The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1890-10-04

In addition to such innovations. he also favors
a law by which all pupils in our public schools
shall be supplied with the required textbooks
at the public expense.
lle bases his argument in favor of such
recommendation upon the broad proposition
that the education of the masses is absolutely
essential to the safety of the state and the
United States that it is, indeed, public ne
cessity; and that the state in recognition of
this principle, has established a system which
is compulsory in almost every feature, and in
which little that is optional can be found and
he claims that the spirit the constitution. as
well as its letter, requires that. inasmuch as
society is protected in its enjoyment of life,
liberty and property in thousand fold greater
d gree by education than through.its jiils and
prisons, every member is bound to contribute
his proportion toward the expense of that pro-
lection, and that until taxation for the support
of those schools in which are taught the
quired English branches is substantially equal
lied among the towns and among the districts,
the state has subjected a portion of its citi-
zens, and those least able to bear it, to unjust
hardship. Time will not permit me to review
his argument Its material is drawn from
every source, his facts are clearly stated, and,
to my mind. his logic is unanswerabe A more
valuable report has seldom, if ever. been pre-
sented to Vermont legislature, and | bespeak
for it the consideration it so richly deserves.
THE LIQUOR QUESTION.
In my first message to the general assembly
| called attention TO the fact. as it seemed to
me to exist, that there had been gradual
strengthening of public sentiment in favor of
the enforcement of the statutes relating To the
traffic in Intoxicating liquors. and that in lo-
calities where in the past few convictions could
be procured the law then found ready support
ers and was easily enforced and that the chief
difficulty encountered by the prosecuting oti-
GERS was found in the more populous commune
ties In this respect have had no reason to
change my opinion, and extended observation
has convinced me that the proper enforcement
of the law in the central localities would result
i'll its perfect enforcement in every town i'll the
state 1t stands to that if men engaged
in the traffic in such communities are seen to
be successful. not only in evading the provi-
sons of the law. but i'll accumulating hand
some properties, weaker men in smaller places
will be stimulated and encouraged to make a
like effort, though upon a smaller scale. If,
on the other hand. the business is attacked and
driven out of its stronghods it will be aban-
dOned III its more exposed positions.
Much OF the Opprobrium that has been cast
upon the law has been the result of a failure in
limited number of the larger places to have
it Rnpartially and vigorously enforced. The
men there engaged in the traffic differ from
those in the smaller places in that they make
it their chief and only business. They are
men who are calloused to all sense of right
and wrong; they enter into Il criminal occupa-
tion with deliberation. they pursue it persist
emily, and they adopt the most desperate meas
uTes to shield themselves from its penalties;
to avoid the operation of the law. they do not
hesitate to commit perjury and often subom
Others to do the same; their crime is of that
order that can End no justification. nor has it
even the excuse of hot anger other evil pas
sions that may he urged by those whose of
fences are often followed by long terms in the
state prison, II seems to me that in the past
these men have been dealt with too leniently,
both by the lawmaking power and the courts.
and that every subtprfure bpnpath which they
take refuge and every avenue through which
they attempt to escape should be carefully ex-
amined and exposed.
1t is a matter of notoriety and one viewed
with fear and shame by all thoughtful citizens
that at every term of our courts men who are
called as witnesses i'll these commit per-
Jury, apparently without so much as a thought
that they are guilty OF "A crime, or that there is
a possibility that they may be prosecuted
therefor. Their guilt is patent to all, and the
conclusion can not be avoided that a conviction
must follow if the witness be prosecuted for
perjury. | apprehend that the reason why
this practic has been permitted to assume such
great proportions lies i'll the fact that statu-
tory authority has been given to our courts to
summaIily order the arrest of such an offender.
and in disnclination on the part of the prose
cutting officers TO proceed against him on ac-
count of the difficulty they encounter in franz
ing an indictment for perjury, which, at the
common law. is a laborious and painstaking
process.
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