Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-05-18
From the Burlington Free Press.
The Governor Question.

The question, who shall be the next Gov
ernor ? when settled for one year in our State
is commonly, by long usage, settled for two.
This year, by the sad death of Governor
Washburn, it is unexpectedly brought up
afresh, and the time approaches fast when
the Republicans of Vermont must give to it
serious consideration.
The subject is embarrassed somewhat by
the usage, quite as we'll settled as that to
which we have alluded. which takes our
Governors alternately from the opposite sides
of the State This custom, however absurd
abstractly considered, and however little
consequence may be attached to it by some,
is one which always asserts itself with con-
siderable force in the nominating conventions,
and which practical men must consider in
advance Exactly how that usage should
bear in the existing circumstances IL, how
ever, a question. Ought the east side of the
State to have the governor for the remainder
of the customary term? Or, the east side
having had it last Governor Hendee's short
interregnum, involving hardly any official
duties, being practically of no account)
ought the governorship to come to the west
side?
These are questions which we do not IN
dertake to answer. 1t seems to US, however,
with such consideration as we have given to
the subject, that the latter is really the
more sensible view. We should favor it,
because, if the Office is TO be retained on the
east side for the remainder of what would
have been Governor Washburn's term of
office had he lived, 1t will involve some sort
of stop-gap arrangement for a single year,
which we do not like, for the reason that a
man who is good enough to be Governor for
one year is good enough TO be Governor for
fl0o, and we would not take man for one
year whom we would not be willing to have
hold Office for two years.
The only precedent, also, if it is one, for
the present contingency, points in the same
direction. When Governor Fairbanks in
1883 was removed, so to speak, BY kind of
political decease, that is by the election of a
Democratic governor, at the end of one year
of service, the east side did not have the
privilege of filling out the term; but the
Office reverted in 1854 to the west side, in
the election of Gov. Hiland Hall. On the
whole, in this uncertainty, the case seems to
be one when, if ever, the usage can be pru-
IDENTIFY and rightfully held in allegiance, and
the State be allowed to take the fittest man,
irrespective of locality.
Who are the candidates, then, and who
should be the man? These questions We will
consider hereafter.
From the Woodstock standard
We apprehend that the Free Press, in an
article copied elsewhere, states correctly the
position in which Mr.. Billings stands with
regard to the GovernOrship. But whatever
may be the result of the canvass, the west
side cannot expect that the friends of Mr.
Billings, or Mr.. Converse, or any other good
and worthy man, will consent to 90 into it
with the expectation OF accepting less than
/ the usual term of two years. Rather than
90 ~SASta arraEEScuSas. FsESEssa
tie nomination of Mr.. Stewart at this time.
We say Mr.. Stewart, because we believe if
/ ne Is IN the field there will be little opposi-
/ tim to him