The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-11-18

ings in the House this week. II the COM
mittees continue to keep up with their work,
and the long-winded takers can be muzzled
the House will have plenty of time to hear
Chauncey M. Depew Monday afternoon,
November 90, without neglecting any work
or duty.
THE committee on education is more than
satisfied with the amount of work it still
has on hand, and, il we read the signs
Alright the House will have an easy time in
disposing of good many of the bills which
have fallen to the lot of that committee to
extensive tinkering of the school laws will
be looked upon favorably, though there are
bills galore with that end in view.
THE attempt to raise insurance rates to
the extent Of two per cent, or, in other
words, the effort to get III. 221 on to the
statute book, requiring fire insurance com
panies to pay over to trea-urers of fire de-
partments two per cent premiu N on all
business done in any town or city where
such fire departments exist, was one of the
funny things that legislators sometimes
meet when out cunning, and it was
promptly and properly brought down.
OWING to the attraction at the Opera
House, and to the fact that several House
and Senate committees held important pub
lie hearings Wednesday evening, the lecture
delivered in Representatives Hall, by Rev.
III. NJ. Douglass of St. Johnsbury on True
Citizenship" was SHINY attended. Mr..
Douglass is an eloquent and scholarly gen.
tleman, fully coversant with his subject,
and the handful who heard him speak in
the highest terms of his lecture. There was
no admission fee as at first announced.
THE temperance committee Wednesday
evening discussed the cigarette bill and GER
tain measures relating to town liquor agents;
also the act relating to larger fines and
penalties, also the bill on the subject of
search warrants to enable liquor to be
seized between midnight of Saturday and
| the following Sunday. An agent of the
manufacturers opposed the cigarette bill
and limited that such legislation would be
unconstitutional. Some plain talk was in
dulged in on the sale of cigarettes to minors,
and the enforcement of the present law was
| urged.
Kenny r. Cliff. member of the House,
received Tuesday from the adjutant gen.
erals office, State of New York, the Gettys-
burg medal, which is given to each soldier
of that state who was present in that his
toric battle. Mr.. Cliff was a member OF
! Co. g. One Hundred Eleventh New York
Infantry Volunteers and was wounded Sc
verely on the last day. The honor Of wear
ing this beautiful bronze medal Is one
which every veteran OF the war for the
Union would highly prize.
WHEN the yeas and nays were demanded
|
bill making witness fees two dollars instead
of one dollar per day, several members made
| themselves conspicuous by retiring to the
! lobby to escape going on record for or
! against the measure. Others, in their seats,
| refused to answer to their names as they
were repeatedly called by the clerk. Col.
Haskins killed the bill by the forcible ten
minutes speech he made against it,, and
thereby saved the state anywhere from
, $4,000 to $25 900 year.
QUITE a delegation of st. Johnsbury men
appeared before the committee last night TO
discuss two bills amending the village char
ter--one OF them providing for annual cleo
| tons of three trusteea and the other leay-
| ing the trustee matter about where il is at
present with six members on the board, two
of whom are elected for three years. A
strong petition of business men was pre-
scented on behalf of the annual election plan
and against any method which tended
towards the perpetuation of a board OF
| trustees.
SENATE bill 49, providing for a more
systematic disbursement of the permanent
highway fund, was killed Tuesday morning
but the chorus OF noes was very faint, aud
the measure is to have another hearing. II
| is a twenty-seven section bill, and calls for
a tax Of seventy-hye cents on each bicycle
owned in the state by way of keeping well
replenshed the fund for the improvement
of the highways. Permanent improvement
is what a great many OF the highways in
Vermont need and state cash put into that
sort Of thing Is we'll invested; but this
particular bill includes some features which
operate against favorable consideration
OF It,