The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-12-05
NUMBER 40.

There was no more sense in it than there
would have been in voting to aid Brattle-
boro in freeing the Hinsdale bridge-less,
because in the latter case the bridge is to be
free and open to everybody, while in the
former IL is to be toll bridge. In other
words the state gives away utterly $4,000
to aid certain parties in putting mp a toll
bridge. 1t is a reasonable calculation prob
ably that the towns will get from the tolls
fair interest on every dollar they have to in
vest. If there is anything above that the
towns will get it also. The state pays S20,-
600 for that chance. Add to this the fact
that the state has already expended large
sums in furnishing bridge communication
for Grand Isle towns, and also the further
fact that taxes, as the statistics shows, aver
age only about two-thirds as high in Grand
Isle county as in the rest of the state, and
what excuse is there for this appropriation
that would ever have seemed plausible any
where but before Vermont legislature?-
Brdtleboro Retormer.
In the way of legislation tending to
strengthen the hands of our railroad COM
mission and to make our state laws cores
pond with the interstate law and with the
laws of our progressive neighboring states,
the record OF this session is conspicuous for
the absence of any such legislation accom-
plished. Stated in plain terms, there has
not been a session in recent years when the
domination of the Central Vermont railroad
in legislative affairs has been so evident
and pronounced. An amusing illustration
of the way in which this dominating railroad
influence pervaded the legislature and con-
trolled the action of the majority, was given
at last evenings session, when the bill to
compel the placing of blocks Of wood in
railroad frogs and inside of guard-rails, to
protect the life and limbs of employees, came
up for final action This bill had once been
defeated because the railroad attorney OBJ
jected to its provisions but it finally passed
the senate in a revised form and came back
To the lOuSp. When the sneaker took
the BILL the member from Burke arose and
in the innocence of his heart called the at
tention of tho house to the fact that it
had passed the senate because it has been
amended by our concurrence in the sugges-
tions of Mr.. Writer'S, the attorney of the
Central Vermont railroad company" This
announcement silenced all opposition, and
the bill passed unanimously y.-PhpRir.
THE appropriations made by this legisla-
ture and state expenses will require state
! tax for the coming two years of twenty per
cent and it will probably be divided, max
| ing a state tax of ten per cent for each of
| the years 1889 and 1890. These expenses
and appropriations seem to be necessary,
| with perhaps the exception of the $4,000
| appropriated for the Grand Isle bridge.
| That bridge is needed, but the towns bene-
fitted by it might have paid the whole
of the cost and not been more heavily
burdened than many towns in the state in
the ordinary care of their highways. The
would not have gone through except for a
great deal of " log-rolling." 1t was not a
" steal " in the worst sense of the term, as
no private party will make anything out Of
it, but we think it gives to one locality more
than they can justly claim at the hands of
the Manchester Journal Where was
| Senator Simonds' voice when the bill was
pending for the bridge which Editor
Simonds now says should be built by the
towns benefited by it, and the passage of
w a hnuga = a tpa
the worst sense of the term y? No voice
against the bill was raised in the senate.
Senator Jones of Washington county was
known to be strongly opposed to the meas
| ure, but its astute manager called it up and
got it passed while the senator was away
attending the funeral of niece.
BY statement of the report of the ways
and means committee to be found elsewhere
in this paper it will be seen that the MeSSe1a-
ger was wholly wrong in its statement con-
cerning the cost of maintaining the state
government and paying the appropriations
made by this session of the legislature.
We have waited for this report to see if the
Messenger is guilty of dense ignorance or
whether il was the d" mental twist" spoken
of by the Montpelier WATCHMAN that led
our Kingman street neighbor to widely
misstate the facts. We now believe that
paper is open To both charges. 1t will be
seen by the report that the appropriations
made by this session aggregate over 81 ,OOO-
wv, as against SSoJ,OOb ldSl session. OOn-
cerning the propriety of aiding in the con-
struction of the Grand Isle county bridge
to the extent of $4,000, we have nothing to
say; but the attempt of the Messenger to de-
ceve the legislature and the people as to
the true financial condition of the states
treasury is worthy of the severest condemna-
tion. When newspaper StoopS to mislead
the public in matter of such universal con-
sequence il rightly forfeits the confidence of
every reader. Its baneful influence in any
an1 tNTpAtN OF hAs tg,nsat tad IIa
call of the Grand Islanders for state aid in
their extremity may we'll have been
righteous one bat that does not excuse the
Messenger for the deception which it prac-
tced in order to assist them. Nor should
that paper swell up to such proportions over
the success of the measure in the house by
the small majority of one vote. The ar
tcle in Monday evenings Messenger was
well named q" The Bridge of Sghs" 1t will,
indeed, be bridge of size that will carry
the state safely over the 81 100000 hole
which this legislature has made in its
treasury.-St. Adams Sentry.
No other legislature since the war time
has been so generous in the appropriation
of the states money. Perhaps, when the
people come to count up the cost and see
what all the various appropriations amount
to in solid dollars, some OF them will be in
clined to substitute the word prodigal for
generous. Besides the creation of several
new salaried Offices the giving of a round
sum yearly 10 lilt anu
bury colleges, $1,000 to the soldiers home,
and the 100000 necessary for the new asy-
lum, the Grand Isle people get another
plum in the shape of a cool $4,000 of the
states funds, not to mention sundry lesser
items, which will help to swell the grand
total. The worst of it is that the most OBJ
jectionable of these schemes for the unwar-
ranted use of the public money were carried
through by deliberate trades on the familiar
basis of "You vote for my bill and I'll vote
g. tha i,,,n Ton, 10
well founded, this is especially true Of the
grab of $4,000 for another Grand Isle
bridge. This measure was once killed in
the house, but was called up on reconsid-
Grafton, and went through by bare major
ity of one, The fact is an interesting one
for the rest of the state-that since 1880 the
the Grand Isle people have now had special
appropriations of the public money amount
ing to nearly S14 each for every man, woman
and child in the island county; and this in
spite of the fact that the people up there are
as well-to-do as those of any part of the
state. With this $4,000, they have had