The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1921-08-04

would md many h4ndresis q miles oi
good highways.
1 The mass o. conflicting data might
puzzle Mr.. Hoover or Mr. Schwab in
reaching conclusions He might
query, for instance Why, with 80 much
that Is hopeful and encouraging. the
contrary factors should be 50 much in
evidenoe-why there should be loss In
the aggregate where there Is mani
testify gain individually-why II Yer
monters can live prosperously and
coutentedly in Vermont, the state as a
whole cannot register the same reia-
tive eondition-why our young people
do not stay and deleyop Vermont III
stead Of leaving TO develop other parts
Of the country.
A shrewd investigator would not be
long in determining that much Of ne
difficulty is mental or psychological.
He would soon be struck by the lack
Of what is called in war morale. In
going about and listening to converse
ton il would be some time, probably,
before he would hear much said BY
Vermonters about Vermont being a
good place in which to live, or TO make
living in. Meanwhile he would have
heard a great deal Of discouraging
taIk-plain knocking-of the state, it,
opportunities, and especially OF local
conditions. To one coming from the
West or South, this would cause sur
prise. as such talk is discountenanced
and such takers are discredited IN
those sections. II at all susceptible TO
influence Of this kind, the investigator
would speedily conclude that if these
home people who know Vermont bet
ter than anyone else can find no more
in her to commend than they seem to
in their everyday conversation It Is
very discouraging situation indeed and
hardly worth further inquiry or at
tempt toward betterment.
The idea seems inbred in our Yer
mont population that we are mere
way station on a remote sldetrack OF
the railway Of progress and that the
only method Of getting anywhere
worth while is to take an early train
out. The sentiment is inculcated
among the children and youth that
while Vermont is a good-enough place
TO be born and raised in, opportunity
must be sought outside. Accordingly
IN a great many instances, the boy or
girl who has been nourished and edu-
Gated here takes it as a matter OF
course that he must go elsewhere TO
begin his real work in life. He does
not even stop to look around in Yer
mont TO discover il perchance there
may be some opening for him near
the ancestral hearthstone. Very often
parents, accepting what they have
come to believe is an existing situa-
ton, advise or urge their children 70
"strike out" 1t has been so for sew
eral generations, to the great loss and
detriment Of this state.
Thousands Of our Vermont boys and
girls have gone to other parts OF the
country and have made good. They
have founder undergraduates
and by self-building have done their
great part in the development OF
these other parts. But this, of itself,
does not prove the fact Of Vermont's
lack of opportunity. II large per-
centage of these young people had
located within Vermont and had put
forth the same degree Of energy in
itiative and plain hard work that they
have done elsewhere they might have
profted as well--who knows? Oppor-
tunities are largely Of ones own max
ing and final analysis.
Meanwhile, a fair proportion OF
those who resisted the impulse to go
to wider fields and remained in Yer
most have prospered as much on the
average, perhaps, as those who left.
There is this TO be noted-we hear OF
the conspicuous successes Of those who
carve their fortunes at distance; we
do not hear Of those who fail. Prob
ably, thrown upon their own resources
among strangers, there has been
somewhat stronger incentive to effort,
with its consequent reward. but we
very much doubt whether there is a
anger percentage of success attained
Dy nonresident than by resident YER
nonters, If this and other elements
hat enter and not at all related to
he mere question Of opening or OPP
lortunity are disregarded
One Of the things that Hoover or
schwab would surely stress is the
lecessity Of a different spirit in Yer
mont before the state can really grow
" progress. There is no adequate
-eason or excuse for il. II Is mental.
lot physical. We have a grand little