Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1918-04-03
HAS MADE
WONDERFUL RECORD.
Col. Fred B. Thomas of First Ver-
mont Infantry Makes Spirited
Statement Answering Criti-
cisms.

A Charlotte, N. c., paper recently
copied something from Philadelphia
paper which slandered Vermont to
such a degree that Col. Fred B.
Thomas of the First Vermont infan-
try now in Camp Wadsworth, S. c.,
made reply ina letter to the paper as
follows:
81 have read the item in your paper
purporting to have been copied from
the Philadelphia Record, which is an
apparent effort to chastise Congress-
man Dale of Vermont for some re-
mark which he is alleged to, have
made.
81 have no part in any quarrel
your paper or the one from the City
of Brotherly Love may have with
Congressman Dale. He is man in
public life and if your conscience di-
rects you to criticise him, that is your
prerogative as an American publish
er. He is open to such criticism as
his acts and utterances warrant, nor
will he ask me to defend him. He is
amply able to defend himself if he
considers the attack worthy of his at
tention.
ain the article referred to, how
ever, the fair name of Vermont is
maligned and in this ! am profoundly
interested. The article reads in part
as follows: That state, once ia
nous for the fighting spirit of the
Green Mountain Boys of the Revolu-
ton and the Civil war, has not vet
supplied one whole company to the
army of the United States. Let Mr..
Dale wake up Vermont; that is the
only part of the nation that is not up
and doing Notwithstanding that
you have fallen into the error of pub
fishing this article which you have
CLEANED from the Philadelphia paper
vet l believe you have a sense of JUS
tice and fair play and are in favor of
the truth l believe you would not
willingly libel a neighboring state,
and although Vermont is somewhat
distant in point of miles, believe we
should all be neighbors, especially in
the present world struggle. l wish
to make you acquainted with few
facts which it would have been we'll
for you to have learned before copy
ing the article in question. Had you
so learned them, believe you would
not have copied that article.
sonally to do with the recruiting in
Vermont. Before the United States
had been in this war four months,
Vermont had an organization con-
siderably upwards of 1000 officers
and men, all Vermonters and all vol
unteers. If 1 understood the organ
ization, this was enough to make con-
siderably more than 'one whole COM
pany;' in fact several companies.
More than 1,7OO of these same Off
GERS and men are now serving under
the Stars and Stripes in the army of
the United States and on the fields OF
Tho of fhaY11 rQ W
ing likewise on this side of the At
lantic
'I personally know, too, that about
400 more Vermont men have volun-
teered within the past three months
and have gone into organizations OF
the line of the army. l know, too,
; that a large number of Vermont men
have, since the United States entered
the war, gone into the quartermaster
corps, the engineers corps and other
: organizations of the army as volun-
teers and many have volunteered for
the navy. 1t may also interest you
to know that before congress had
,, completed the declaration of war the
state of Vermont had, by vote of its
general assembly approved by its
governor, appropriated $1,OOO,OOO to-
! ward the carrying on of the war.
have you IN NINA announcer sIaCe Iiiat
has appropriated larger percentage
of it's wealth to this cause? 1t may
also be of. interest to you to know
that Vermont, anticipating some de-
lay in obtaining clothing and equip
ment for her soldiers, bought and
supplied the organizations l have
mentioned, uniforms, blankets and
every authorized article of equip
ment which money would buy, and
that the men l have spoken of as
serving both in Europe and on this
side are today using a vast amount
Of clothing and equipment which was
originally supplied them by the state
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