News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-01-13
Teaches Vermont a Lesson
(St. Adams Messenger)

voving doors OF the house chamber a
Montpelier on his way out after takin
the oath of office as governor two year
ago last October, he turned to his com
panon and said in a voice not so low a
to prevent one who stood near by from
bearing him, well, that funeral is over
Those words sounded so strange comm.
from man who had just been elevated
to the highest office within the gift of TIL,
people of the state that they made
lasting impression on the hearer; it wal
impossible to dismiss them from mem
DRY. Yet Mr.. Fletcher may have been a.
least partially correct in his reference
!, He had failed of election by the people;
there was no popular outburst on his ac-
cession to office; the house corridor was
well-nigh empty when he became gov
ernor
However, if it were funeral and he
was the one over whom the obseques
were held, Mr.. Fletcher has been most
lively corpse during the two years and
more he has held office. Seldom, if ever,
has Vermont experienced such whirli-
gig of internal events, such succession
of startling happenings, so that one may
say that if Mr.. Fletcher set himself out
on course of sensation he has succeed
ed very well, indeed, although he has,
had to pay royalty high for whatever
pleasure he has derived from such
course. For, if there was but little in
terest and pleasure evinced on his taking
office two years ago, there is still less
regret on his passing from public life at
the present.
As Lecky>says: Judgments which re-
late to motives are, no doubt, always I'M
certain, and ample allowance should be
made for the eccentricities of honest
opinion. A course which seems to most
mon very iniquitous may appear to some
men positively good. Yet still
public opinion can. with a rough but
substantial justice, estimate the charaD-
ters and motives of public men. ut seems
TO the Messenger that The people of Yer
mont passed an estimate on MIR. Fletcher
when they elected William P Dillingham;
to the UDited States Senate. 1t was quite
geuerally understood that Mr.. Fletcher
would tie exceedingly well pleased to
round out his career in the Senate aud
beyond all question would willingly have
served had lie been drafted, as was his
successor to the goveTnOrship. Indeed, |
the signs were that had he seen victory |
at the end of contest he would have |
entered the fight as volunteer. The |
voters, however, not only did not daft !
him hut returned to the United States |
Senate d man who may properly be con-
sidered as the very opposite to the type
which the Cavendsh man represents IN .
our political life.
Mir. Fle'cher's course, then, whatever
the motive might have been, has rot
Vermonters. 1t is only to be expected
when man does positive acts that tLose
aess must have positive reaction, one
way or another. The reaction in the
~ HUub OdSO IdS DCCD MAJ hNh Hbd1 IL Il no
Messenger has been at all able to read
Lne signs, it has not been favorable to
Mr.. Fletcher. This is not strange by
any means. Vermouters are somewhat
slow in political movements; their politi-
,al palate has not become So jaded that
hey are constantly seeking experiment
md sensations; they seek rather a con-
,inuity of policy, which is the secret of
cal growth, and they still feel deeply
md persistently on things political.
This may explain the failure of the
Fletcher administration. Mr.. Fletcher is
rot Vermonter, as Vermonters use the
word. A Westerner by birth and train
n.y. it is not strange that he has been
Habe to shake off the Western influ-
nee, nor is it to be wondered at that
Western methods should fail in Vermont.
As the flower which grows in luxuriant
bloom in the tropics will fade and die in
Northern cline, so Indiana methods
We very apt to be entirely out of place
II this Eastern commonwealth. A La
Toilette would not flourish in the politi-
al atmosphere of Vermont.
Moreover, it seems that Mr.. Fletcher
las been fatally handicapped by what ,
night be called his temperament, which
las been such as to prevent a real getting
n touch with the people. There have
lot been many signs that Mr.. Fletcher
vas tolerant of another's views and
opinions, although the other in present
ug his views may have been actuated by
he highest aud most patriotic of mo-
ives. Yet tolerance and a willingness to
even to the submerging in
,reat degree of one own views, is very
'ften essential to real progress. The
of the United States, ad-
nired by all students of government the
world over, is nothing more or less than
gigantic compromise of sharply clash
ng opinions.
In Analysing General McClellan's men
al attitude during the Civil War, Ropes =
lsed these words: "There are men who
re so peculiarly constituted that when