Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-01-17
OUR NEW LAWS.

or new listlDg law. AS passed, lIs
provisions are like the New Hampshire
law obliging every taxpayer to make
oath as to his property, and for all off
sets claimed to make a statement to
whom and to what amount his liabili-
ties are. Listers are also to be sworn.
In addition to this, acts providing that
the real estate of railroads shall be list
ed in the towns. that stocks in COM
panies shall be taxed in their holders
towns, that telegraph and express COM
panies shall pay to the state two per
cent. on their gross receipts, and reduc-
ing the pay of collectors from four to
three per cent, have been added to the
statutes.
Prohibition was made more stringent
by the nuisance law, which makes any
place where liquors are sold or gambling
allowed nuisance and renders the own
er of the building as responsible as the
tenant. Families of men serving in Jail
for drunkenness can also collect 81 a
day from the vender of the liquor for
the time they are imprisoned. These,
with the laws already on the books, rem
der it possible for the people to stamp
out liquor selling, if they wish. Moth
ing more in the way of law can be asked.
Agricultural interests are guarded by
making it an offense to sell olemargarine
for butter; by establishing a commits
sion with power to stop the importation
of cattle infected with contagious dis
eases into the state, except those in
transit on railroads. and with authori-
ty to hold meetings, examine witnesses.
establish quarantine and take other
proper measures for the extirpation Of
such diseases when once established.
The Office of superintendent of agricul-
ture was abolished aud board substi-
tuted.
Reduction of expenses was great
deal talked of, but little done. Coun.
ty clerks fees in state causes are reduc'
ed one-half; counsel employed to assist
states attorneys are not to be paid here
, after except in capital cases and those
where the Imprisonment is at Windsor
for more than two years. Salaries o.
: quartermaster general, superintendent
of the house of correction and librarian
{ were cut down, which will save a few
, hundred dollars.
Highway damages are abolished ex
: cept IN cases of bridges of more thar
: eight feet span. Three commissioner
j are to be appointed by the county court
who shall order selectmen to repai
highways and if they fail to do so, ar
point an agent to complete the work
70 charging the expense to the town
Railroads are required to equip all pas
y senger trains with brakes operated b
. the engineer, mixed trains excepted, t
y build all bridges hereafter constructe
= with seven feet between them and tn
> top of cars, and to stop trains befor
crossing any grade crossing.
Z The simplifcation of our crimina
laws took up considerable time. Indie
ments for murder and manslaughter al
" simpli6ed r; in prosecution for forger
D. the simple naming of the paper forge
is sufficient without any fac simate th
5 governor has power to pardon criminal
u conditionally, and have them incarce
Il ated again If they break the conditions
persons convicted of drunkenness ma
! be allowed to 90 free at the discretic
- of the justice, subject to arrest and in
10 prisonment upon ill-behavior. The CO
W of commitment to the work house is s.
u at $25 throughout the state.
u Female suffrage is foreshadowed
g acts giving women the right to vote
~ school meetings and to hold the varior
- offices in connection with school affair
. This step has already been taken
~ many states and can be regarded but
: preliminary to general suffrage.
- Hereafter school districts must ha
az least twenty weeks of school ea
year and children may 60 to an adjoinil
, district when more convenient. Teac
ers who have not proper certifcat
cannot be paid out of public moneys.
The reform school occasioned consi
cradle discussion. A bill giving t
ds selectmen of the town the power to p
90 children convicted of crime under
~ years of age in suitable families up
- the age of fourteen, and to the truste
~ of the reform school the same pow
10 was passed, including also provision
60 the separation of boys in the school il
,ot classes and authorizing the trustees
NO expend for the needs of the school I
III $4,000 voted, which Ex-Governor Pr
mn tor refused to allow them to use.
he LETTER FROM NEW YORK
Especial Correspondence of the Montor.l
no New YORK, Jan. 8, 1881
of Ten human beings wiped out of exi
he esce in five minutes by tenement ho1
,od fire is one of our latest horrors 1t is
oh, H., Al