Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1916-06-23


The Democratic and the Republican
party there is not one which Is vital,
Politics are in fluid state, The Tariff |
is the Gulf Stream Of politics, 1t now
flows through both parties, and
each is trying to catch the other In
bathing and steal his clothes, The
Tariff issue is dead, Both par
ties demand tariff commission, which |
will soon be realized, The Currency !
issue Is dead, The Currency bill enacted
by the present administration fulfilled
the promises of both parties, There is
no partisan issue in Prepared
ness. Both parties fully recognize that
the American people, in the language
of T. r., must make the nation rs
strong as its convictions, " There is no
partisan issue in Mexico, which my
friend, Mr.. Patrick Francis Murphy,
has aptly described as THAT country
where peace occasionally breaks out,
There is no partisan question in for
eign relations. The dispute between
Democrats and Republicans is no more
acute than the dispute between Repub-
licans and Republicans and between
Democrats and Democrats. The great
alternative before the country is Do
we want honor, regardless of whether
we have peace? or Do we want peace,
regardless of whether we have honor?
On this1 vital issue, neither party has
declared itself. Each party falls back
on the disingenious boast that it is made
of such superior metal to its rival that
it will guarantee lo@ honor and peace J
Each citizen must therefore determine
the issue for himself, and then select
the candidate most likely to carry out
his policy. In other words the domi-
nant issue is bipartisan, and demands
an alignment wholly apart from the
hereditary party alignment. In this
connection, it is pleasure for
me to find among my grandfather's
writings that note Of sterness in his
Vermont Democracy, which would not
permit him to be "Too proud to fight
at was a noble Roman,
In Rome's imperial day,
Who heard a coward croaker
Before the Castle, say;
They're safe in such fortress
There is no way to shake it =
'On, on, exclaimed the hero,
III find a way, or make it
Is fame your aspration2
Her path is steep and high
In vain he seeks her temple,
Content to gaze and sigh
The shining throne is waiting,
But he alone can take it
Who says, with Roman hrmness,
I'll find way, or make ii
Do we prize our nations honor?
Or do foreign sales suffice?
Two years OF watchful waiting
Spell peace at any price
There is one road to honor,
And now's the time to make it,
If we have still
The Roman will
To find way, or make it
This last verse, hasten to state, is
not humorous, but posthumous.
SAKE thus had his claim to fame as a
public citizen of Vermont. He is best
known, however, as a poet, and ! could
not attempt to do justice to him without
quoting from one or two of his poems :
In my opinion, Saxe's foremost poems
are Progress, THE Money King, y
1.-The Proud Miss Mcbride" and "The
Rhyme of the Rail. " In many respects
the last is the best. 1t was first pub
lished in the Knickerbocker Magazine
in 1843, when SAKE was only twenty
seven years of age. 1t was reprinted
through the United States and in Eng
land. 1t ran thus:
Singing through the forests,
Rafting over ridges,
Shooting over arches,
Rambling over ridges,
Whzzing through the mountains
Buzzing DER the vale,-
Bless me this is pleasant,
Riding on the rail
Men of different stations
In the eye Of fame,
Here are very quickly
Coming to the same.
High and lowly people,
Birds of every feather,
On a common level
Travelling together
Stranger on the right,
Looking very sunny,
Obviously reading
Something rather funny.
Now the smiles are thicker,
Wonder what they mean?
Faith he's got the Knicker-