Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1917-05-04
GOVERNOR WOULD STE
VERMONT IN FRANCE
CONTINUED from Page y

coors in 81, Though a little out of
practice in the manual of drill their
rough formation of bent shoulders was
a more affecting lesson in patriotism
than regiment in perfect alignment
The greeting to the Governor was all
he could have desired as indicating the
support which Middlebury gave him,
lie received great applause, the great
est perhaps when he expressed the hope
that Vermont troops would go to the
French front, He had led up to this
with reference to the famous Black
Watch Regiment and two other British
Regiments with which Green Mountain
Boys served in the Champlain Valley
during the French and Indian wars,
The successors of those regiments are
fighting in Flanders today, he said, and
he expressed the hope that this war
would see Vermont troops serving along
side those famous regiments again in
Flanders. He believed the United
States would send an army to France,
" and am not so narrow-minded' he
added, "but that ] should like to see
Theodore Roosevelt lead division.
81 have assurances" he continued,
that at least one Vermont regiment
would go, led by Col. Ira l.. Reeves"
The Governor told Of the things Yer
mont was trying to do, in preparation
for active war He prided the state on
its appropriation of a million dollars,
proportionately better than any state in
the Union in this respect, an appropr-
alton which practically means that every
man, woman, and child in Vermont is
paying down So piece for Vermont to
prepare for this war. Vermont, too,
had been the first state to take com
pete military census, She had gone
ahead and clothed and equipped her
soldiers. The adjutant general had
gone into the market and bought $780,
600 of equipment even before an appro-
priation was assured, relying upon his
faith in the people of Vermont to APP
prove of it later. ut might not have
been good business" said the Governor
"but it was the only way to get the
thing done, and if we hadn't done it
then, we couldn't do it now" He told
of the search the state had made for
1900 blankets, and further difficulty
there had been about getting 1900 army
sweaters. If such difficulty were eX-
perienced in getting 1900 men or so
equipped, what would be the case when
it came to equipping the army of 800
OOO which is the force the President
called to begin with.
He spoke of the shortage of officers
1t would take minimum of 30, 600 to
handle an army of 500, 600, and if the
national guards and the regulars were
robbed of all their officers, if all the re-
serves were put into commission, and if
one man out of every sixty in the ranks
was picked for an officer, there would
still be a shortage of seven or eight
thousand from the minimum required.
81 tell YOU said the Governor I'VE
have a Job on our hands. "
He discussed the food problem. 1T
takes three men at home to keep one in
the field, he said. In addition we had
not only ourselves to feed, but much of
Europe and 1.-THE fishes. "You do not
feel, thoroughly feel and appreciate
what this war means to us he said.
eve were in a state of utter unprepar-
edness both in things military, and in
relation to the food supply. 1t is a
deplorable condition in which we found
ourselves at the outset. The fact of
this war is soon to come home to us, we
shall feel it in the very marrow before
we know it. 1t is no time for hysteria,
but good honest work.
He told of the efforts being made tc
get labor onto the farms. Fifteen hun.
dred boys from the high schools and
academies of the state had been re.
leased, and, among other things, the
state had lately decided to postpone
new construction of highways in order
to release those men to help the farmers.
The Governor closed with pledge tc
do his part, asking Middlebury, in the
name of the state, to do hers.
Dr. Thomas held the large audience in
close attention with an address of in.
tense patriotism, combined with an ap.
probation of the might of the enemy
we faced. Our isolation as a nation
was gone forever he said. For the first
time we were manhood nation.
The wastefunes of our youth must
come to halt. Uncle Sam had no more
free farms to offer. Over most of oul
country we had taken the first fertility
of the soil. The pressure we were
barely beginning to feel now, Germany
had felt for years back. Her own lane
orou,dod with ovap,1au Of bor +.ndy