St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-09-16
PRESS COMMENT
Whining of Defeated Is a Sorry
Sight,


Sight,
At least one of the defeated can
didates for the gubernatorial nom
ination at the republican state con-
vention at Montpelier is showing
evidence of childish pique which is
not creditable to a full grown man
or calculated to increase his num-
Der of friends and well wishers.
Some of the supporters of other
candidates before the convention
are manifesting on behalf of their
candidates an equally churlish
spirit. There is absolutely no excuse
for this, and it would be ludicrOus
if it were not pitiable.
OF course, we can all easily mag
inc that there is some humiliation
to an avowed candidate for a posi-
ton, who has exhausted every legiti-
mate resource to attain his personal
end, in being beaten by man who
was not only not a candidate but spe-
officially and repeatedly beseeched his
friends not to thrust the nomination
upon him. The most that Charles
w. Gates did, after all his protests,
which were sincere, that he did not
want the nomination for governor,
was to say that if the convention,
knowing his wishes in the matter,
nominated him, he would accept the
nomination from sense of duty, and
as a responsibility.
There is, we say, full appreciation
of the fact that it is somewhat stag
gering to a man who wants a nomi-
nation to have the convention in
'sist that it be given to a man who
does not want it. 1t is a good deal
as if sutton for lady's hand was
turned down and that she insisted
upon accepting a man who did not
want her but would take her if she
insisted. Nevertheless this does not
warrant any display of childishness.
Mr.. Gates was in no wise respon-
sible for the action of the republican
state convention in nominating him
for governor. The delegates to that
convention, rejecting the general
sentiment of the people, wanted Mr..
Gates and insisted on having him.
That was all there was to it.
Furthermore, Mr.. Gates was abso-
lutely frank and honorable in his re-
lations with the four avowed candi-
dates for the nomination. He let it
be known clearly and Enthusiastically
from the outset what his position and
attitude would be. He did not waver
in the slightest degree from his or
iginal announcement, despite the
fact that unusual, unmanly and I'M
fair p essure was brought to bear
upon him by accredited representa-
tives of the four candidates on the
eve of the convention to persuade to
change his attitude and to state that
he would not accept the nomination
if the convention saw fit to tender
it.
I Churlishness and childishness at
the present time on the part of any
of the four defeated candidates, or
their sponsors, will do only them
harm and will tend to mark them az
poor losers in a fair and square con-
test. The whining of the honorably
defeated is always sorry sight, and
tiresome. Rutland News.
The State Farm ''Cme."
Seventy men, who a year ago were
regarded as hopeless and confirmed
drunkards, are today living sober
and exemplary lives as the result of
a six months course at the Mime
sofa state farm for inebriates &C
cording to a report just made public
by the superintendent of the insti-
tuition. This number is about a third
of the farms graduates"
A system that has proved its abil-
fifty to redeem thirty-three per cent.
out of class which has always been
considered one of the most hopeless
Us certainly an Improvement over the
treatment practiced in Vermont
which for years has consisted of an
Operation on the patients pocket
book and the extraction of SIS and
the costs of prosecution. In many
cases the operation has been per-
formed upon the pocketbooks of the
family of a friend.
In his report DIR. George H. Free
man, the superintendent of the Min
nesota state farm says: I'VE have
few more than 200 men under our
parole system and about one-third of
them are making good When one
considers what little authority we
have at the farm and also what lin
ited amount of supervision we have
over the inmates after they leave.
feel that the results are gratifying.
Ordinarily we get the most hopeless
cases. those who have been abandon
ed by friends and family, and / con-
slider it a good record to save one
third of them"
The experience of years should by
this time have demonstrated that in
order to make any real progress in
the reformation Of confirmed inebri-
Iates that we must get away from the