to buy a side of western beef.
But the story of the decline does not
end here. The stage is ready for
an even more discouraging setting.
This good man, filed with sorrow
that things are as they are, is ready
to stop all activity on his farm and
let it go, wild, as he terms it. He
does not want to do it, if he can help
it, but he is fearful that he will be
unable to prevent it.
And why is this Franklin county
farmer forced to such drastic action?
How have conditions so changed
that within late years he has found
himself unable to do what formerly
was done by himself and his father
before him? His laconic reply is,
mo help" He is unable to secure
adequate assistance to carry on the
working of the $50 acres he poss-
esses. Where in former years he
could obtain men for a few dollars
a month, nowadays $50 a month and
board is not sufficient inducement.
But he can't pay more, so must go
without. He has found the working
of the immigration and contract
labor laws to be adverse to him.
With his back up against the Cana
dian boundary line, his source of
supply, as well as his means of out
let, is limited to one direction. He
himself has reached those years
where the quiet of home has more
attraction than money-producing la
Dor, and he is at the point of retir-
ing on the income that his farm has
given him.