Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-11-20

wheel and RegulatOr---The House
UngaIlantly Kills Woman Suffrage
"Dead"---High License LikeVise---
Bills That VIII Not Pass.
MONTPELIER, Nov. 1S.
The senate chamber is almost unani-
mousy voted dull place. In these clos
ing days of the session, when all the avail
able space in the hall of the house of re-
| presentatives is crowded with visitors,
even standing room being difficult to OBJ
tain, the easy chairs and sofas reserved
for visitors in the senate chamber are
most of the time unoccupied. The crowds
that fill the house sit contentedly through
the reading and amending of long incor-
poration bills with the expectation that
something will soon turn up to bring to
their feet some of the Is or 20 members
who have the reputation of being good
takers. The senate visitors are evidently
i'll at ease during their brief average so
journ of perhaps ten minutes. The special
correspondents of the state newspapers,
having an eye to what the public wishes
most to read about, make their headquar-
ters in the house, but the senate proceed
ings usually come to the light in the Ian
guage of the official reporter alone, with
out the seasoning and establishment with
which the house proceedings are made so
palatable by the scribes of the press.
Surely the term, "The popular branch" is
in no sense a misnomer for the house of
| representatives.
| Under these conditions it is difficult to
form just and correct estimate of the SEN
ate without the knowledge that comes to
one as a member or an official of that
branch To many such it seems that the
senate is more nearly an ideal legislative
l,l q h. nlnv ,IN.ar off fhn
house very properly has most in mind the
peculiar needs and wishes of his constit-
uents, and his primary aim is to secure
such legislation as will most benefit them.
The same man. If a senator, with a wider
constituency and embracing towns with
possibly diverse interests, and having no
pledges to redeem, is in a better position
to act with that broader end in view, the
greatest good of the greatest number.
The senate has much less work to per-
form than the house and cons quently can
give to it much more consideration. AS
suming that each body, the present session,
will kill so per cent of ito Own bills the
house will have handled nearly 800 more
bills than the senate. This fact of course
permits much more thorough considera-
tion of the work by the senate in commit
tees, a very important featRre in legisla-
|
a more thoroughly dNliSa-sItive body than
the house. In the senate there is but lit
tie speech making; in the house a great
deal. 1t may not be proper to lay it down
as general principle that the greater the
amount of argument on a question the
stronger the probability that the question
will be decided on the merits OF the argu-
ment instead of on the merits of the case,
but it can be said, we think, that the
house is occasionally carried entirely away
from first Impressions, and perhaps fixed
convictions, by single brilliant speech,
and renders a verdict as jury would after
listening to the argument of an able law
yer, with no opposing counsel or charge
from the court. This would not be so
likely to happen in the senate, for the rea-
son that the discussion in that body is
much more general. In considering meas
ures of importance it is quite common for
considerable number Of the senators to
arise and briefly state their position in
much the same manner as they would state
it in the freedom of private discussion.
This interchange of opinions before taking
action has doubtless been a strong factor
in the attainment of such restlts as to give
the senate in the past the reputation of
being a more conservative body than the
house.
The members of the house come to know
all of their fellow members by sight, por-
tion of them by name, but only COM
paratively few of them intimately. The
most pleasant feature of the senate is the
thorough acquaintanceship and oftentimes
warm personal friendship that exist among
the members. The senate friendships are
not of the kind that cease when the men,
bers sit down in their homes on Thanks
giving day morning. The reunions that
are held in the senate chamber each year
are occasions of the greatest interest. In
the recent exciting contest for the COVER
norship a large proportion of the senate of
1892, of which Gov. Grout was a member,
were his strong supporters. When ex-
Gov. Fuller died there were no more ten
der tributes to his memory than those paid
by the men who became acquainted with
his inner self while associated with him in
the senate.
The senate pages are now securing the
autographs of the officers and members in
forty albums bearing the inscription "Ver-
mont Senate, 1896" which will each soon
be filled with forty cabinets and highly
treasured in as many homes.
} OF the senate of 1896 it may be said
briefly that Lieut.. Gov. Fisk makes an ad-
mirabe presiding officer Secretary Powell
and Assistant Secretary Coolidge are both
experienced men and do their work well.
The chaplain, Rev. Wilmond Warner of
Pawlet, is quite a young man and well
liked. The official reporter is the we'll
known Maj. John II. Mimms. He was
one of the official reporters of the house
for good many years. The doorkeepers
and pages are efficient. OF the senators
but little has been said by others and they
are not saying anything about themselves,