The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-01-27
somethIna for Vermont 70 DO

hAo - AhC QuOoAAOn " HUI udb
been echoed up and down our hills
and valleys for years. 1t has been
repeated for themselves by sons and
daughters of the Green Mountain
state from one end of the common
wealth to the other. 1t has reverber-
ated throughout neighboring states
for decades. and found generous res
ponse on the part Of some of our
beat young blood.
The answer 10 this selfFspsating
question has hsen answered over and
over again hero at hoins-~"To get
something to de-"
It has been an easy matter to phil.
osophize up to this point. Every
country store club has debated this
question with this inevitable result.
Every urban organization formed for
the purpose of promoting the growth
of its respective community has
reached this conclusion. Indeed
some of the boards OF trade and COM
mercial clubs in different towns in
the state have gone step further,
and devised various remedies; but
as rule such expedients have prov
ed to be stimulants that resulted
merely in artificial growth.
Clarke c. Fits, of Brattleboro, in
his splendid address before the Yer
mont church federation gathering in
Burlington, showed that the people
of Vermont as a whole have not ia
ken up the subject as they should.
While they have discussed the prob
lem, they have lodged the duty of
providing an oftlmes easy solution
Mr.. Fits especially deplored the
decay of the small village in many
sections of Vermont. He showed
that the determination of small in
iustries, the sawmill, the wooden mill
the grist mill and various little man
ufactorles as a result of the growth
Of the great West and the urban
movement in all parts of the country
had contributed to the undoing Of
many a village which was at one
time a thriving center of industry,
furnishing a market as we'll as a nu-
cleus of progressive life for the reg
ion round about.
Something for Vermont to do" is
the panacea for all these struggling
communities.
Mr.. Fits attributed much of the
increase in crime and ignorance and
the accompanying manifestations of
depravity in communities of this sort
to the idleness growing out Of lack
of employment He showed how the
10 % tffa apA ,r.irp
in such surroundings, illustrating
anew the old adage that IAN idle
mind is the devils workshop"
Something for Vermont to do"
would be the first aid to the injur-
ed" both spiritually and intellectually
in these spots, in the city as well as
the small towns, where vice and law
breaking of all sorts have become
rampant.
In the light of the diagnosis OF Mr..
Fits il becomes evident that what
all classes of our people throughout
the commonwealth need to adopt as
watchword is Something for Yer
mont TO do"
Whether we are considering the
spiritual upift of the idle classes or
the material development of the
state and every community therein,
the solution of the problem is to pro-
vide Something for Vermont to do"
The biggest question of all In this
connection is How can this be
done?"
The community or the individual
or combination Of individuals In the
community that can provide salts
factory solution OF the problem con-
fers upon Vermont the greatest boon
that could be devised at this partic-
ular time. The furnishing OF hand
employment and mind occupation and
spiritual recreation will form a com
bination OF influences OF the most far
reaching and helpful character
The development OF industries is
manifestly the first step to be taken
but here again an additional question
intrudes.
What influences can be set in mo-
ton to provide employment through
the building up OF industries?
The general answer to this ques
ton is Power and Transportation
Facilities" This is the combination
that will unlock the door TO prosper
ity in many a town.
Not every community can have
both OF these factors, and many car
have neither; but this does not NEAR
that people in the latter places mus
fold their hands in idleness and give
themselves up to hopeless despair
Some kinds of industry can flourish
miles from both transportation anC
power, although with the develop
ment OF electricity power can b.
transmitted a hundred miles an'
more IL other conditions be favorable
Doctor Wiley and others showed n
the meeting OF Vermont dairymei
and sugar makers how we might dou
Bile the profit from our soil in thu
remotest farm community.
AS Mr.. Fits so well stated, thu
people OF education and wealth
throughout Vermont should devote
their thoughts as well as their hope
and prayers to the solution of thil
great problem OF something to do
Each community has its own pecul
lar problem that outsiders can no
understand, and which 1t alone cal
work out.
There are general remedies, how
ever. that can be provided by men o
wealth and brains that will help thu
commonwealth as a whole. He In
stanced the splendid work which II
being done for the farmer boys o
Vermont by Theodore n. Vail
Others can help in hundred ways.
We In turn can point to the grea
service for the state which is beinl