The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-09-22

likelihood that law of entail wonl,
meet with favor. Though the writer
plan of Limiting the amount OF lands [,
be entailed would remove or lessen n,
objectionable feature, il by no mean
docs away with The real objection {,
cnla' IN this country. That objcclio,
lies IN the fact that such q powct
would engraft upon our society a sys
ten of class distinctions; it would Gre
a" an aristocraCy. The desire I,
found and perpctuate "iamily" is ;
strong one in most men, and if the Gus
tom were icgaized and praciiccd i
would not be long before Il large pro
portion of the farms of the cstat,
| would be cntailcd. An offensive fami
ly pride, and tendency to arrogatt
society privileges TO themselves wonld
he natural result. Ii estates were
large enough to enable their lords in q
measure to justify their prctcnsions by
proporiionatc expenditure and display,
| then a motive, If not n justliablc one,
! could be alleged Tor cnacling law OF
entail. But to have a small two. fora
cent aristocracy saddled upon Yer
| mont society presents little attraction
to the many whose landless condition
would consign themselves and their
descendants 10 the rank of The enid
die" or CLOVER classe IS" for all time.
We presume the writer of the article
would not deny that the entailed
possession of the land of the state
would have this tendency
Among the advantages pi:iured is
the purchase of our landed estates by
capitalists OF other states, thus bring
ing in foreign capital aud enhancing
the price of lands. 1t is very likely
that his would be the case. Capital
ISIS would doubtless be pleased TO in
dulgc in such toys as entailed estates,
and 10 set up an imitation of English
aristocracy, and would spend much
money in identifying and adjoining
their domains. But can there be any
question that intelligent and self-sup-
porting freedom and equality are
worth far more than aristocracy found
ed upon the possession of land?
There are certainly ample tendencies
towards inequality now; chiefly tow
ard exclusiveness on the part of the
possessors of certain thousands of dol.
lars. toward ratino thn nossessiou of
money as the only desirable thing.
We certainly do not want to add to
this vulgar tendency by modifying our
state constitution.
The writer would seem 10 be little
"out" regarding the advantage to la
Dor to result from the change. II is
not likely that wealthy owners of Ell.
tailed estates would pay more for Ia
Dor than their ncighbors whose lands
are i'll their own disposition. An cs-
tate OF two hundred acres would yield
only certain limited income, and the
of this income which could
70 TO labor would be no greater than
now. If mans only property
was all cntaied estate, he
would be under as great al
l2mpta,ion TO squeeze" his laborers as
he tightcst farmer who is trying TO
make lis farm yield enough to satisfy
The claims OF his cO-hcirs in it.
There is no need TO point out the oh
lection - entail arising from the pos
session of land by one who did not
wish 10 live upon it, and who might
wish :" dispose 4 il, INA, hv Nigh,
benefit himself CWi OF is proceeds.
Men may know what is best tor heir
-pn>, but they are likely 10 be mistak
al Us to W hat is best for their sons de-
,ccndauts. Unless entalcd estates are
large enough toeivc ample wealth by
heir sole possession, there is often the
hanger that man would have occa-
sion to curse the entail which ssddled
him with ii piece of property from
when ne could not realize its value.
In this country property of all kinds
should be at the free disposition of its
owner The desire to have our wills
bind our descendants for all time NAV
be natural one, but nevertheless FREQ
lom in the disposal of property 10 80
desirable and benefi cial as freedom in |
other respects, and no law TO lessen |
his freedom would advantage our
people. The law of entail is a
,nrse TO England, and TO any country
where il obtains. Let us leave it and
he aristocracy which it creates to the
descendants of the robbers and cut
hroats, who founded European arts
0cracy.