Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-10-02
THE OPERA HOITsH scuHNTH

]
hall into an opera house. published in your
last issue, with considerable interest and
admiration. They certainly look plausible
and even tempting; but few objections
to the scheme at once suggest themselves,
| some of which seem to ordinary minds,
accustomed to work out results through
common-sense and legal processes, to be
! quite insuperable. As this is a matter of
much public concern that ought to be fully
discussed before action is had thereon, |
beg for a small part of the space YOU have
already devoted to showing up AMI advo-
eating this scheme, in which to state some
of these objections.
lst Stripped of all frills and embelisl-
ments, it is bald proposition to destroy
| good and suitable town hall, which is an
| imperative necessity for the orderly and
/ proper transaction of the public business
of the town and village, to create an opera
| house--a luxury for the well-to-do and
/ rich, to be sure but of very questionable
] utility in its influence on public finances
and morals. ! say destroy the town hail.
/ advisedly; for the new hall which this OPP
/ era house scheme kindly proposes to leave
| to the people, after suitable platforms are
/ erected, will have only One-half the seat
/ ing capacity of the present hall-a space
/ entirely inadequate for town and village
uses. There are about 1900 legal voters in
/ the town, and 1900 to 1900 in the village
all to be accommodated on election and
other public occasions i'm a hall that
will seat less than 300! This fact only
needs to be stated to show the rank alb
surdity of the scheme. The present hall
/ is none too large for the decent accOmmO-
datiOn of the voters, and has frequently
been found quite too small for church fairs,
L. i'll.
village meetings, could not be held in an
opera house with fixed seats and slanting
floor. Then, too, new lookup would
have to be built, for the scheme destroys
the present one as well as the very CON
venient lower town hall; and the town
agency would have to seek outside quarters
| also. If this scheme should be carried
through, the building of a new town hall,
at large cost, will become all immediate
and pressing necessity.
ID The ESTIMATED cost of the pro-
posed transformation is set down at SlJ,-
900. Any one who has had experience
with estimates of cost made by architects
and engineers. knows just what reliance to
place on such figures. No responsible
builder, it is safe to assume, will contract
to do the proposed job, in suitable materi-
al and finish, for once and half the sum
named; and no doubt -, 900 will be
found none too much including the build
ing of "A new lookup. The claim that
additional rentals will pay interest on the
money expended, is simply absurd. But
even if this were true, it is an argument
that kicks" because every dollar of rents
so gained presupposes the collection from
our citizens, and the vanishing from town
of SO or so other dollars paid for what,
oftener than otherwise, harms rather than
benefits the people. 1t may safely be as
serted that a vast majority of the shows"
that perambulate the country Ito say moth
ing of the many thousands of dollars they
carry of each year that might much bet
ter be spent for food and clothing and ed
ucation, or be put aside for a rainy day.
are absolutely harmful in themselves. They
educate downward instead of upward, and
ill the minds and hearts OF tn young with
thoughts and desires and suggestions that
tend to evil. Ought the town, then. even
if it legally can, to run itself in debt to
provide facilities for what too often tends
to mpoversh and corrupt? Opera houses
are, and ought to be, built by private and
not public money, if built at ALL So much
touching the mere expectancy of swallow
Ing the sugar-coated pill presented. But
there are still graver objections.
, 3D.. And these objections may be pro-
pounded in the form of a question, thus {:
"Hhere is the legdi authority To be found
, Ia tar the people TO buiid an opera hOHSeI'
Ask any reputable lawyer, and his answer
, can only be that no such authority exists.
And ii ought not to exist. Towns were
, not organized nor empowered to do such
things. Probably not one-tifth of the vot-
ers and taxpayers of this town have any
use for an opera house, or would derive
any benefit from one Why, then, should
the four-tifths be taxed for the special ac-
commodation of the fifth, and that one
fifth too composed OF those quite able to
provide and pay for the luXuries they de-
mand and enjoy? The comparatively poor,
i whose daily bread comes from daily labor,
{ and they constitute vast majority of the
, people very rarely attend operate per
formances, at home or elsewhere They
: have not the time or the money, nor the
dress-parade equipment for such costly in
dulgences and designations; and it is gross
ly niuSt-yes, positively wicked-tO tan
them to provide such indulgencies for the
rich, and the law so holds. 1t is hardly
= conceivable that the taxpayers of this town
4 can be brought to assent to this scheme
e and it may therefore safely be assured that
!, it will receive its quietus whenever it is
= submitted to a popular vote. But if il
y should happen otherwise the final DISPOSE
y ton of the whole matter may confidently
e be left to judicial decision.
/ TAXPAYER.
Brattleboro, Sept. 2S, 1891.