The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1879-11-14

a fair opportunity to prove its SANDER,
and perhaps it would be as we'll for the
News man to await the result before
proclaiming his ruin.
TThe following is the text of "An
act appropriating money to enlarge
and improve the Reform School build
ing" passed by the state legislature and
approved November 26, 1878:
SEC. /. A sum not exceeding ten
thousand dollars is hereby appropriated
to defray the expense of enlarging the
boys' school Building of the state reform
school al Vergennes, by. erecting two
wings in addition to said building, and
for the further purpose OF repairing ana
furnishing the building after being SO
enlarged.
SEC. 2 The trustees shall shall have
authority to make the expenditures con-
templated in the first section OF this act,
and when bills for the same shall be
certified TO the auditor OF accounts, he
shall draw orders to pay such bills,
within the limits of such appropriation,
upon the treasurer OF the state: procid-
ed, that no part OF the sum appropriated
by this act shall be expended on said
contemplated expenditure made prior
to May LIST, 1879, and then only in the
discretion of the trustees, with the ap-
proval of the governor.
We believe this act was passed upon
The representations of the superinten-
dent and former trustees of the reform
school. The commitments to the school
were in excess of its Accommodations, and
the officers Of the school, the trustees,
and all intelligent visitors saw the need
of enlargement. The sleeping accom-
modations are inadequate, the dormit-
DRY being crowded beyond a healthy
capacity. More room was needed for
other purposes, and without the enlarge
ment the school cannot properly full
fill its purposes. The trustees found
contractors who were ready to.build the
two wings and furnish them, in accor.
dance with approved plans and specifi-
cations, for the sum appropriated. The
old trustees were rotated out of office
under a law passed by the same legisla-
ture, which provided that the trustees
previously provided for by law, should
thereafter be appointed by the COVER
nor, by and with the consent of the
senate. The new board thus appointed,
on study of the situation at the school,
fully accorded with their predecessors
as to the necessity of the enlargement.
And yet the money appropriated re-
mains in the state treasury; the build
ing remains unenlarged and oyercrowd-
ed, and all the plans of the efficient
superintendent, Mr.. Fairbanks for the
Improvement of the school, are at
standstill.
Why 10 this? Simply because YER
mont possesses An economical governor,
30 economical that he will not spend
the most needed cent of the public
money away from his beloved state
workhouse at Rutland, so economical
that no representations Of the officers
Of the school, who may be supposed to
understand its needs quite as we'll as
the governor, or of the trustees whom he
appointed, can induce him to grant his
approval, as the law provides. The
waves of reason and remonstrance beat
against the gubernatorial skull is vain.
The reform school is not Rutland in
stitution, and therefore the gubernator-
ial eye sees not, and the gubernatorial
heart cares not for, its needs, and the
most valuable and useful reformatory
institution in the state must be Grip
pied, forsooth, that our governor may
have grounds whereon to boast of his
wonderful economy, perhaps even to
demanding the reward of reelection
therefor. The only plausible expla-
nation Of the goveror's asinine conduct
relative to this matter may perhaps
be found in most preposterous and
inept law. also passed last fall, granting
him still additional powers in relation
to the reform school. Thisl wonderful
law reads as follows:
The governor of the state and trus-
tees of said school are hereby consti-
tuted board of examination, and shall
In the months of January and June Of
each year, inquire into the cause for the
commitment of each minor in said
school, and, on separate and private ex-
animation, shall hear any complaint,
request or petition that he or she shall
make, and shall also confer, If in their
judgment the case shall require, with
the authority committing any minor to
said school; or with the selectmen OF
the town, or the aldermen of the city,
from which such minor was committed;
and majority of said board shall have
power to discharge any minor from
said school, in case they shall become
satisfied that his or her longer deten-
ton in said school shall be to his or her
disadvantage or injury.
By this 1t will be seen. that the gov
ernor, who probably knows as little of
the reform school and its inmates as any
man In the state, and the trustees, whose
acquaintance with the minors commit |
ted, their characters and their individ- |
nal needs, cannot DO supposed 10 b