Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1870-10-19
ATTACHMENT LAW.


| esteem it my duty to call your atten-
tion to the evils of our. law of summary
attachment. They have long been felt and
acknowledged. A perfectly solvent busi-
ness man is liable to summary attach.
meut of all his property upon a claim
which may prove wholly groundless or even
fictitious /; his credit may be thereby seri-
ously impaired and perhaps his business
broken up and destroyed. On the other
hand, if debtor be really insolvent, the
first attaching creditor may absorb all his
assets, leaving without satisfaction or re-
dress all other creditors, frequently COM
prising widows and minors, who cannot
exercise the sharp diligence the law re-
quires. =, ...,.-...-.q...r ....,.. ...
A law which not only permits but en-
courages the application of all the proper
ty of an insolvebt debtor to the payment
of one greedy creditor, to the exclusion of
all others; is so manifestly unjust, that
comment is unnecessary
Entertaining these views, and believing
as do, that this law is positive him
drance to busihcss enterprise, which should
receive every encouragement, l respect
fully recommend a careful consideration
of the subject; and that the law be essen
TALLY modified, and stripped of its harsh
and unjust features.
TUE JAILs.
invite your attention to the evils of
our Jail system, They have long been felt
and deplorcd by those most cohversant
with its workings. While ii would be man
ifestly impracticable to attempt an immc-
diate cure of these evils, it is yet ques-
ton, worthy your earnest consideration,
whether they may not be gradually amel-
iorated and finally abolished. For the
most part our jails are used as mere
house of detention. Parties charged with
crime are confined therein, only pending
inquiry as to guilt or innocence. I'm
questionaby the great evil Of the system
is in the rromiscuous intercourse of all the
!
inmates in common room. Thus are
brought together the guilty and the inno-
cent, the old and the young, the unfortu-
nate and the depraved. This unchecked
association is wholly perhcious. Itmakes
the common Jail a public school of vice
at the public expense. An expensive in
strumentality for the prevention OF crime,
thus becomes prolific source Of its per.
pctuatioh. Shut up in idleness, without
books, without religious privileges or in.
struction; the vicious become more hard'
encd, and the innocent corrupted. The
released victim of the system goes back tc
infct in namec sscrimes upon society, the
penalty for its neglect. r...
Our jais should be so constructed as tc
render such intercourse impossible.
I suggest whether it would not be vel
that the Legislature should prescribe the
plan of construction of all iails, hereafter
to be erected, or reconstructed ! and that
their internal police be brought more di
rectly under legislative supervision. 50
-.- a gafrA THE CENSUS. 81. 4's
Returns of the recent census show 9
small increment to our population during
the last decade. 1t is probable however
that under the new appointment of Rep
resentatives in Congress, to be made up
on the Census of 1870, our State will lose
one member, and must therefore, be re
districted before the next Congrossiona
election. In order to avoid the expense
Of an extra session l recommend suct
legislation, at the present session, as shall
provide for the expected contingency.
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The Annual Reports to which no allus
ion has been made, will be submitted fol
vour oonsiderution
/ have had no opportunity for thei
proper examination. .f--E Ese r1.rr
4 looa gr ASSESSMENT OF TAXES. srm !.
IL Our system for the assessment Of take
Is defective. The amount of persobal es
tate which escapes taxation is enormous
Valuations are unequal, and the burden
of taxation bear unequally upon our citi
zens. Real estate cannot escape, but per
sonal property, through the much abuses
privilege of offset for debts, and the yari
GUS shifts Of evasion and concealment, to
commonly practiced, is largely omitte
from our annual lists. As a consequence
real estate is always appraised below "it
true value in money" and not seldom a
less than one-third of such value. i'aa
1t is a serious question whether offset
, for debts should not be much restricted
1t may be well to inquire whether tn
! evils OF the present system may not be
least alleviated by we'll considered modif