Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-04-11
Editors Letter Box
A Slip of the Tongue.
Editor Kennebec .

Editor Kennebec Journal:
| In the MONDAYS issue Of the Journal
in one Of your editorials, you quoted
quite freely from a speech made by
Col Parkhurst last week. Friday eve
ming before a club of former Maineites,
wherein he says, 1.-THE State of Maine
counts her chief wealth in her citizen
ship. We have little to offer in the
way of material wealth. Maine is a
hard and barren State" With the
first sentence l entirely agree, that Is
right, Just right, but with the two fol-
lowing sentences l do not agree. Just
what Col. Parkhurst means by ma
terial wealth I do not know; If he
means in money, agree with him; too
much money has in past years gone
out Of the State to boom and exploit
the South and the West, some OF which
was lost in investing in mines and
towns that existed only on paper.
Thank Heaven! the tide is turning and
Maine will yet have something to show
besides rocks bushes and scrub apple
trees. But if he means by material
wealth soil, granite, wood and timber,
Maine has no cause to blush. Where
in lies the material wealth Of Kansas?
Evidently in her fertile soil, and in her
immense crops of corn and wheat; and
the same can be said of many other
Western states. Maine has vast
primeval forests untouched as yet by
the axe. Is not that an asset? Said
the late Hon. z. A. Gilbert to me, some
years ago, Il have stood on hill in
the town of Patten and cast my eyes
on an unbroken forest for so miles"
| Maine is rich in her forests. in her
agricultural soils, in her quarries of
the finest white granite, in her rivers
and lakes. in her mountain scenery, in
her unsurpassed coast line, fringed
with a thousand emerald isles, all of
which attract and draw thousands of
/ tourists annually to our shores and
forests, leaving millions of money as
an asset worth having and preserving.
She is also rich in Ter resources and
utilities awaiting development.
Maine hard and barren State
! No. Not even by a stretch of the
imagination. 1t is true only locally in
some counties, which I will mention
presently. I have been in Aroostook
county twice; the first time to Houl-
/ ton and vicinity; the second time to
/ Presque Isle, Caribou and New Swe-
den; saw nothing barren there. At
one time, in company with my wife,
took a long ride through Winthrop,
North Wayne, Fayette Chesterville.
! Pennington, Strong, Phillips, Madrid
and Rangeley to the Lake House. Saw
nothing barren on that route.
!
Phillips. Avon, Temple. Weld, Dixfield,
Andover, Rumford-now thriving,
booming town--to Bethel. That was a
ride l never shall forget, for the road
at almost every turn as it wound
around the hills. afforded some Of the
most delightful scenic surprises the
eye ever rested upon: views that
would have delighted the soul Of
/ poet or inspired the brush of paint
err. Thence down the Androscoggin to
Mechanic Falls, to Lewiston and
through Leeds, Monmouth and Win
throp to home Didn't see hardly a.
barren spot, but plenty Of nice land
and splendid farms. Can say the same
on aride from Lewiston across coun-
try to Kennebunkport and back home
through Scarboro. Saco, Biddeford,
Freeport, Brunswick and I'D the
beautiful and unrivaled Kennebec VAL
ley. Another ride was from Augusta
to Wiscasset through Nobleboro.
Waldoboro and up ever the divide to
Union, Thorndike, Albion and back
through Benton. Fairfield. waterville
and Sidney to Hallowell. Nothing
barren on that ride / assure you.
Six years ago 1 rode over the wash
ington County Railroad from Bangor
TO Jonesboro and Of all the hard and
barren sites locally situated Washing.
ton and Hancock counties take the
cake. l guess Col. Parkhurst took a
rloe over that road before he went TO
massachusetts,. For miles and miles
as far as the eye could see on either
side the hills were stripped bare Of
wood and timber and nothing but
plrch bushes growing to take their
pace. Then again, there were hum
areds If not thousands of acres of
tlmoer land burned by forest fires that
VIII take generations to produce a new
and normal growth. Lay all that to
mans greed and carelessness. am
not attacking Col. Parkhurst, per-
scnally. He Is gentleman-a good
speaker and a good man to meet. II
we want business men to remain in
the State or our young men to remain
and grow up with US. we must always
speak well Of the State. I take 4
charitable view of the speech. II was
q slip of the tongue