Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-11-29

York assembly, aud necessarily
clumsy. SLOW, and stupid because Of.
It's unwieldiness, and the fact that il
is not a picked jury Of the ahIest and .
best trained citizens elected on the
basis of population, as in New York .
aud the rest Of the older States. New
York has q population of nearly I
100000 persons; Vermont has g
population of not to exceed $4,000. |
The Now York Legislature consists we
believe Of 80 senators and rs AS
sembly-men. The Veru ont Legisla- !
turo is nearly double the size OF that
Of New York. Can anybody tell why |
Vermont with not more than one
twelfth the population of New York
should annually elect and support a
Legislature that is nearly twice as
large as that of the Empire State.
Not only does the State pay the eX-
pense of supporting twice as many
Legislators as are necessary, an utterly
delenccless extravaganza, but by the
vicious town system ofrepresentation,
| the quality of its composition is in
fcrior TO what it should be in both in
teiiigence, experience, and ability.
rhe evil Of a system that gives st.
George with twenty-five voters the
same representation and voice in
legislation as Burlington or Rutland,
with 2,200 or more has become more
apparent perhaps since the Change to
biennial sessions, as the popular GUS
tom s,nce the change has been not to
return even an able representative a
second time. The result is that The
small towns soon exhaust their list Of
candidates fitted by nature and eX-
perienee for legislators, and have re
course to any "cleyer fellow" who
will run we'll: in short when ability is
exhausted availability takes its turn,
and the Legislature grows weaker and
weaker every year. And then the
people, the poor, dear people wag
their heads and wonder why this an
wieldy legislature, made up Oh an
unrepublican system Of representation
by towns that is sure to assemble q
needless number OF mediocr1ties does
not do more work and Better work,
wonder why it is slow, why it is fire.
quentiy bigoted and stu"id, why il is
not more sagacious in its action, why
it is not an economical body, meaning
why does it sit from eight to eleven
weeks and rise without having done
much work that will compensate the
State for its cost.
The people are unjust; the legts-
laturo is not an INDECENT body; it
does quite as much work and quite as
good work as its defective compost
ton will justify, and if the good p2o-
pie, who complain, want. u better leg
islaturo, and a less costly one, the
remedy is in their own hands. They
can amend their constitution, can or
game the state into assembly dis
tricts Ike New York State, and at
2 one stroke reduce their lower house
to, say 100 members, at an annual
saving that ought to make tho change
popular, if the dear people are really
8ighing for more efficient and ecouo-
mieal government, II the people arc
in earnest when they impeach the
ability Of the Legislature they can
easily improve its quality oy this re-
: duction in numbers, since the Assem-
biyG2an would be returned Oh the ba.
sis Of population, and every hamlet OF
twenty-five voters would not be multi
flying the voice Of $500. The as
: semblymen thus returned might moi
all be statesmen, but they would sure
iy be Of better average quality o
ability for legislation than the mass o
our present wisdom and virtue. Let
the people through The press stop alb.
: using the legislature. The people
not the legislature, ere responsible,
for the people year after year elect a
legislature on principle OF repre-.
: sentatton that ensures body that i,
J unwieldy by It's needless numbers ant
incapable of swift Or saluLary work.
from the very inequality Of its intclli.
gence, a dozen men Of The Cahbre 0
Judge Poland playing Triton among s
i, shoal of minnovs, and last and wors
of all its composition is burlesqu(
on Republican form Of government
Here is an Illustration. The county o
Essex according to the last census
. had population Of G,811; her tota
vote does not exceed 1000. The city
Of Burlington has 1900 Inhabitants
and has more than once poiled ove'
1000 votes. The county OF Essex
has twelve representatives in tn,
House, under the town system, while
Burlington has bat one, and YET
Barlington's population is nearly
: three times that OF the whole county o
5 Essex, and her vote at least double
: or in other words $500 people cast
: ing 1000 votes, have twelve time;
: The representation of 1900 people
: casting more than 1900 votes.
: There is not more self-conceite,
+ community in America than Vermont
and we do not suppose the time is yet
come when the people will stop yell
. ing for economy and reform, and in
+ honesty and humility bend thoil
energies to the performance rather
than the promise OF it, but as a matter
of fact, i'll point Of intelligence anC
truly Republican government, Yer
mont is the tail piece Of the New
England States, but at all events
hereafter let us be honest enough not
to hlalnn tie lnnislatnre co.. not hninc