The daily Green Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1861-1865, 1862-08-12
The Quota of the Towns.

The Quota OF the Towns.
Ii draft Is resOrted tn ut all in this State, II
ought to be used TO compel towns, which haven
yet sent their fulfnumDer OF soldiers to the war,
| to share alike with The rest The burden of sup
| porting the Government. From the first the
plan Of volunteering has been praised by nearly
every one, and the towns, and counties and
States, that nave been mvs5 prompt in filling
or exceeding their quotas have been everywhere
commended. Some towns in This State nave
sent one-halt OF their voting population, and
have never Jailed 10 answ er call Tor volunteers.
But there are other towns in the Stale that la ge
cOntented themselves with inaoLon, and have
suffered their more patriotic neighbors to bear
theiF burdens for them. And every princlple oi
fairness and equality demands that, whenever a
dlait is made, those towns In arrear should De
made to contribute enough to make them equa
with their more Jealous neighbors.
Take, Tor instance, the counties Of Chitten
den, franklin and Washington, whose popu!a
tlon is respectively q, i'll, n ,23l and II Gi2.
The Ad jutant Gsneral's order shows that to make
up the quota OF three years men, these counties
should have contributed to the last 300 900
three years men as follows: Chittenden, 400
Franklin, 54S; Washington, 2l5. Since that
time ChitteDden county has sent TWO companies,
we believe, franklin three, and Washington
three, and the counties now stand, nearly, as
follows Chitteuden, $50 short; franklin, 240
short; Washington, 100 in excess OF its quota.
Yet, the population Of these counties is nearly
the same, the quota Of Washington county be-
ing only six less than Chttenden, and tour more
than Franklin. Is there any justice or equality
in no" compelling Washington county to fur
nish as mahy lis the counties Of Chlttenden and
Franklin
And II is 40 answer TO this question to say
that the counties III arrear are to be made to ill
up their quota Of three years mem because
1T is not true. The excess OF troops already iur
nShed by Washington county lets up The
enden, and Franklin, and every other county
similarly situated, get the benefit Of the 100 ex-
cess furnished by this county, because it lessons
just 50 much the number that would othorw ise
be required OF other counties
What our authorities should do, in order 70
equalize the burden as much as possible, is toI
proceed in apportioning the quota of the towns
in this State Of the militia, IN precisely the
same way as they have just done with the last
300, 200 three years men, giving each town
credit for what it mas already done 1t would
certainly come with poor grace, after all the
praise we have bestowed upon volunteering, to
now turn round and ignore i, all, and compel
the towns that have already given the last man
they can we'll spare from the farms and business
to contribute OF their militia, as though they
had not given man to the cause. We cannot
suppose our authorities are prepared to do this
and inasnuch as the matter OF assigning the
quotas to the respective towns is wholly in their
hands, we hope they will now make their power
felt, where hitherto their invitation have fallen
upon deaf ears.