Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1921-06-01
A PLEA FOR VERMONT
Kimball Again Suggests Methods of
Development

Kimbal Again Suggests Methods of
Development
F. M. Kimball, formerly of Barton,
recently sent the editor letter which
caused much comment, and we are
pleased to give another communica-
ton space. In personal letter Mr..
Kimball says:
The reason for this letter is that
| hate to see the old town, go unknown
and so many leave. More than 500
Vermonters held their annual picnic
and sugar party last week in Los An
geles, SO being from Orleans county.
Mr.. Editor:
Publicity is what I do not seek,
hence my hesitation in writing anoth-
er letter to your paper; yet before
the public mind gets too far away
from the subject matter of my pre-
vious letters I would like to invite at
etntion to case in point, hoping that
some good results may yet follow.
About Is years ago New England
Yankee from the old Bay State came
out to this southern California coun-
try with an invalid wife, seeking
health by change of climate. He stop
ped in a little town, settled originally
l presume, by a Canadian, as it bears
the name of Ontario. / expect he
ran short of funds and could go no
further, for l can think of no other
reason that would have led him to
cast anchor there. He had to get
busy, and being blacksmith, con-
ceived the idea of making electric
f1atirons, and with one man for a
helper in a little seven by nine shop
he made start. From that small
beginning eighteen years ago, there
is today a plant covering a whole
block and on the payroll the names
Of nearly 1000 employees.
Other industries have followed and
the town has now grown to be a city
Of nearly eight thousand population,
with fine churches, schools, hotels and
banks that would be a credit to any
city; and high school among the
best in the state. All the material
that enters into the manufacture at
this plant has to be shipped in, and
the iron and steel comes from long
distance far to the east, while the
local demand for the completed prod
uct, outside Of Los Angeles and few
other large towns, is very much linn
tied, as this immediate country that
is habitable, is comparatively small,
the Pacific ocean lying on the West,
Mexico on the south, and a thousand
miles of sparsely settled mountains
and deserts to the north and east:
hence market has to be found in the
Eastern States and in foreign coun-
tries. Therefore shipping in and
shipping out must necessarily pile up
freight bills, yet it is paying propo-
sition and making money for the own
ers, besides giving employment to
thousand people representing proba-
bly, from three hundred to five hum
dred families.
See what a plant could do for a
town in Vermont, and there is not a
railroad town in that state that has
not equally as good natural advan-
tages and facilities as any location in
southern California, except in the
saving of coal during the winter
months, and that would probably be
doubly overbalanced in the saving on
freight bills.
When we consider the fact that half
the population of the United States
is east of the eastern line of Indiana,
then we can but realize the great ad-
vantage manufacturing plant of
any kind that has to depend on homes
and housewives for support, would
have in thick'y populated section,
over one in sparsely settled coun-
try.
l presume many families in Yer
mont are now using flatirons, toast
ers, and other electrical appliances
made at this Ontario plant. If Yer
mont would forge ahead and not fall
backward, she must become a manu-
featuring state. to greater extent
than at present. She possesses many
natural advantages for such purpos-
es not found in other localities.
Then again. there are other sources
of wealth and enterprise in the allur-
ing beauty ad charms of her grand
old mountains and silvery lakes nest
led among the green hills, not found
elsewhere in all America, yet untold
and unsung and hardly known or ap-
preciated even by her own people. ]
doubt if half the people Of Orleans
county ever saw Lake Willoughby, a
beauty spot of unsurpassed loneliness
and yet they will travel three thou
sand miles to visit sections of coun-
try that do not compare in scenic
beauty with that found nearer home
simply because they are continually
boosted and advertised.
B. O. Smith of Orleans, while So
journing in Florida, struck the kew
note when he recommended ADVER-
Using, that the world might know
what Vermont possesses of real beau
ty and attractiveness. Nothing paws
like printer ink. That is exactly
what has built up southern California
and Florida. 1t drew thousands OF
eastern people into Kansas in an ear.
ly day. If Mount Mansfield but had
a trolley line to its summit and a fine
hotel on top, it would rival Mt. Lowe
of southern California in attractive
allurements
The sreonle of southern California
are e-+e~rrisino. They spent mil.