The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-07-24
THE SPIRIT OF VERMONT
Address of Judge Stafford at the
Greater Vermont Cinner.

think, Just Decaa 11es,s heirs, Just
because it produced !. - course
man should be devoted ! state.
A man should be devoted to mis- par
ents, because he is their son; but
whether he may be proud of them
depends on other things. Every state,
| suppose, has something to be proud
of. To the making of each there went
some toiling courage, some devotion
to high principle, some cheerful sac
rifice for those that should come after
and OF these men should be proud.
But when we speak with pride of
territory and population, overflowing
harvests, eXhaustless mines, luXuri-
Gus cities, we talk like children,
who are proud of clothes and toys
What Vermont has contributed to
the upbuilding of the nation has been
a fayorite theme. Figures have been
arrayed to prove that out Of all pro-
portion to her size and wealth she has
had her hand in business, in war, in
studies and professions, in the making
and execution of the laws. Her Wig
orous blood has made its pulse felt
through all the arteries Of the Repub-
lie; and it is there you must look to
find the Greater Vermont in our first
century and a quarter of statehood.
We would not have had it otherwise.
And yet we cannot help wondering
what Vermont would have been like if
all this energy and intelligence had
been kept at home. Some loss there
might have been. Some never would
have come to their full stature here
for lack Of opportunity. And here at
hcme struggle for survival, Yankee
against Yankee, would have been
fierce indeed. But when all allow
ances hae been made, who can doubt
that we should have seen here de-
velopment to challange the attention
of the world? Something like that is
what we dream of for the future. The
cry is no longer, Westward Ho! but
Vermont for Vermonters. Earnest
men are saying, Here between the
Bay State and the Province, between
the long bright River and azure Lake
we will build a Greater Vermont"
Greater in what? That is the ques.
tion to be asked and answered when
ever we are met as we are now.
Greater, OF course, in fuller develop.
ment OF all her natural resources. We
mean that every mine should give up
It's treasure, every quarry open its
primeyal corridors-to the sun; that
every sleeping giant in our unused
Water-courses shall be wakened and
put to work, our forests shall be fend
! ed; our fields Shall be fed, that they
IN turn may feed the coming genera
| tions. We mean to be husbands and
| not trayisheTs of the land, that her
| fruitful womb may never know stcril
| ity And we mean to make this Ia
Dor so attractive that the children viii
not be lured away as the fathers were
but turn with eager eyes and hands tC
the realm around their doors.
We mean to knit and lace the state
| together with the best roadways ii
the world,-foads that feel like velyet
and stand like adamant, and look lik,
a rich brown ribbon in the shade ant
SUM- And over these shall come seek
ers of health and beauty, drinking ii
from many landscapes the enchanted
draught that makes the gazer restless
until he can return.
! We mean to guard with jealous carr
the nobility and freshness of ou
scenery. Here is that beauty tha
may be Il Joy forever Here is tha
wealth that can never be spent but b,
our own stupidity.
| We mean to do all that can he dom
to make our public school plan perfec
from the lowest to the highest round
"a ladder whose foot shall rest on tn
doorsill CT the humblest cottage
while its top in the university.
And, better still. We mean to put th
whole community to school by ne,
application OF the old principle O
democracy. more complete fulfil
ment OF the fathers purpose-goverr
mcnt by the people. We mean tina
| every neighborhood shall be ciyi
/
, where men and women shall gathc
for the discussion of the public need,
! That is the idea that has taken hold
/ upon the minds of progressive me
. through all the mighty West.
"Make wide the doorway of III
school
Around whose sill the millions wal
The cradle of the common rule.
The forum of n stronger state.
Make broad the bar, and bid appear
The questions clamorous TO
|, tried;
, And let the final judges hear
Themselves the causes they docd
o Whatever channels lead apart
[ The currents of the lives Of men,
The blood that left the Common IIca
Il Shall leap with common pull
again"
II II has been well said that for Il
), first hundred years OF our history Il
y emphasis was laid on freodom-heI
T, after II shall be laid on unity. Al
- so Freedom and Unity, the great
~ gond on our shield, is both history nj
- prophecy. We shall be united In Z
~ years to come as we never were |
N fore; and out of common couns,
,f shall come better law. and better q
ministmtion of the law We want {
best wherever we can find or borr,
10 It, In our courts We want the sim
40 est forms of procedure consistent vi
" the preservation of legal rights. {
- sptediest trials that fairness can p
N init. and the promptcst decisions. p
er vided only and always that they