Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1915-11-10
Town Government a Business.

l. u
adopted various forms of commission
government at Tuesdays election. In
Connecticut, the plan is to employ a
town manager on salary and to hire a
bookkeeper to keep the town accounts.
Under this plan the men who were for
merly administrative officers with the
title of selectmen become commission
ers who, except for choosing the mana
ger, will hereafter act only in an advise
ry capacity. The manager is to do the
work of the town government, receiv-
ing an adequate salary and engaging in
no other form of industry or employ
ment. The government, it is intended.
shall hereafter be a business PROPOSE
ton pure and simple. Free
Press
'Killed by Idle Gossip"
A recent editorial in the Boston pa
per reviews the verdict KILLED by idle
gossip" which was given in the case
the woman who shot herself at Western
Springs. Ill. Among other things the
paper says "Most of the real harm is
done by innocent minded persons who
| take a verv human delight in savory or
| highly spiced news. Most of US like to
be thrilled or shocked-any emotion
which moves US out of the humdrum,
ordinary, everyday experience.
So spice, sensation, etc.,
finds welcome Then it is said along.
1t grows. 1t may have been half-true
in the first place. 1t may have been
only amusing In the end it is deadly.
It ruins someone's character, perhaps
drives to desperation. In this little
| tragedy in Illinois it drove a woman to
suicide, audit was not malicious but
idle gossip" Now there isn't COM
munity on the face of the earth where
| this little sermon cannot penetrate to
do good. No one owns up to being a
gossip but there is scarcely anyone
who hash t passed on some bits of in
formation which would better have
been left out in the cold to die Of frost.
| A smile and a whispered word can be-
come a veritabe two-edged sword
Bradford Opinion.
Supe rfluous Church and Fraternal Or
! aniz ations.
Evidently the term Federation, as
applied to the relationship between
neighboring churches of our own order
is misunderstood in some quarters.
One of the state papers in commenting
on the federation of the North church,
St. Johnsbury. and the First church at
the Center, says: "This is a move in
the right direction" "Such consolida
tions are needed in many rural dis
tricts." AND goes on to deprecate the
efforts to support three or four church.
es in small community. All of which
suggests several considerations. In
the first place these declarations have
nothing to do with diminishing the
number of small churches or effecting
an organic union of two separate
bodies. 1t is simply method of
bringing into closer fellowship and
mutual helpfulness a strong church
with its weaker neighbor in another
township or village. where in many
cases it is the only church and has no
competition. In the case of Wood
stock and Bridgewater, the latter place
has only one church now in the village
In the case of Rutland and Clarendon
the same is true. The movement can
never issue in consolidat on. 1t is
wholly in the direction of strer 9Th en-
ing and more firmly establishing the
smaller church. In the second place
such comments suggest that little
more intelligence might profitably be
employed in the popular discussion of
the sad Jecta, lie in the stare cf ove1 =
churched communities. 1t is becoming
fad tor the secular press TO have a
cheap fling at these So called melan-
choly conditions. Statements are
current that are wholly untrue to fact.
T. ere is no question that in the changes
in population some Communities are
found at present with superfiuous
churches. hut when it is said that
90 per cent of the country churches in
New England are unnecessary the
| yfo ron ~, IL IL
imagination be brought within the
bounds of truth. Hold up a little in
sweeping condemnatlons. Give credit
to the efforts that are being made
slowly, as is necessary in any vital
problem, to remedy these conditions.
> And if there must be cheap talk
, against superf1uous organizations, anC
the financial burdens they put upor
poor communities, direct it for a tins
against the social orders that are mul
, tiplying beyond reason.-Vermont Mis-
sionary.
The Humble Gusrd Rail
The value of highway guard raj
was demonstrated at Montpelier Satur
day when light motor car slid off tn,
|, crown of the road toward the Winoosk
: river and would have gone the who'll,
oSSp WdCCE HdQ 1t no
been for the wood fence erected a
q that point on Berlin street. The high
way guard rail is often held lightly
but it has more often justified itself
I If towns and cities would go to tn
slight outlay demanded and erect NOR
r fences of subsi antial nature along tn
roadside the list of road accident
would be materially shortened.-Barr
Times.
The truth IF what the contemporar,
:. says regarding the value of highwa.
. guard rails has been demonstrated
again and again in the experience o
individual towns. but for all that
altogether too much laxity prevail
B and there is lamentable failure il
the case of many towns to give tn
q attention to this matter which it
Importance demands. The matter O
ouardc rails nm daprorouo on,vac ~,