The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1916-09-15
The MeddLer
If the coat fits you. put 1t on"

against the primary from its
inception and are still opposed to it be-
cause they think it makes it harder for
certain interests to control nominations
The average voter never took much stock
in the caucus method of picking candidates |
for the reason that he never had a chance
to do anything more than ratify the choice |
of somebody else Under the primary sys-
TEN he can go to the polls and vote for |
anybody he wants to, feeling reasonably |
sure that his vote will count Just as much |
as that of his neighbor.
Here in Windham county the primary
brought out approximately 5000 votes,
which is probably ten times as many as
were ever polled in the caucuses. BY
means of it the voters were able to do
away with the foolish precedent whereby
the office of states attorney was passed
from one end of the county to the other re-
gardless of the ability of the candidates In
picking a nominee for this important office
the Republicans of the county selected the
best fitted man of the three who were
seeking the position. In county conven-
tion it would have been practically impos-
sible to have done this this year. Rock
lingham politicians are complaining because
their candidate for senator was not nom
mated, but they haven't even the argu-
ment of custom to fall back upon. Rock
| ingham had a state senator two years ago,
and if }Ir Divoll had been nominated again
this year a howl would have gone up to
the effect that the primary law meant the
elimination of the little towns. As it
turned out, Mr.. Dewitt of Newfane not
Ionly secured the nomination in a race
against Brattleboro and Rockingham men
but polled a larger vote than either Of
senator live in the Marlboro probate dis
trict constitutes no argument against the
primary law 1t merely shows that the
people have less respect for political ira
dtions than politicians have.
; 1t is rather interesting to analyze the
county returns as they affect Mr. Dewitt
candidacy. He secured the most votes OF
the four candidates in Athens, Brookline
Dummerston, Halifax, Jamaica, Town
shend and Nottingham and was tied fol
, first in Londonderry. He ran second il
, Brattleboro, Grafton, Guilford, Putney
, Stratton, Vernon, Wardsboro and VII
= mington and was tied for second place il
! Marlboro. The only towns in which Nh
/ Dewitt ran third were Rockingham, West
Minister, Windham and Somerset. In no
a town did his votes run behind a
n three of his opponents Under the con
I Ivention system Newfane could not hav
q hoped for senator this year. Now it bid
+ fair to have an excellent one-one who's
g experience with the primary law ought t
9 make him convert to the new system.
The Meddler doesn't remember just no,
many years ago it was that the arches {
&c put up, but it does recollect that their il
e stalation was supposed to be Temporal,
e 1t is high time that they were supplante
~ by something not only permanent but wit
= some claim to beauty of design. I'll
:" Twin State company would doubtless |
: willing to meet the village halfway in tn
matter At least the commissioners ougl
to give the company an opportunity to {
Of so.
n The new cement highway on Westel
70 avenue has been oiled and sanded this wee
VI in the hope that this treatment will NAL
~ it less noisy and less dusty. While Il
~ permanency of this particular stretch
TX road has yet to be determined The Meddl
has yet to be convinced that concrete, p
in as it was on Western avenue, is SO
lisfactory road material for business or re
ne Dental localities.
of
elk
No matter how enthusiastic one may
- about the development of Brattlebo
- commercially he cannot view the opel
J., tions now under way on the Hooker pre-
- crty without feeling a touch of sadnt
.os at the thought that this handsome old
cd tate viii soon be but a memory. The til
will come-and before very long too-wh
a great many Of us will realize the mista
IL that was made in letting this property
aw cape public ownership.
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