The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1893-05-26
THE SEWER CONTRACT, Is II LIE
GAL OR ILLEGAL?

Dpdlu VI llunltNo uoNO OCOl
bent so strongly to secure opinions from
counsel tending to uphold the legality of
the instrument and have manifested such
a partizan and hot headed determination
to build sewers, with or without author
ity, that many have been inclined to
doubt whether the village is not after all
in the predicament of the client who tells
his attorney only that part of the story
which helps his side of the case. Audi
alteram par TEN, or, hear the other side,
is legal maxim which is a corner stone
in the professional conscience of the le-
gal fraternity jurists give little weight to
legal conclusions arrived at eX parte;
such cases rarely, if eyer attain the rank
of presidents. Power is always at war
with her own boundaries" At the
trustees meeting of March 6, it was
voted: "That Messrs. McClintock d
Woodfall of Boston, Mass, be engaged to
superinteDd the putting in of sewers in
our village" A similar resolution had
been voted down in the meeting of the
village at large held on the same day.
At the trustee meeting of May 10, ION mo-
ton of Trustee Holden the following res
olution was adopted; -Resolved, that
McClintock and Woodfall, engineers, be
by the village of Bennington al thOrized
for and in the name of the village to no.
tify Waldo Brothers of the size and
amount of sewer pipe for the village in
accordance with their contract; and that
McClintock and Woodfall, as engineers,
are further hereby notified on the part
of the village of Bennington to lay out
and superntend the construction of the
sewer in accordance with the previous
vote of this board and contract already
made with them whenever the contractor
is ready" etc. Sec. % of the village char
ter provides 1.-THE street commissioner
shall superintend the construction and
repair of y sewers and drains, sub
iect to the authority and direction of the
trustees" Freeman. Taxpayers, what
say you to this high-handed exercise of
autocratic power in direct violation of
our charter and a vote of the village? Is
this government of the people by the
people?" Has the hot-breath of tyran-
nv swept over Article 6 of our Bill of
Rights and left the words baptized in the
blood of the fathers, meaningless on the
printed page? Arc "ofiicers Of govern
ment'' no longer trustees and servants"
of the people? Does this government no
longer exist for the common benefit
*''of the people" ~ sand not
for particular emolument or advantage
of any single man. family or set of men,
who are part only of that cOmmunity?'
Or has Vermont, the only original free
and independent State (of which Anthony
Haswell of Bennington fame was
&c; nese a,;n{ldSd her title to
tralization of power? Mol she has not; she
will not without struggle, but will res
olutely endeavor to teach her sons by
adoption or ''to the manor born les
son of obedience to her constitution and
her laws, to teach them that before they
assume despotic sway, it would be we'll
to acquire at least elementary knowledge
of the constitutional limitations which
restrict the exercise of official power
No; we do not need or desire to import
Street Commissioner; we already have
one who is respected citizen and pays
taxes here, who is thoroughly competent
to discharge every official duty which the
law charges upon him and whose fidelity
to every trust reposed in him is high
above the shadow of suspicion. The
great charter of English liberties, so called
was wrung from King John, June 10, A.
d. 1915 by his barons assembled in arms
at Runny Mede, on the little island in the
Thames in the county of Buckingham
shire, which is still called "Magua Char
ia Island" The great charter was al
ternately disregarded and confirmed by
King John and succeeding kings for 200
years, since which period it has com
handed respect and obedience from the
rulers of England and public officials in
the United States, except in rare in
stances when autocratic power has
raised its hydra-head quickly to be dis
patched by the fatal shafts of an indig
nant people.
Only five of our of seven trustees met,
deliberated upon or signed the alleged
sewer contract. One of the trustees was
detained from the meeting of the board
on that occasion by a PrOvidential cause
which everyone recognizes as sufficient
to render his attendance improper and
practically impossible. The authority,
if any, to execute contract was con-
ferred upon all alike jointly. The vote
was "that the trustees of the village of
Bennington be authorized, empowered
and directed to close contract for the
and establishment of pub
lie sewer" etc.
The authority conferred, if any, was
to preform judicial act, not included
among their official duties. The village
might have conferred such authority up
on the sewer committee or any other
agent or agents chosen and designated
by the village for that purpose. Indeed,
the contract so-called was printed to be
signed by the sewer committee, the
words 'sewer committee" were erased
and the word trustees" interlined in
stead. At a session of the supreme
court held in Caledonia county in 1870,
Hon John Pierpoint, Chief Judge, and
Hons. James Barrett, Asahel Peck,
William G. Wilson and Hoyt II. Wheeler,
Assistant Judges, a very able Court,
bill in Chancery was heard and decided
which had been brought by the town,
of Danville against the Montpelier and
st. Johnsbury Railroad Company, and
the Selectmen and Treasurer of Danville
to restrain by injunction said selectmen
and treasurer from issuing bonds of the
the town to the Railroad Company in
payment for stock of the Railroad Com
pany, which had been subscribed for by
two, out of three commissioners appoint
ed by the town for that purpose. Judge
Wheeler delivering the opinion of the
court, which was unanimous, says in
the course of the opinion, 'the authority
to the three commissioners was joint to
them all. Although the town of Dan
vile, for which they were appointed to
act, was public corporation, and the
object for which all this bust
ness was to be done, was the building OF
a railroad, which was, in some sense a