Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-10-13

7 u,
fore, be 1853, 400 Inasmuch as we have reason
to expect that the grand list of the State will
be increased, it is hoped that the tax required
to meet this estimate will not greatly exceed
the tax of last year.
| CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS.
Since your last Annual Session, alterations in
the Constitution of the State have been made,
which will require corresponding notifications
of our Statues. 1t is not necessary that should
call your attention to all the details OF the re-
quired legislation, and |, therefore, specially no
tice only those which seem most important
By the chasge from Annual to Biennial Ses-
sion Of the Legislature, the tenure of office of
all State and Legislative Officials is necessarily
extended TO corresponding period. The sup
| port of the government must be provided for
during the interval between the sessions.
| AS appears from his report, the Treasurer's 8
estimate of expenses for the year 1877, is S4l5,-
| 200, and it is Incumbent upon you to lay tax
upon the list of that year sufficient to cover the
| estimate.
1t would also seem that some provision should
be made, or the revision and correction OF the
lists of each alternate year, when the Legisa-
ture is not convened by the creation of board
competent for that important duty.
| Under the existing law the valuation of real
estate recurs every fifth year. 1t Is obviously
| necessary that the interval between valuations
should consist of an even number of years,
! otherwise such valuations will alternately occur
III the year OF legislative suspension.
EDUCATION.
I congratulate you upon the manifest advance
neuJ LuC cause Oh fOpular Education Is making
in our State. There is a growing interest in our
Public Schools, and the truth is generally ac-
KnOwledged, that the education of the people is
an INDISPENSABLE safeguard to the preservation
of free government. For the general diffusion
| of education, reliance must be had primarily,
! upon free Common Schools. 1t is therefore Of
vital importance to the welfare of the State,
that the instruction afforded in these schools
should be of the highest character attainable.-
1t should, however, be remembered, that a
system of education which fails to embrace the
Arl dom iP and fHl
tunlue-, Is incomplete, and must anguish
! Where mental culture is brOadesC and deepest,
there are the fountains whence flow the best
educational influences ever drawing up to a
higher plane what is below. In turn the Com
mon School sends up its select material to the
high Institutions, and thus the extremes of the
complete system reciprocalIy elevate and sus-
tain each other
commend to your vigilant care the interests
OF all our institutions Of education.
Experiment in all the States foremost in the
cause o. education, has proved the great value
Of the Normal School, in training teachers for
Common Schools. Good teachers are indis-
pensable. and the Normal School is the best
instumentality which can be employed to Sc
cure the needed supply. | venture to sugge-t
that the time has come for the adoption in this
State, OF a more settled and effectual policy on
this subject.
For information relative to the practical
working of the plan now in operation, its OBJ
vious defects, and the remedy therefor, refer
you to the report of the Board of Education,
and | commend the suggestions therein set
forth to yOur earnest consideration. While the
plan referred u has NOT been without beneficial
results, yet it maniestly falls far short of our
need The State has not in any proper sense a
Normal School. lis for you carefully to consider
whether the policy, so cautiously lnaugurated,
should not now be firmly established, upon such
permanent basis as shall secure the desired
end.
1t is notorious, that no small proportion of
the children OF the State do not attend any
school. The recognized duty of the State TO
furnish the means of education to all her ch ID
rem, implies the power to compel the attendance
Of all. Ignorance is prolific source of every
! exercise at this time of your undoubted power
Of its prevention, submit 10 your careful con-
| sIderauOn.
ATTACHMENT LAW.
I esteem it my duty to call your attention to
the evils of our law Of summary attachment
They have long been felt and acknowledged. A
perfectly solvent business man, is liable to a
summary attachment of all his property upon 9
claim which may prove wholly groundless or
even iC Clti0us his credit may be thereby seri-
ously impaired, and perhaps his business brOk-
en- up and destroyed. On the other hand if a
debtor 5e really insolvent the first attaching
creditor may absorb all his assests, leaving
without satisfaction or redress all other credit
ors, frequently compris ng widows and minors
law requires u1il2en' 'Ho
A law which not only permits but encourages
the application Of all the property of an inso-
vent debtor to the payment of one greedy cred
ltOr, to the exc usiOn of all others, is so mani
v.
Il Entertaining these views, and believing, as
do, that this law is positive hindranCe to bust
ness enterprise, which should receive every en-
| courage Cment respectfully recommend a care
! ful consideration of the subject, and that the
law be essentially modified, and stripped of its
harsh and unjust features.
THE JAns.
invite your attention to the evils of our jail
| system. They have long been felt and deplored
| BY those most convers with its workings
hp N lpah q TF
attempt an immediate cure Of these evils, it is
| yet question worthy your earnest cOnsidera-
ton, whether they may not be gradually amel-
iOrated and finally abolished. For the most
part our iail- are used as mere houses of deten-
| ton. Parties charged with crime are confined
therein, only peuding inquiry as to guilt or in
nOcence UnquestionaOly the great evil Of the
! system is in the prOmlscuous intercourse Of all
! the inmates, in common room. Thus are
| brought together the guilty and the innocent,
the old and the young, the unfortunate and the
ldeprayed. This unchecked association is
! wholly perniCious. II makes the common Jail
a pub iC scnool of vice, maintained at the public
| expense. An expensive nstrumentahty for
| the prevention of crime, TINS becomes prolific
! source Of its perpCtuatOn. Shut up in idleness,
without books, without religious privileges or
! instruction, the vicious become more hardened
| and the innocent corrupted. The released vic
! tim of the system goes back, to infiict nameless
! crimes upon society, the penalty forts neglect.
! Our als should be so constructed as to rend-
| cr such intercourse impossible.
| suggest whether il would not be well, that
the Legislature should prescribe the plan of
construction Of all jals, hereafter to be erected
| or Ieconstructed and that their internal poll
be brought more directly under Legislative
supervision.
THE cEGsUs.
Returns OF the recent census, show a small
| increment to our population during the last de-
! cade, 1t is probable, however, that under the
new appOrtiOnment of Representatives in Con-
gress. to be made upon the the Census of 1870.
our state will lose one member and must
therefore be re-districted before the. next Con
| gressional election. In order to avoid the ex-
peuse of an extra session, / recommend such
legislation at the present session, as shall pro-
vide for the expected contingency.
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The Annual Reports to which no allusion has
been made, will be submitted for your consider
alton. l have had no opportunity for their pro-
per examination.
ASSESSMENT OF TAXES.
! Our system for the assessment of taxes is de-
! fective. The amount of personal estate which |
| escapes taxati on is enormous. Valuations are
unequal, and the burdens of taxation bear une- |
Qually upon our citizens Real estate cannot |
escape, but personal property, through the much
abused privilege of offset for debts, and the va
rious shifts of evasion and concealment too
commonly practiced, is largely omitted from |
our annual lists. AS a consequence real estate
is always appraised below - its true value in |
money and not seldom at less than one-third
of such value,
1t is a serious question whether offsets for
debts should not be much restricted. 1t may
be well to inquire whether the evils of the pres
ent system may not ne at least alleviated by
well considered notifications Of our law.
COUNTRY AND STATE.
/ congratulate you on the condition of our be-
loved country reunited upon the righteous ba-
sis of universal freedom and citizenship.
The evidences of renewed prosperity are
abundant While other nations are desolated
by the ravages of war, we enjoy the untold
blessings of peace.
There are encouraging signs of advancement
in our own State. Our population and resources
have materially increased within the last de-
cade and the probable construction, within a
brief period. Of ship canal connecting the