The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1918-07-27
PAID IN FULL.
Contemporary Figures That State and


Nation Owe G. H. Darling Nothing.
When Charles II. Darling, of Bur-
lington, goes before the people asking
for the governorship that he may. to
use his own words, Ground out his
career the people in turn have
right to inquire how and why they
are under such debt to him that thew
should debase the governorship by max
ling it decoration for him to wear
around in his button hole, says the st.
Adams Messenger.
| Has the man S service to the state
been of such an imposing and important
nature, has he been SO altruistic in those
services that the ordinary considera-
tons should be swept aside and he be
given the governorship as reward by
a grateful people2
Mr.. Darling in his announcement
says that most of the offices he has
held have been appointive and that he
has seldom asked the people directly
for anything. That is true. He has not
asked for much for he has been on the
receiving end practically all his mature
life. Mr.. Darling had been an office
holder practically without break since
1887, the year following his admission
to the bar, until the government went
democratic and he lost his hold
In 1881 he was appointed to>preside
over the municipal court at Benning-
ton, which office he held until 1901.
and by virtue of which he attained to
the title, ''judge.' During the same
time he was also practicing law
The Messenger takes its facts from
the Encyclopedia Vermont Biog-
raphy,o the sketches in which were.
it is presumed, contributed by the
subjects and are, therefore, accurate
During this period ne was also, in
1896, elected to the state legislature.
which is so far as can be discovered.
the only time he ever held an office
because the people, by their votes,
said they wanted him in it.
In 1901 the judge went to Washing
i ton to act as assistant secretary of
4 the navy, and here is again connect
ed with the public payroll to the tune,
one may well imagine, of several
thousands Of dollars year. From
this Office he resigned in 1905 that he
might accept the still more lucrative
appointment of collector of customs
1oI the FtTluOHI ulSirlcE. HOW much
this job is worth it is difficult to
say Under Collector Wells it was
worth some $4,000 a year. Under
Collector Smalley it was worth some
thing less. Common remark has it
that under Collector Darling it ranged
around $4,000 or S25, 700, but this
may be high. At any event, it was a
4 juicy political plum, much priced by
politicians, and the judge held it for
some eight years or until the change
in the administration gave it to a dem
ocrat, who by the way, does not re-
eeive anything like what was obtained
under Republican rule, owing to reor
ganization which seems to have in
creased the scope of the office and to
have decreased the money benefits by
a considerable amount
II The Office of collector in those DAYS
was more political than anything else
and Mr.. Darling found time in which
to carry on law practice, the same
as 1t appears he was practicing law
when he held the office of municipal
judge in Bennington. That, in brief,
is the career which the Judge now wants
rounded out by having the governor
ship given him, career of being on
TIC PubiiS pay loli III dpI'piHlINt posi-
tons, and not by the sanction of the
people, for about half of the years
he has been alive. 1t was some 80
years ago that the judge became 81
years of age-when he could qualify
TO hold public offiee-and of the 80.
81 have been in an Office with a salary
and much of the time with a big sal
airy attached.
And now he comes to the people
for another favor, the governorship.
that he may round out his career 1t
| will appear TO not few that the
judge has been pretty we'll treated
and will wonder, after considering his
career, if there is any limit to his APP
petite, to his ability to consume and di-
gest the good things of this political
life here below. 1t is most difficult
| to discover wherein the state is in
debt to the judge, because it is al
most impossible to see where he has
done much for Vermont and in the jobs
he has held, most federal, it goes with
out saying that he was most handsomely
paid. If Vermont will look over its
receipt book it viii find that any debt
it had to Mr.. Darling has been paid in
full in a most generous manner.