The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-12-14

dnnUuUU at tie end OF the section 1xlng
the duties and compensation of the
Board. We have been assured by Mr..
Martin, of Londonderry, who was u
member of the committee of confer
encc, aud who drew the amendments to
the bill agreed upon by the committee
of conference, that the omission Of the
word annually was entirely clerical
one, and that he as well ms other MEM
bcrs of the committee intended that the
appropriation of S2500 should be an
nual. Mr.. Colby, from Irssburgh, an
other member of the committee. has
assured us that that was the intention
of the committee when they reported
the bill, and both say that the question
of whether the appropriation was to be
q biennial or an annual one never
came up at all during the deliberations
of the committee.
Whether the law should be interpret
cd that the appropriation should be an
nual or not was question for the state
auditor to decide, who, after careful con-
sideration of the case, consulting with
the governor and other prominent men,
came to the conclusion that he could
not add the word bicnnially, and as
some provision must be made for car
rying out the strict letter of the law
aud t,nrtn;t fha 1nttne Of ,l.o n.n.1 -.
be performed the coming year rightly.
justly and very properly decided that
the law intended the appropriation to
be an annual one. While this decision
will be approved by ninc-tcnths of the
people of Vermont, there are others
that are disposed to find a great deal of
fault with Auditor Ladd for his decis-
ion. Among them are all who were
disappointed because the law was alter
cd by the committee of conference, and
those that expected to become secre-
tary of the Board of Agriculture under
the law as 1t passed the House, and
was registered by the Senate, and are
now disappointed because they were
not elected to that office. A certain
class Of politicians that bcgrudge all
state appropriations that do not flow
directly into their own pockets are Just
now finding good deal of fault with
Mr.. Ladd's decision. Another class
that do not approve of the decision are
those who would like to become state
auditor, and eagerly seek and embrace
any and all occasions for finding fault
with the present one, hoping
thereby to set the people looking for n
new man for the place, and to be able
to convince the next legislature that
they have excellent qualifications for
office. Another class (though this is a
small one) arc deadly opposed to
any appropriations that will directly or
indirectly benefit the farming class.
Lastly, the class that seems to be most
troubled about the auditors decision
are some that think that the state
should make her appropriations to aid
the spread OF agricultural information
in the state to some educational institu-
ton with "technical" agricultural
designation, but where it might be used
to suppress rather than further the diff
fusion of information among the mass
of a2riculturists.
All these classes do not make a very
large part of the body polite; at any
rate, we would like to have all who
feel that they belong to these classes,
stand up TO be counted
Though there are but few of them.
they seem TO have got the control OF
some more, especially - couple of the
daily papers Of the state, and continue
to make so much noise that they have
frightened some good people into beicv-
ing their name is legion. Really, very
large majority Of the best citizens OF
the state believe Auditor Ladd has
made a wise. just, and good decision,
and will honor him for ii.