The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-11-30
The State Auditor's' Decision on the
Appropriation for the Board of Agri-
culture.

| culture.
AUDITORS OFFICE, n
ALBURGH SPRINGS, VT, Nov. % 1877. Il
Prof. HENRY M. SEELY. I
Ny Dear Sir: In answer to yo,ir
written request to Inc of some time ag1,
and the more recent one of members df
the Board of Agriculture, TO inform THE
Board whether construe the act estabN
fishing said Board as authorizing me to-
allow twenty-five hundred dollars for
the expense of the Board annually, or
only that sum bicnnially, will saw |
feel somewhat embarrassed in the mat
ter, rs | have found every one whom
thought should share the responsibility
of deciding il with me, disposed TO be
relieved from all responsibility.
therefore propose to meet the mat
shall be of the head and not of the heart
In my opinion, the appropriation con-
templates either twenty-five hundred
dollars annually, or only that sum du-
ring the entire existence of the Board.
The literal reading of the act is 'and
the entire expense of the Board shall
not exceed twenty-five hundred dol
lars" 1t does not say biennially, but
the CENTRE expense of the Board"
The Board, in my view of the case, is
not biennial one. The act establishes
a perpetual Board, without further leg
islation. The governor and the presi-
dent of the University of Vermont and
State Agricultural College for the time
being, and their SUCCESSORS in office
for all time (unlcss the act is repealed)
are the actual Board, with authority
resting in the governor TO fill all vacan-
cies which may occur from any cause
The secretary, too, holds his Office until
his successor shall have been appointed
If am correct thus far, the legislature
has created Board of Agriculture
with a permanent and perpetual exis-
tcnce, with positive provisions in the
law that meetings shall be held in each
county in the state annually, that the
members of the Board shall receive per
diem pay for their services, and theil
expenses necessarily incurred in the
discharge of their dutics that secre.
tary shall be employed who shall no,
have or pursue any other business
which shall in any manner interfere
with the full performance of the dutie.
which may be assigned to him by the
Board, who shall make an annual re.
port, and who shall be paid such sun
as shall be determined upon by the
Board; that the Board may, in its dis.
cretion employ lecturers, essayists, Oh
other aids in conducting its affairs; and
the question is, whether the Legislature
intended the Board should draw from
the state treasury twenty-five hundred
dollars per annum, or only that sun
during its whole life. am constrain
cd to believe it was their intention Il
allow the Board the sum named annu
ally, should it be necessary. Such
construction seems reasonable to me
the other would seem unreasonable
1t would hardly seem necessary to &c
outside OF the act itself to arrive at this
conclusion, but we cannot shut oul
eyes to other facts; among them, tina
. Vermont is almost exclusively an agri
cultural state; that its farming inter
ests are paramount to all others; that 9
majority of the members of the legisla-
ture who made the Law in question were
farmers; and that it would not seem in
consonancc with the public interest ant
liberality exhibited by them in appro
priations for other public benefits, thai
, they could have intended so insignifi
: cant an encouragement to the farming
interests of the state as this act would
be, interpreted otherwise than as
, have construed it.
Yours, respectfully,
JED p. LADD.