Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-09-26
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
Possible to Convict of Murder.

Possible to Convict OF Murder.
The convictions secured in both the
Bradshaw and Warm murder cases
make it look as though it might be
again possible to enforce law in Yer
mont. For quite a number of years,
crime, both petty and serious, has
been steadily increasing, not only in
Vermont, but ali over the country
The chief reason has been that it has
been SO hard to secure convictions
that criminals were not deferred and
police officers and prosecuting attor-
neys have hesitated to make arrests
soft-hearted juries would acquit the
accused if they could find a possible
excuse or loophole. Here in Renning-
ton this. summer there has been
great deal of petty crime. Gardens
have been raided, stores have suffered
from sneak thieving, repeated BREACH
es Of the peace have been ignored and
hOOdlumlsm has gone unrebuked. Re
sponsibility for this condition rests
not entirely, but to a considerable de-
gree, on juries. Law cannot be en-
forced if juries feel so sorry for the
poor chaps under arrest that they will
not convict them when they are IN
questionably guilty. The situation is
easily accounted for. In old days pun
ishments were too harsh and if the
jury was not so merciful, the accused
got no mercy, but this old condition of
affairs exists no longer. In these days
sentences are not severe, paroles are
easy to get, where circumstances war
rant, and pardons are the rule rather
than the exception. Under this mod
ern state of affairs greater respon-
sibility rests on the men who are
drawn on juries. If they want their
communities orderly and respectable
and care to have their property pro-
tected and their life secure, they must
back up the prosecuting officers with
convictions when the respondent is
guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt.
They have not been doing this in re-
cent years. The courts and parole of
ficers can now be relied on to see that
cruel punishments are not inflicted
for trivial ofences.-Benningt
Banner
Coal VS.. Wood.
1t reads strange, in the report of
the Vermont fuel committee, that in
the midst of growing wood a-plenty
there is shortage of wood for fuel
Yet it is undoubtedly true. Dry
wood was never so scarce as now, nor
SO high in price. Within sight of al
most everyone's door there is an
abundance of standing timber, vet we
go short Of wood. Why?
First, because we prefer to burn
coal, though sometimes there is no
real advantage in it, 1t is easier to
handle than wood, both for the man of
the house and for the housewife. Coal
can usually be secured easier; can be
depended upon better as to quality;
does not require drying, and is less
bulky to store. But a little foresight
and investment can always provide a
good Woodpile, and especially for
kitchen ranges it beats coal in results.
Then there is the ashes, valuable in
the case Of wood; rubbish in coal. Be
sides wood is home product. If the
several million dollars expended each
year in Vermont for anthracite coal
were invested in wood, it would be
kept wholly at home, making our for
ests valuable, and creating a thriving
industry. Now this money is all sent
away and comes back very slowly.
Another reason why wood fuel is
scarce is that wood choppers are
scarce. The old times are past when
chopping was science and men prid-
ed themselves on their ability to put
up ''three solid" a day. With the
slackening in demand, labor has turn
ed to other channels. Chopping is a
trade that requires time to master, as
well as strength and physique. Such
choppers as there are command good
pay IN getting out timber logs or pulp
wood
Fuel wood must of necessity COM
mand high price. Stumpage costs
more; help costs more and is hard to
get at any price; teams and teamsters
cost more; the dealers profits are
more because it costs him more to
live; it costs more to get wood worked
up and put under cover So even here
in Vermont where we almost live in
the woods, it comes about that we
send our good money to Pennsylvania
and pay ten or twelve dollars a ton
for coal.
The time may come not long hence,
when in carrying out the thrift and
conservation induced by the stress of
war, many a householder will shout
der an axe and HE himself to the
woods for season, getting out his
fuel supply and taking in some good
winter ozone Like other things we
are learning to do that come hard at
first, we may obtain benefits not all
of a pecuniary nature. The soaring
price of coal, which under war de-
mands is no true index of it's fuel
value, may well impel men of pluck
and muscle to turn to the forests with
their sharpened blades, even as men
and women have turned this year to
the gardens and fields.-Randolph
Herald and News.