The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1913-06-28
The Part Publicity Plays in Yer
mont's Revival

minds are affected by every lnflu-
ence brought to bear upon them Re
iteration leads us to accept state
ments of principles we at first reject
ed. We first note, then ponder and
ultimately embrace. 1t Is important
therefore that we give the public
mind opportunity to feed upon the
truth.
Pessimists have so frequently told
the people of Vermont we are going
to the dogs as rural State, that
some of us have come almost TO be-
lieve it ourselves. Unfortunately the
value of our land cannot be listed
like the stocks of an industrial cor
poration or a railroad so that we can
see the index of our prosperity tenn
porarlly waver with slight rise and
fall every day, as it unquestionably
does.
The first gospel of hope to preach
to every rural community in Yer
mont, therefore, is that your land is
surely increasing in value and that
YOU are richer this year than you
were last, even though you may not
be able to read it in the points of the
stock market.
While many young people are seek
ing opportunities in the cities, men
and women who have had their fill
of what the city affords are focking
to the country in search of sites for
restful homes, where again they can
enjoy the manifold delights OF ma
ture, drink in the pure and inyigorat-
ing air, listen to the glad notes of
the song birds, and feast their eyes
on, the grand pictures painted by the
hand of natures artist.
If the list of summer residents in
Vermont were to be published, we
would be surprised to know the large
number of splendid summer homes
established in the Green Mountain
State. If you will stop to think you
can reel off the names of score of
prominent men in the nations af-
fairs who have come to make their
real homes in Vermont, including
such historic names as Lincoln and
Evarts, and such great captains of
communication as Vail and Chandler
and such lights of the publishing
world as Holt.
Have you stopped to think what 1t
means that the President of the
United States is establishing his
summer home in what Ambassador
Bryce of England SO beautifully and
approximately described as This
Noble Pleasure Ground" "The Most
Beautiful Region in Eastern Amer
lea"
One of the chief delights of Pres
ident Wilson's residence during the
heated term on the east side of the
Connecticut river is that he can en-
joy the wonderful views of the
Green Mountain Scenery its western
outlook affords.
The people of Vermont's towns
have not begun to appreciate the ex-
tent to which they may capitalize the
attractions of their part of this mo
BILE Pleasure Ground" President vii
sons example will be followed by a
host of people sooner or later on
both sides of the Connecticut as well
as in the Champlain valley, along the
shores of beautiful Memphremagog
and other lakes of unsurpassed beau
ty in which our STATE abounds as
nNil 40 aAlAlh Jul SltCll
Some of our hill towns may think
they aren OF on the tourist, map, bu
they should not be too sure OF this.
A striking change is taking place in
tourist plans as a result of the ad.
vent OF the automobile. People who
formerly went TO a seaeshore hotel are
now taking their families 10 cooling
shades in mountainous regions where
they can have a rustic cottage and
spend the heated term in this way,
making side trips to a host of beau
ty spots. Many of them are already
coming to Vermont, and more viii
inevitably follow. if they meet with
the right reception.
We must put our towns as we'll as
our houses in order that we may do
our share in reaping the summer Wis
itor harvest.
Vermonts hope is in diversified
farming, and while we are cultivat-
ing the summer tourist crop, we are
never TO forget that our chief reli-
ance must continue to be increasing
ly upon the products of our hills and
valleys and especially our farms.
You were told in a previous de-
cade the untruth that the State was
full of abandoned farms that might
be had for a song. Forthwith you
began to mark down the value of
your land, and your neighbor, forced
to sell through changing family con-
ditions or otherwise, was thereby
driven to take less than his farm was
really worth. for the market value is
not always the real value.
The press of other States reiterat-
ed this untruth so that our neighbors
came to believe what a State official
had said about ourselves. and so
thoroughly grounded did this belief
become that even today people ex-
pect to buy land for farm purposes
cheaper than elsewhere the moment
they cross our boundary line even
though the land may be OF better
quality than that elsewhere with
which its price is compared.
The products of land on this side
OF our State boundary sell as much
as those Of farms on the New York
side or the Massachusetts side. and
our land is intrinsically worth the
same. There is. no reason. in the
world why any Nermonter should
continue to sell farms at a sacrifice
You have been feeding on the
wrong sort Of publicity about Yer.
mont land values, whereas "the