St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-09-09
PRESS COMMENT
DiIIingham for senator.

The campaign which The Honor
able c. A. Prouty is carrying on,
in his endeavors to defeat Senator
Dillingham;, is disappointing in many
respects to his friends. Mr.. Prouty
has had conferred upon him many
honors by the Republican party
and he has been referred to often as
one of the great men of Vermont.
In his present campaign he has
fallen from his lofty position, for
no man however great, can use vi
| tuperation against an honorable ad-
versary, without the results recOil-
| ing upon his own head.
Mr.. Prouty wants the nomination
as United States Senator, and he is
willing to take if from any or all
parties; he does not come out square
| ly and declare himself a republican,
or a progressive, he is either, if you
please.
He does, however, declare his posi-
ton emphatically in regard to Mr..
Dillingham;. He wants to replace
Senator Dillingham; by being elect
ed himself, and he is resorting to
any kind of politics to gain his de-
sire.
Mr.. Prouty refers again and again
to the Lorimer case, which seems to
be the only real grievance he can
call up. He assails Senator Dilling-
ham on that subject, because the
senator based his opinion upon the
evidence before the committee and
did not allow his personal feeling
to enter into the consideration. Sen
ator Dillingham; had the courage to
do this knowing it to be unpopular
yet did it because he knew he was
right in voting as he did, and any
one who followed the Lorimer case
closely, and remembers it, will not
hesitate to say Senator Dillingham;
did right
Mr.. Prouty says the most essen
tial thing today in a public servant
is that his disposition which con-
trolls all his acts, should be right
That statement is an important
one, and one which may we'll be put
to the Honorable Mr.. Prouty. The
disposition to discredit, a man of
Senator Dillingham; character, to
even indirectly insinuate that he is
being Influenced by corrupt motives
to say that Vermonters, who favor
him, are not in sympathy with the
effort to elevate society and benefit
humanity which Mr.. Prouty has so
clearly shown, is not we believe, in
sympathy with the modern uplift
tendency.
His canvass since it's beginning
has been one continual disparage-
ment of Senator Dillingham;.
In striking contrast Senator Dill
bingham has made a quiet. gentle
manly campaign, he has announced
himself as the candidate of the Re-
publican party and he has not utter
ed one word against Mr.. Prouty. He
has disproven some things his adj
versary has charged him with, but
in it all he has not said a discourte-
Gus word about him. We believe
this method is gaining him votes
every day. He is an able man, in
fluential in the Senate, and his value
to Vermont is shown by the import
ant committees to which he has
been appointed. He is a good man
in the right place.-Northfield News.
Question of Ownership.
There recently appeared in The
New York Annalist an article tell
ing of a visit paid to Theodore N.
Vail, with a chat on the telephone
industry which will be of interest
to Vermonters because of Mr.. Wallis
close relations with this, his adopted
state. The article also throws some
interesting sidelights on the ques-
ton of ownership. Advocates of
government ownership point to GER
tain European countries as examples
for the United States to follow, but
Mr.. Vail disposes of such advice in
telling manner. The most inter
esting extracts are as follows:
''Why is it, Mr.. Vail, that the
United States so far leads the world
in it's use of the telephone?"
''No other place in the wide world
gets the service supplied in this coun-
try" said the man who built it up.
You know what telephoning means
in Europe? You must, in a general
way, for every one who comes back
to this country after a stay abroad
has something unkind to say about
the Continental idea of service. l
have my own ideas of it, and we
have all manner of statistics show
ing how many years behind us |
Europe is in telephone economics. "
HAS the difference in service any |
to the fact that this is the
only country in which the private
are supreme?"
Eyes. Government ownership can
not compare in its results with eff
cient private management. En-
ployees are stimulated by hope of |
reward. When a man is elected to
office he is there nominally TO serve
the people-in reality more often to
serve the party or the leaders that
gave him preferment. We serve no
interests but the public. We have
no obligations that can interfere with
our efforts to give the best service
possible.
You cannot compare the tele-
phone with anything else. 1t COM
petes only with itself. From the be-
ginning it has been developed to
surpass it's own performances. When
we began there was no oral COM
over any long distance.
There was no demand for it. We
established the facilities first, and so
created the demand.
eff line to Chicago becomes used
almost to capacity another line is
strung. We must stand ready day
and night, in all weather, to pro-
~ 10 II ,kAI