The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-02-09
The MeddLer
If the coat fits you. put il on"

While The Meddler is loath to believe
that conditions even remotely resem-
bling those embodied in the charges
made at Montpelier have been allowed
to exist at the Brattleboro Retreat he
believes that the whole affair can be
best settled, and the name of the insti-
tuition cleared, by a thorough and inn
partial investigation. DR.. Lawton has
shown the proper spirit in publicly
stating that an investigation of this
kind will be welcomed and it is to be
expected that he as we'll as all others
connected with the Retreat will be |
equally ready to facilitate the work Of
those to whom the task of making the |
examination is assigned. If conditions
at the institution have been as they
should be then the more thorough the |
| investigation the more complete the !
eventual eXoneration of all involved in |
/ it, while if the reverse is the ease it i
/ is better for all concerned that the
cleansing light of publicity be let in
| Immediately. The Retreat is too old
an institution to be allowed to suffer
/ from the effects of sensational and I'M
/ founded stories, and the quickest way
to put a stop to them is to prove con
clusively that they are wholly unwar-
ranted.
p
In handling the Wilson resolution the
Legislature should act in the light of
these circumstances, and provide for an
investigating board Of such capacity
2 that its findings will he accepted with
out question. 1t would he extremely
: unjust to Brattleboro as a community
, as we'll as to the officials of the Re-
4 treat, to have the matter undertaken
: in q superficial way which would give
L opportunity for sensationalism without
Il providing for a definite determination
of the issue involved. As far as The
Meddler is able to ascertain nobody in
t Brattleboro is averse to having the
e investigation made, but there is a pro-
c nounced, and in his opinion wholly jus
I titled, sentiment in favor of its being
:. done in manner that shall settle the
q whole affair finally.
e Senator Eddy stated the matter
clearly at the hearing on the subject
d in Montpelier Wednesday when he sale
: that Retreat officials felt that while al
e investigation might harm the iustitu
re ton, greater harm would probably re
suit from the publicity already givel
: the charges if nothing further wer
a. done That is very true The harm
IS to the Retreat. in so far as it result
from an official Investigation. will b
- much less than If the matter were lef
as it now stands. The request tina
d the hearing take place in Brattlebor
be seems a reasonable one, for it woul
= interfere altogether too much wit
the conduct of the institution to r.
quire doctors and nurses to travel t
Montpelier.
IN The passage of the Durham ma,
X. riage bill by the state house of repre-
ur sentatives and the probability that tn
~ measure viii receive senate concu
cv renee point to an immediate cessatio
N of tn hasty marriage industry that hG
ed sprung up in BrattIeboro and BELOW
q Fails in recent years. Now that I'll
Ia bill has been amended so as to appl
I'm only to couples from without the stat
a there can be no claim that it wi
d work hardship on modest Mennonite
n, unless some of our town clerks be i
ic- eluded in that category
ire
On There is evidently considerable b
:; sis for the story that a pulp mill
rat likely to be established on the Ne
IN Hampshire side of the river betwe,
on Hinsdale and Brattleboro althoug
there seems to be a good deal of doul
as to what interests are behind Il
project. 1t is generally believed, hoy
all ever, that they are the same as ha'
been quietly getting control of lar
no tracts of pulpwood in the West riv
mt valley and have now begun lumberil
us operations in Jamaica and Windha
,as How these operators plan to get the
ire material to the point of manufactu
is not known but if they expect to flo
IN it down the West river it would see
No as if they had not given great dc
+os of study to the vagaries of that strea
ON
ter
mt \ n1rAD nnAlDI rVlnj