The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-08-06
Babbitt Shows the Way.
burlington News.l


1--WE have with us today"-as the after
dinner POSTMASTER is wont to say-a bit
of pleasantly injected into the political
life of the world about the time the cave
men used half ton boulders as ballots,
and which, somehow OBJ other, has sur
vived the ages during which the human
race gained refinement and erudition.
Hoary with the aeons and aeons that
have passed over its head, battered by the
use of centuries, discredited, u%nhonored
and unsung it once more raises its de-
iected mead to do duty in the Vermont
state campaign.
Need we 90 further in introducing to
YOU your old and esteemed friend, the
assertion that this or that man is losing
strength-that he has passed the crest
and is ON the decline politically
This time it is the sprightly but mis-
guided Rutland Herald that rakes the
chestnut out of the fire and camouflages
it in these words
'The Babbitt campaign is cracking
under the strain"
There you have the horrid truth-a
mass of deluded citizens who have looked
upon Candidate Babbitt as an honorable
and able business man endowed with
superior qualifications nave suddenly de-
serted him in droves-you can almost
count 'em as they scurry over fences and
through back yards with handkerchiefs
concealing their faces lest their identity
with a lost cause be discovered. Picture
the gentleman from Bellows Falls de-
iected, deserted and alone-as tragic a
figure as was Napoleon stumbling blindly
along as the shades of evening sought
mercifully to cloak the field at Water
loo.
What awful discovery has precipitated
the rush from the Rabbit standard we
do not know-possibly it has been dis
covered that he likes limburger cheese
it may be that he uses perfume on his
handkerchief but some fell discovery has
been made and the damage is done.
+. With newsprint so high and the de-
mands upon our time so heavy we might
be little inclined to deal with this sub
ject the place of which is rightly between
the covers of Judge or Life were it not
for the fact that we expect to see it in
print often in the next few weeks.
From the start Babbitt has been well
in the lead-so strongly in the lead that
any attempt to have discredited his
strength would have been futile so we
have the alternative served up to us-ap
inane effort to make it appear that some
thing mysterious has happened and the
Bellows Falls candidate is losing some of
his strength.
He could afford to lose considerable of
it and then lead the field, but exactly the
reverse is happening. In commenting on
the situation the editor of the Bradford
Opinion expresses the thought that "it
takes a strong man to stand the test of
personal contact and Mr.. Babbitt is gain
ing strength as he is better known. He is
an able business man capable of giving
the state a safe and progressive admins
tration."
This we take it is an obvious statement
of a truth. The more Mr.. Babbitt mikes
the better he is liked and the better his
chances for winning the nomination. He
is stronger today than he was yester-
day and he will be stronger tomorrow
than he is today. He is showing the way
and will continue to do so. A -four
square man on a four square platform
as he has been described he measures up
to every need of the situation and as gov
ernor of Vermont we expect him to make
a noteworthy record from a progressive
standpoint.