Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-12-20
"The Qu!nquennial BILL" and the Action OF the
Comniffee Thereon.

]
made in your issue of the Sd inst, in an arti
Gle headed "The Quinquennial Valuation ,
After giving the action Of the Senate upor
this bill your paper of the above date says
OF the composition OF this committee it is perhap
enough to saw that from the moment Gifts announce
! ment, the friends Of this measure gave up all eX
peetaton Of a favorable report from the committed
! a. q whole. Yet they went before the committed
| and made their showing, in order that the commit
! tee nj ght have no excuse for their decision and il
the faint hope that possibly one two of the com
mittee mi ght be made to see and acknowledge tn,
| wrong done. Even this hope disappointed
/ The committee showed ron the start, most dis
tnct bias in opposition to the bill and fixed de
termination not to be reasoned into any change o
| their previously formed opinion. They were quicl
| To seize On anything which could be tortured int
an admission that the claims ofthe injured eountie
! were not founded on justice, which bore agains
their claim. To all else they turned deafear.
1t seems to me that the man who wrote
that paragraph did it without reflection II
casts an imputation upon the character Of
the FIVE gentlemen, who composed the com
mittee, not less than upon the Speaker oil
the House, who appointed them, which any
man, uninfuenced by passion and preju-
dice, would be slow to make.
Look at the first sentence, and for the
moment, admit it to be truthful. If true,
it must have been the result Of an anteced-
ent fact, and what must have been the ma
ture of that fact? Simply that the mem
bers of that committee were men who had
already made up their minds upon that
bill, and had determined TO oppose it
against any and all evidence, and that the
Speaker. knowing this fact, appointed them
because he also knew they would oppose
the bill Being thus in harmony in their
feelings and preiudices. both the Speaker
and the committee from the moment Of
it, announcement, must have made such
an open manifestation Of their ioregOne con-
clusi1n. a TO warrant some one in making
the statement IN the sentence alluded to
above. Now 50 far as four OF the five com
mittee and the Speaker are concerned, all
thi, may have been true, bat not A. regards
the other member, for he was not at Mont
peler at the time the appointment was
made and was not for several days after
Such a ~upp0sition Is absurd. II contra
diets all known laws of probabilities, and
hence falls back upon IT. author as having
no foundation, but in his own mind.
Further ON in the quotation above. the
committee are represented as having formed
their " decision 50 prematurely and indie
pendently of any evidence, that il was with
only &c faint hope. - that the friends Of the
bill made any showing at all, and that they
showed "a fixed determination not 10 be rea-
~oned into any change in their previously
formed opinion That to say the least Of
it, j. a very careless use of language To
assert that five gentlemen of average iutelli-
-ence, selected from different parts Of the
state, al. unacq uainted with each other,
wou.d from the start. make mp their
mind, III " determined manner. united
ly 10 oppose the question which they had
not as Yet Investigated. is altogether too
large a statement. such a gun can hurt
10 one but him who touches il of
The internal evidence Of the whole para
graph quoted, affords the most ample proof
that the man who wrote it, had come % his
conclusion from one-sided examination Vt
the subject. and j, therefore unable % see
how aman can arriyeata different conclusion
after having studied both sides lf the same
slbiect More than thi--the statement In r.
gard % the conduct of the committee j. not
true They gave respectful and thoughtful
attention a. every gentleman that came bee
fore them. and all the evidence submitted
for their consideration - iara~ my KNOW
edge extend, no members Q! the committee
exchanged their views upon the iii. nor
was 10 zn0En o. myself hos. single meme
Der Would act I'LL the chairman called for
oar ypir-, and this was NOT done till We bad
had four W i've hearings. The ti. was
twice retaken from the speaker le~a-at
tA' re4le-t ~ It- irlend~-in order o. carry
a1t "a more protuctcl nfc~usatlon-
W Aat follows The quotation given above
a- regards the treatment 1y the committee,
OF; evidence presented relative o. rle value
of land, rn th'tendea county, is a.~1 ul,
true. NJ eI4s-r 40 a- relative O. tlat
j. int was ever submitted 60 the committee
100 mN presence. W bat is said about Mans
field Mountain was simply bauteriug ta-S,
ty men from different counties NJ the State
] understand '-iasa0t o. imply something
more than any man assertion that mat
ter j. So ana So
" hlt j. sud further Oh ll t-1 article
from WHICH have 4uotcI-a~ regard, -'tlc
conduct VI the committee before tle
House -i- moro remarkable laau what ]
have already noticed. The committee i-
there n accused q neither knowing or car
lu- th1f the hl Wa such anu--ertilu ]
j. fatal 90 itself and o. the man who makes
IL and the cause be advocates
Not being fortunate a. my oppaucut.iu /
that lad na written speech O. read 90 the. /
House. dld make q verbal mistake Jon tae I
rupidry 0i my uttcrauce. but ] was imme-
ilate.y and politely corrected. and the clr- /
rcctl1n was a- quickly accepted Tbs ] ~ly /.
was simply " slip 0t the tongue. and F..
thought 50 at the time but the man who F.
wrote the article in Your paper SAYS il was I
4oi Well. ! suppose be- must know o great /
ieal better THAN ! DO, and So I shall NOT di-- /
1ute him His authoritative do-mat.c I
style Of writing would lead a tim.d man
b. think that hi, word was the beginning /
well 90 the end of al truth But I wish /
here yery humhly o. beg the pardon of nv
colleagues for causing thom e. 30 pubicIy /
accused Of tho most di-sucetuI mi-coucer-
.i0n. and Wilful ignorance iu th.- matter.
and all because ! said d" l-6j instead of
' 1910. And IN this connection. / wish ~
state that IN my mind. il II wholly unac-
'ountAble how a committee. thar made such
hunlGra, that entertained such dis
graceful m.-ounccutiQn " VI their work
hat did not even care i-haf the bin was.
could 80 have presented q subject of which
hey knew nothing. that the House should
give such an Overwhelming majority O. rain-t
The bill
Much use has been made of figures. both
10 and ont of print. IN the discussion Of thi,
question but the man who relies mainly
ipln this means % support his argument.
hould remember that figures are a double
dyed sword, cutting fearfuily both ways.
BE who Uses II must, for bis own safety. De
cry sure Of the strength and skill Of bis
rln or bis blows will rebound % bis own
Iur! The oliadago has il, that ' fcsre
CONT hs.' ! believe there j. no way Of
long SO much business in thar line. with
n apparent show of truthtuine>s. a. with
hese -l-caled iuiallible figures.
Now It appeared 20 the committee that
DE friends Of this bly, placed their main re-
ance upon showing how largely the lands
/ Chittenden and franklin counties were
!. '-',1 ny 'n0 e la4l1liis comm Zee
"o e''' ~ ii, Vumpa n win other =
'I''.''N Va 'Hc ,"'e Nn 'Ht> latt OF
. a. d '"l'I ''ig I'rJi'h %! lh9 AF5u-
''.. 'H ny " .i' uIt 4ei'It 'ae II ,1>e; 5