Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1900-11-23
ESSEX County Nrrala.
Private Considerations i'm Respect
to Public Affairs.

he acquitted and that OF each jury
man. = Exchange.
Those occurrences are frequent. but
behind the light of such countenances |
there is too often dark shadow on the |
making and execution of laws. a shade |
made more darkly reproachful 10y the |
light of such mobile features as too often |
make and execute laws. Sometimes the
oath To try matters in court "without
fear. favor or affection" seems little else
than solemn mockery. The impulse
called humanity when properly directed
is the exercise of the noblest attributes
of manhood; but when exercised 10y
motives of personal favor or enmity it
becomes the most vicious and danger
Gus. Stability, judgment and justice
are among the most essential requisites
of making or executing laws. indie
pendent action above all personal con
siderations is the great element of safety
for the citizen or the state. While the
purposes of the law are kept intact and
used only as means to accomplish the
real ends and objects for which they
were formed government is safe. and in
dividualS are safe. But when men sue
coed in putting the state or towns into
schemes which they have neither the
means nor the capacity to conduct to
successful results the safety of the com
mmtv is threatened. 1t is remarkable,
too, how ready credulity is to open the
doors for the admittance of adventures
in respect to such matters. If towns for
instance had been held right on the
original lines of their creation, and the
original purposes for which they were
created had been strictly adhered to,
one-half the time spent by our legisla-
ture in disposing of personal, rival and
conflicting schemes would have been
saved. 1t is soft easy going sentiment
that bends legislation to personal uses,
to temporary convenience and to latent
designs.
An adventurer with plausible pre-
sentiment suggests scheme for the state
or town and the mass suddenly see
millions in it and each seems to see him.
self in sight of large gains personally,
and so fall in without even stopping to
see whether the projectors are carrying
out personal schemes, or whether they
have proved themselves capable of
availing themselves of or managing sue
cessfulIy their own individual financial
opportunities. If a project is desirable
the world is full of means for men indi-
vidually or collectively to engage i'll any
enterprise of any magnitude.
OF course it is easy to use political OF
semi-political corporations for personal
convenience, to use them for credit, to
run them heavily in debt, and to have a
nice, easy and flush time out of the pro
ceeds of borrowing if the people doing so
have no care for their children on whom
the burden will ultimately fall, and
probably in time when they will be
less able to bear the burden than the
contractors now are. Seltishness says
use the credit of corporations. Let us
develop ourselves, have business COM
forts, conveniences, and a good time
generally, and let posterity pay the bills.
If political bodies had always been
kept on the lines originally laid down t.
define and limit their powers, purposes
and objects they would not now be the
object of multitudinous designs. The
legislature would not have been spend
ing half it's time in looking behind pro-
posed measures to see if they have III
terror designs, and what they are; and
a quarter more of it's time in determine
ing who it is best to favor. TO illus
trate 1t is said that many members
voted against the proposition to pay fol
the Dewey celebration, but on finding out
ln+ all ha tnta haI ,,1nI paI
the funds and would have to pay for the
dance if the state did not, they thought
differently. Are the funds OF the state a
matter to be played with, and theil
disposition to depend not on whether OIL
not the state is justly liable for them but
upon whether if it don't assume them
they will fall on locality or Influential
men all over the state? In the first
place the crowd ran wildly after a TO
mantle hero and eight-tenths of the PEG
pie of the state would have cheered auC
thrown their hats high in air at the pro
posal for the state to pay the expenses Of
that celebrations But when the wave re
turned and the hero had offended public
fastidiousness or sentiment by doing
something like eating with his knife
when he should have used his fork, ther
many turned and declined to foot the
bills for their own misguided or intem
pcrate enthusiasm, then turned agair
when they found who would lose if the
state did not foot the bills. The legis
lators are not almoners in respect to the
funds of the state, much less are the state