The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1921-08-30
Vermont Senators.
New York Times


Vermont is entitled to two senator's at
Washington, but for a generation they
may be the same individuals. Rotation
is the custom in many states, but Yer
monter would be shocked if he were asked
to change his senators. Once a senator
from Vermont, always senator, subject
to death or resignation. Good behavior
is expected and never lacking. Yer
monter always knows who his senators
are. If he is getting on in years, they
probably represented him when he was a
boy. 1t is a convenience and a relief to
know that they are still on the job. Re
election is a matter of course, automatic
The junior senator is likely to be an old
man-that is to say, comparatively old
man. In Vermont there is really no such
thing as old age in the conventional sense
The other day in Rutland a native Yer
mOnter passed away at 1O5. He was we'll
dOcumented, for he could be traced back,
step by step, to the little red schOolhouse.
Centenarians are not uncommon in Yer
mont DIR. Harvey Wiley could not eX-
plain them, because they never diet nor
read books on deferred old age. They
consume those things made in the farm
house kitchen that the hygienists warn
mankind against. Perhaps 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, VT,
that Senator Carroll $. Page. vergng on
so, will retire at the end of his term in
1923. NermOnterS will regard the news
as a sensation. Up in the Green noun
tains a man of so is supposed to have two
or three lustrumS of usefulness left in
him, especially if he is a United States
senator. Justin S. Morrill,, who entered
the senate in 1867, was IS when he died,
still senator. His successor was Will
1.r,,N xlny hn re In
state at Washington at the age of rs. The
span from Dillingham; to Morrill, as a be-
ginner in the senate is thus "A years Sen
ator Page succeeded Redfeld Proctor, who
served only II years, in 1891 succeeding
&c rye +. Edmunds, who had served %
years. Senator Proctor was II years
VIII IN he died in 1908. Mr.. Edmunds re-
signed at the age of 63, an unusual act
for a Vermont senator, but he lived to be
81. which is not unusual for a Yer
monter.
The average quality of Vermont sena-
tors has been high. Mentally and ply
sically they wear well. Morrill, aud Ed
munds were a wonderful pair. What
other state, if any, could match them for
such small, sparsely populated common
wealth 1t is to be noted that Nermont's
senators usually come from little and
often remote townships, where cows in the
pastures may be more numerous than men.
The stranger Straying down the elm
shaded main street of Cornwall on the
Otter-such a sequestered, placid place!
be treading the same ground that
knew the respected form of Solomon Foot,
who was president pro tempore of the
United States senate in the stirring years
of 1S6163. Justin Morrill, was born in
Strafford, in Orange county, which is still
10 miles from a railroad. Edmunds first
saw the light in Richmond. on the Winoo-
ski, in Chittenden county, which may
boast 100 inhabitants today. Hyde
Park, hard by Cady's Falls, in Lamoille
county, and the birthplace of Senator
Page, has never been populous Even
Waterbury, ON the Winooski, where Sen
ator Dillingham; originated is an incon-
siderable town except for the honor he
sheds upon it. Senator Proctor was of
Proctorsville. celebrated for marble but
not for population. Burlington, Rutland,
Barre and Montpelier do not produce
United States senators. 1t is necessary to
go way back" into the country to find
them,