The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-11-14
NUMBER 46.

members are farmers, and who refused as
sent to the reasonable motion of Mr. Dole
of Northfed that the election of trustees he
! postponed one week that the matter of Civ
| ing the farmers a representation through a
| live man or two of their profession might be
| considered. The astute manager of the
| University of Vermont apparently had his
schedule made out and all outside inter
| ference was promptly sde-tracked. Will it
| be thus when his little bill for the " old
flag and an appropriation " comes up?
THE general committee held a hearing
| Friday afternoon on the various bills re-
! latng to the bounty on foxes and other
noxious animals. Mr.. Sherwin of Jamaica
spoke in favor Of the bill introduced by him,
which increases the bounty on panthers,
wolves, etc, but repeals it on foxes. Messrs.
! Phelps of Westminster and Dwinell of
Calais, who introduced bills in favor of the
repeal of the bounty laws, were of the
opinion that the fox bounty in particular was
superfiuity and that just as many foxes
would be killed if it was abolished. Mr..
| Smith from Vershre was then called upon
and appealed to the committee in behalf of
his famous fox bill The weight of evidence
seemed to show that the present bounty of
fifty cents offered little inducement to hunt
| foxes. 10 secure its payment the foX's
head must be taken to the town clerk with
the ears cut off and fee of ten cents paid.
As the cutting Injuries the skin twenty-five
cents worth, the hunter realizes from the
bounty only fifteen cents for his trouble.
THE WATCHMAN is doing a great deal of
work gratutously for the state press. 1t is
one of the incidents of journalism at the
capital. We are always glad to make the
| WATCHMAN useful to our contemporaries, as
well as the public, provided always that
credit is given. We regret to notice DISPOSE
ton to use the WATCHMAN reports without
giving credit. Recently the committee on
education had public hearing continuing
till eleven o'clock. Time and labor are re-
quired faithfully to report such hearing,
sift the facts presented and write out COM
prehensive report. We notice that the St.
Johnsbury Repubticdn appropriated the re-
port bodily without an indication of credit.
1t was something of a task to go through
the railway commission report dissect it,
CLEAN out and condense information of i'm
portance and of public interest and present
it in an Ineligible form. Such a task is
not lightly performed. We notice the
WATCHMANs work III this direction has all
been appropriated without credit by the
Bennington Banner. These are only two
instances. All we ask, gentlemen, is COM
mon regard for the ordinary rules of Jour-
nalism.
AT a meeting of the education committees,
held after adjournment Friday, the con-
sderation of the school bill was continued.
The question of the number, salaries and
appointment of the supervisors was thor
Il
probably recommend an amendment, when
the bill is reported increasing the number
of supervisors in the large counties to at
least two. as the weak point in the bill
seems to be the amount of territory which
must be covered by the superViS, rs in the
large counties. The advisability of employ
ing women as supervisors was suggested,
but the idea did not meet with general
favor. AS the bill now stands, the super
visors are to be appointed by the governor.
A 9 the hill will barIlv ba tba
very last of the session, the governor will
have difficult task to perform, if he sue
ceeds in selecting suitable men in each case
in time to secure the approval of the senate
before adjournment. Mr.. Prouty said that
he had spoken with Governor Dillingham;
on this point and that it seemed advisable
to make some amendment which would re-
lieve the governor of this responsibility and
provide for the appointment of the super
visors by the people. 1t was voted to re-
port the bill substantially as it now stands,
with amendments.
HAD the house not adjourned so soon
Wednesday afternoon it would probably
have received from the governor house bill
number seven, without his approval The bill
provides that the beneticiaries of the Sol
dier'S Home at Bennington shall not lose
the legal residence held by them at the time
of their entrance, and that they shall not ac-
quire a legal residence in Bennington so
long as they are members of the home.
These were the only provisions of the bill
as 1t was introduced, but an amendment
was adopted by which all the inmates of
the institution who are legal voters in any
part of the state shall have the right to vote
for presidential electors, state and county
/, officers and member of congress by having
their names properly enrolled on the check
list of the town of Bennington if they elect
to do so. 1t will be seen that, under the
, provision named, certain of the inmates
may vote for member of congress in a dis
, trct OF which they are not residents others
may vote for county officers in "A county in
which, by the terms of the act itself they
are not and can not become residents;
, while Others may vote for Judge of pro-
bate in district which would not have
, jurisdiction OF the estate OF the voter in the
event of his death These provisions are
contrary to the spirit of our institutions,
and the time having now passed in which
he has the constitutional right to interpose
veto, the governor has permitted the act
to become a law without his signature.
"THE customary attempt to undermine,
eviscerate or weaken the prohibitory law of
our state is on foot at Montpelier, and will
meet the usual fate of the measure. The
state of Vermont is not going to change her
policy on this subject, and Messrs Pitkin,
Senter and other good democrats who are
pushing for license law, will find them
selves as unsuccessful in their advocacy of
license, as they have of free trade and mod
ern democracy" The above from the Free
Press is creditable neither to its fairness
nor its intelligence, The Pitkin bill is pre-
sented and advocated by a republican rep
resentative, Mr. Pitkin of Montpelier. A
similar but much less stringent measure
was introduced in the senate two years ago
by Senator Valentine, and a favorable re-
port upon it was made by the special COM
mittee to which the bill was referred. Sem
ators Valentine, Bates and Draper were this
committee. Mr. Bates was then and is now
president pro TEN of the senate. Major
Valentines record as a sincere and active
temperance man needs no vndication. This
committee was made up of republicans who
We're practical temperance men. Were
they chargeable with an attempt TO un-
dermine, eviscerate or weaken the pro-
hibitory law -? The narrowness and
pcttiness of the spirit that seeks TO
throw discredit on measure of this char
acter by coupling it with party politics
is quite incomprehensible. The prin-
ciple of this bill has had and still has
the hearty approval Of many of the stanch-
est republicans of Vermont. Warner Miller
went down in the fight in New York con-
tending for much milder embodiment of
this principle than the Pitkin bill The