The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-12-19

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to the welfare of the state, and when
the time for setting its machinery in
motion comes, let il be done with an
eye single to the best success, the high
est attanable efficiency, of the law.
Individual interest in the other pub
lie acts will vary as different depart
ments of bushes and affairs have been
touched by the lawmakers. But the
people generally are manfesting a
lively concern in Act No. 1, which APP
propriates 81 1885, 900 for various state
expenditures, and No. 2, which lays
tax of twenty cents on q dollar of the
grand list of the inhabitants of the
state and provides for the borrowing of
such additional sum as the treasurer
may need beyond the amount raised
by taxation. No. 7, to simplify the
collection of taxes, is permissive, but if
the selectmen are not actuated by too
common desire to divide up the public
service so to give as large a number as
possible an opportunity TO serve their
country-even in the thankless office of
tax -gatherer--and do "include all of
said taxes in one BILL" the long
suffering inhabitants may end the
agonies of tax-paying for one year at
single operation, and have the satisfac-
ton of knowing when the annual exac-
ton is ended. The existing status of
the normal schools, the report of the
able commission to the contrary not
withstanding, is continued by No. 10
till the year 1900. Several numbers
relate to the important matters of the
savings banks and trust companies,
and these will interest depositors and
bank officials. Among the important
ones in this class is No. Is, subjecting
loan and investment companies to ST the
laws relating to the examination and
report of savings banks and trust COM
panies. "
No. Is allows the railroad commits
sioners to authorize the running of such
through trains on Sunday as the public
necessity and convenience, in their
opinion, may require. No. % reads like
an ironical embodiment of the recon-
mendation of the railway commits
sioners of an enactment requiring the
railways to heat their trains by steam
after November, 1889. There is GER
tainlv pronounced vein of irony in
the provision that " nothing in this act
shall authorize the commissioners pro-
hibit the heating of cars by steam from
the engine" People who spend much
money for mileage tickets read with in
terest the title of No. "a, can act es-
tablishing uniform rate for mileage
TICKETS" but uniformity" and even
the crate" itself, are conspicuous by
their absence from the text of the en-
actment. No. 30 appears to be an inn
portant addition to the prohibitory code,
but since the collector and the records
of the internal revenue department are
outside the state, and the latter, as W.
are informed by competent authority,
are kept in cipher, the procurement of
evidence of the payment of the United
States special tax is invested with some
difficulty. No. AZ, by its discretionary
clause, effectualy hamstrings Governor
Dillingham's proposition to make i'm
~ MT 1Na altxr 70 ho Gra nc
fence in unlawful traffic in Intoxicating
liquors. This act is like the deed of a
workman fabricating fine vessel for
a useful purpose, then deliberately
punching hole through the bottom
and this is the characteristic, the weak
ness, of too much of the temperance
legislation. Is there a method in this
kind of law-making?
The acts creating an industrial COM
mission and providing for the collect
ing of statistical information have been
noticed in previous issue. No. 9G
seems to have been overlooked in the
closing hours of the session. BY it the
members OF the Board OF Agriculture
are paid So a day instead of 50, and the
expense of printing the report of the
board is to be borne by the state, the
same as other state printing! measure
that will release a considerable sum o
the annual appropriation for the apostles
) of agriculture to be used for the hold
ing of more or longer meetings. Eacl
legislature makes more or less worl
for its successor. This body ma,
not have made more laws to be re
pealed than its predecessors, but it lief
undone a great work for some future
general assembly.
How 1t Might Have Been, and How
1t Could Never BE.