Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1914-09-09
PROUTY ON ISSUES AND MEN.

Hon. Chas. A. Prouty of Newport,
former interstate commerce commits
sioner, the non-partisan candidate for
senator to succeed Senator Dillingham;,
addressed large audience at the Colo
NAL theatre, ST. Johnsbury, Tuesday
evening, Aug. Is, on the issues of the
present campaign. The speaker was
introduced by Louis N. Smythe. presi- |
den of the St. Johnsbury Prouty club, |
and there was music by the band. Mr.. |
Prouty said in part
1T has been said in certain quarters
that ought not to be ranked as a
liberal because of my regard for the
rights of property. If it be true
that liberal ought not to consider or
respect the rights of property, then
freely confess that / ought not to be
here in that role. / believe that the
rights of property must be strictly
observed for the reason that there can
be no healthy social development
otherwise. But the rights of property
are one thing and the aggressions of
property are different thing. More
over, above the rights of property
stand the rights of man. The true
function Of the progressive man of
today is not to attack the legitimate
wealth but rather to restrain this
unjust ACCESSION and to define and
preserve the rights of humanity. This,
l feel, is the progressiveness of my
fellow Vermonters. It is a doctrine
of cooperation and fair play, not of
hatred and of jealousy.
cit is to the condition of theTtoiling
masses, whether working with hand
or head, that our thought should turn !;
how to make the conditions under
which they work better; how to secure
for them fairer wage how to bring
it about that the worker may be better
fed, better housed, better clothed,
better educated, that he may live a
! more wholesome and self-respecting
| life-that is the problem.
lin recent years the friends of prog
: ress have been insisting more and
! more upon government activity, espe-
cially in the line of protection, and to
some extent in the line of assistance.
:, Scarcely move can be made in this
direction without touching the proper
ty of someone. Do we enact law as
to the employment of child labor?
The profits of man who operates a
factory may be interfered with. Is it
proposed to regulate railroad rates?
The billions invested in that industry
|
eminent attempt to regulate big bust
ness? Thousands protest. This has
meant in the past and will mean in the
future that money will oppose the
efforts toward progress. When l say
money | do not mean property in the
moderate amount in which you and
possess it, but those vast aggreg atoms
of capital which have been accumulated
by improper methods and those men
who desire by the use of the same
method to make other and further
accumulations. These forces have been
properly designated as The Inter.
ests.' 1t is diff cult to convey any
adequate impression of this contest.
have stood for the last fifteen years
in the midst of it and it has made upon
me an unspeakable impression. There
is upon the side of money, as the term
is used, a selfshness, a remorseless
cruelty and want of conscience which
can only be felt and not portrayed.
The dominant issue today is whether
our government shall develop under
liberal and humane leadership OF
whether it shall be controlled by greed
and selfshness.
vermont is comparatively small
state. There is but one place where
she is the political equal of every other
state. In the national house her repre-
sentation is so comparatively small
that she has little weight as state,
but in the senate she is as great in
number as any state. For many years
no state surpassed Vermont in hel
influence in that body Now the issue
which we present to the voters of We =.
mont is this: Shall Vermont in this
struggle for human uplift be aggres.
sively upon the side of progress OF
shall she stand in the columns of the
reactionaries? Senator Dillingham; is
by nature and by association hope.
less reactionary. He belongs to that
band of senators, in the ascendant
when he entered the senate, which fol
!. many years delivered over that body
to the dictates of the interests. Many
of these men have disappeared from
public life, sometimes because retired
by their constituents. sometimes re
firing voluntarily because they under
, stood that their day had gone
recently stated that these men, includ
J ing Senator Dillingham;, had opposed
: the measures of railroad Legislation
/ which | had advocated and which hat
been in large measure adopted. Mr.
, Dillingham; refers to certain votes O
! his in refutation of this statement
} The contest which finally resulted i!
the passage of the Hepburn bill wa
the longest and most bitterly waged il
recent times. l was in that fgh
from start to finish and believe
know who was for me and VIII
against me. Upon some future occa
3 sion when there is sufficient time
r will tell that story. Tonight simpl
call attention to this, in every instanc
:. to which Mr.. Dillingham; refers h
voted with Senator Elkins, who was con
S fessedly the arch conspirator agains
: all effective railroad regulation
q If those votes prove him to>be in sym
= pathy with those measures, they prov
by the same token that Mr.. Elkins wa