St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-10-25
From Montpelier.
MONTPELIER, Oct. 81, 1873.
Boston, Oct. 81, 1873.

|
pie very naturally inquire, What has
been done so far7 l will endeavor to
put in brief some of the things that
have been attempted, and few that
have been accomplished, up to this
time. The most notable of the accom-
plished things is the election of
UNITED STATES SENATOR,
OF which / gave you brief prediction
last week, and which resulted accord
ing to the expectation of almost every
body who was at all cognizant with the
manner in which the wires had been
manipulated. There were, however,
some influences that operated very
much to the prejudice of Judge Poland
in the canvass, of which less is said in
the public print than is whispered here
about the State House. And to fully
explain those influences, | must first
refer to the third district congressional
contest, which is yet undecided. Not
few of the representatives here have
asked themselves and others the ques-
ton, Why is Bradley Barlow so anxious
to get into Congress What pet scheme
of his does he expect to promote by
being inside the Congressional circle,
instead of in his accustomed place in the
lobby That there Is some "cat in the
meal" is pretty generally believed, but
just what kind of tail that cat will
eventually wriggle, is not so clearly
discernible to the casual observer. And
this feeling has become so much in
tensifed within few weeks, that there
is evident change in the public feeling
in regard to the contest that very soon
must be re-enacted between Gen. Grout,
the regular nominee, and Mr.. Barlow,
the boiler, in the third district. You
will not be surprised to learn that Mr..
Barlow's appearance here in Montpelier,
some days before the senatorial election,
and in the advocacy of Judge Poland's
election, led not few of the repre-
sentatives to inquire, Why is Brad.
Poland's election instead of Mr.. Nor
rill's? Whatever may have been the
various answers made to the question,
there is no doubt that the feeling that
has arisen in all parts of the State
against the course pursued by Mr.. Bar
low in the third Congressional District
tinhf Con (NrAnf hn., hal
tendency to intensity the feeling of the
representatives against Mr.. Barlow, and
any thing that he might favor. And
so it is the belief of not a few that Mr.
Barlow's advocacy of Judge Poland for
U. S. Senator TUNED away from him
very many more votes than it could by
any possible means secure to him /; and
this, combined with other causes, pro-
duced such Il state of feeling in the leg
islature as to render it advisable for
Mr.. Poland to withdraw entirely.
LEGISLATION.
In the Senate, Senator King of Essex
County, and Senator Deane of Windsor
County, have both introduced bills to
punish tramps; and both are similar to
the bill already noticed in this CORES
pOndence as having been introduced 10y
Mr.. Bliss of Bradford. Senator Writers
of Chittenden County introduced Il bill
to repeal the insolvency act of 1876,
and it has already passed the Senate,
| and yynnl1 hnun l,
fore this, but for the courtesy extended
to one member who desired to see some
relief from the odious "grab law" which
would have full sway when both the
national and state insolvency laws are
out of the way. The laws relating to
highways and schools have had any
amount of proposed amendments, to
suit the individual notions of the diff
ferent authors but nothing definite has
yet been accomplished in either house.
Senator Belden of Caledonia County
has introduced a bill, providing for the
appointment of referees for the hearing
of cases in any County Court, in which
parties shall agree that the same may
be tried by IL referee, the fees and nee
essary expenses of the referee to be
paid by the State. Some such law is
very much needed, and would be a
move in the direction of reducing court
expenses. The bill introduced by Sen
ator Dillingham; of Washington County,
chan0in0 tha FERNS of tho Sunran,a
Court, and providing for two terms in
each year, one at Montpelier and one
at Rutland, would undoubtedly very
much convenience the Judges of the
Supreme Court but it will probably
meet with considerable opposition from
those counties which would thereafter
be deprived of the sessions of the Court.
In view of the possibility of legislation
by Congress that shall be unfriendly to
the existing National Banks, bills have
been introduced in both the Senate and
House in amendment of the act ''tO
authorize the business of banking;n so
that, should the National Banks be
wound up, the people might not be
wholly deprived of banking facilities.
Two different bills have been intro
J duced in the Senate "to establish a
} state board of health and vital statis-
J tistlcs !" but in so sparsely settled a
state as Vermont, with so few large
towns and cities, such bill will think