The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-06-15
VERMONT RECRUITING
Out of State Criticism Untrue and
Unjust.


ing editorial paragraph.
'Vermont's percentage of men who
failed to present themselves for mill
tary registration was very high, com
paratively speaking. Vermont has
also the worst record, numerically,
of any state in the Union in the en-
listment of men for the regular army
since April 1, for only GA recruits are
credited to Vermont in that period
What ails the state of Dewey Stan
nard, and Ethan Allen?"
Saturday afternoon The Boston
Transcript in commenting on slack
erism and the steps that should be
taken to punish slackers, had this to
say:
LET every good citizen and par
ticularly every young man who has
enlisted in the National Guard or who
has registered for the draft, interest
himself in going over all his ac-
quaintance and determining If every
man in 1t Of the requisite age has
registered.
There are organized ways in which
this can be done. For instance, The
Springfield Republican says this
morning: 'Vermonts percentage of
men who failed to present themselves
for military registration was very
high This charge should be answer
ed by action on the part of the Yer
mont Association in Boston, every
member of which should interest him
self either to prove that the charge
against his native state is false, or
else, failing to prove it, should go
straight home to the Green Mountain
state and institute a personal lnYes-
tigation to find out what is the mat
ter. If any of our Vermonters' rel
atives have crowled into the wood
chuck holes up there the men of the
association should go and help TO dug
them out. Vermont's enlistments in
the regular army have been ridicu
lously small, but this may be due
more to the fact that there has not
been single recruiting officer or sol
der in the state, except in the cavalry
camp at Fort Ethan Allen, than to
any lack of patiotism But il there
has been a failure to register that is
a different and an uneXcusable mat
ter, calculated to make the old Green
Mountain boys turn over in their hero
graves. We pause for reply from
Vermont"
The contemporaries would have re-
vealed a finer sense of justice If they
had done a little investigating of their
own before seeking to stigmatize Yer
mont with slackerism. The Vermont
Association of Boston, individually or
collectively, will always be welcomed
in this state when its mission is a
proper one, but the proposition OF
sending it here to teach the natives
patriotism and to discover unloyal
sons is not without its ludicrous side,
to speak mildly. The time has not
yet arrived when Vermont must have
a guardian appointed over 1t. The
association can however, assist in re
futing the undeserved charges that
are being made against their native
state, and such service will be appre-
ciated.
AS for the statement that Yer
mont's percentage of men who failed
to present themselves for registration
is comparatively high, it remains to be
said that there is not one single bit
of evidence to substantiate the asser-
ton. 1t is true that registration fell
below the estimate, but it is limping
mentality that can see as the only
explanation for this an attempt on the
part of young Vermonters to escape
their military obligations. Many
times before this The Republican has
commented on the fact that young
men have left Vermont for other and
wider fields. 1t might at this time
have taken this factor into consid-
Grafton before accusing Vermont of
cowardice.
The truth is that there were liter
ally hundreds and hundreds of young
Vcrmonters who week ago today
signed up far from home and helped
to swell the quotas of other states.
Massachusetts was the gamer in some
degree by this, as was practically
every state in the Union. From this
single city of St Adams during the
past four years men now of military
age have gone out to the four corners
of the Union to seek their fortunes,
and what is true of St. Adams is true
of every town and city in the state.
The young men coming in from other
states does not compare with the
number Vermont gives to the other
commonwealth. This emigration has
been especially marked of late be-
cause of the demand in munition CEN
tiers for labor of all kinds.
Vermont quite naturally regrets
that her young men are attracted to
other localities, but reliable figures
show that practically as many native
Vermonters live outside Vermont as
within it, This fact, regrettable to
Vermont, and which she hopes to cor
rect in time, should be taken into
consideration by critics. The Trans
cript is more considerate of Yer
monts recruiting for the army than
is The Republican. 1t is true that no
real attempt has been made to recruit
for the regular army in this state.
Nevertheless. since April around zoo
Vermonters have enlisted in the Ma
tional Guard, the regular army, the
navy, and the naval reserve The only
recruiting party that toured the state
was one from the naval reserve, and
it had no trouble picking up recruits.
ileWiSp National Guard officers who