Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1921-09-02
Vermont Senators
(The New York Tines

(The New York Tines
Vermont is entitled to two Senators
at Washington, but for a generation
they may be the same individuals
Rotation is the custom in many states
but a Vermonter would be shocked il
he were asked to change his Senators
Once Senator from Vermont, always
Senator, subject to death or resig-
nation. Good behavior is expected and
never lacking. A Vermonter always
knows who his Senators are. II he is
getting on in years, they probably rep
resented him when he was a boy. 1t
is a convenience and relief to know
that they are still o nthe job. Re-elec-
ton is a matter of course, automatic,
The junior Senator is likely to be an
old man-that is to say, a compare
lively old man. In Vermont there is
really no such thing as old age in the
conventional sense. The other day in
Rutland a native Vermonter passed
away at 105. He was well doCumented,
for he could be traced back, step by
step, to the little red schoolhouse. Cen
tenarians are not uncommon in Yer
mont. Dr. Harvey Wiley could not
explain them, because they never diet
nor read books on deferred old age.
They consume those things made III
the farmhouse kitchen that the ny
gienists warn mankind against. Per-
haps if they dieted and went through
Walter Camps daily dozen" exercises
with the arms and legs, they would go
on. like the brook, forever.
1t is announced from Hyde Park, w.,
that Senator Carroll S. Page, verging
on so, will retire at the end of his term
in 1928 Vermonters will regard the
news as a sensation. Up in the Green
Mountains a man OF so is supposed TO
have two or three lustrums of useful
ness left in him, especially if he is a
United States Senator Justin S Nor
rill, who entered the Senate in 1867,
was So when he died, still a Senator
His successor was William P. Dilling-
ham, who represents the state at
Washington at the age of 49, The
span from Dillingham; to Morrill, as
beginner in the Senate is thus tifty-four
years. Senator Page succeeded Red
field Proctor who served only seven
teen years, in 1891 succeeding George
+. Edmunds, who has served twenty
five wears. Senator Proctor was II
years when he died in 1908. Mr. Ed
munds resigned at the age OF 63, an
unusual act for Vermont Senator, but
he lived to be 81, which is not unusual
for Nermonter.
The average quality of Vermont Sen
ators has been high Mentally and
physically they wear we'll Morrill, and
Edmunds were a wonderful pair. What
other State, if any, could match them
for public usefulness2 And they rep
resented such a small, sparsely popu-
lated commonwealth! 1t is to be not
ed that Nermont's Senators usually
some from little and often remote
townships where COWS in the pastures
NAV he more numerous than men. The
stranger straying down the elmshaded
main street of Cornwall on the Otter
such a sequestered, placid ground that
knew the respected form of Solomon
Foote who was President pro tempOre
of the United States Senate in the stir
ring years of lS6l-G3. Justin Morrill,
was born in Strafford, in Orange Coun
ty, which is still ten miles from rail
road Edmunds first saw the light in
Rich, on the Wnooski, in Chitten
den County, which may boast l,lOOI
today Hyde Park, hard
by Cady's Falls, in Lamoille County,
and the birthplace Of Senator Page, has
never been populous Even Water
bury, on the Winooski, where Senator
Dillingham; originated, is an inconsid-
cradle town except for the honor he
sheds upon it. Senator Proctor was Of
celebrated for marble but
not for population Burlington, Rut-
land, Barre and Montpelier do not
produce United States Senators 1t is
necessary to 90 way back" into the
country to find them