Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-10-09

| ing administered by retiring Secretary
| of State Rowland, just in time for Mr..
Fleetwood to act as clerk of the joint as
sembly Horace f. Graham, the newly
| elected auditor of accounts will be in
Montpelier next week to take over the Of
flee to which he has been elected Mr..
Graham is states attorney of Orleans
county and has been engaged in court this
week trying State cases.
| The message of Governor Mccullough
to the joint assembly was as follows:
GOV. MCCULLOUGH MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of
| Representatives:
We have come together, in obedience
| to the requirements of the constitution.
/ This government is however ESSENTIALLY
a peoples government. In Vermont the
governor is the titular head OF the State.
He is expected to represent her at pub
lie functions. His duties, unless in some
great national crisis or CONFUSION, are
neither many nor arduous.
/ In Vermont, too, we are fortunate that
the powers of the Legislature itself the
I law-making department of every repre-
sentative government, are only called in
| to exercise in the mildest degree.
| The people govern themselves.
State, whose citizens have mastered
the problem of self-government, is best
| governed when least governed.
From its first settlement through the
stormy period of its colonial life, during
| the Revolutionary era, as an Independent
republic for thirteen years. as member
of the Federal Union for over a century,
| Vermont has been educated In a school
| of self-reliant manhood That the ma
| jority should rule, that the rights Of the
minority must not be infringed that lib
erty regulated by law must prevail, are
| hn hot how hnnr oil Ian
ed by the citizens of Vermont as to be
| and have become part of their very be-
| ing.
The civilization OF this people that had
its origin in lower Germany centuries
ago, that crossed the channel and
sprouted and grew slowly with the ages
amid and against countless obstacles
from within and without on the British
Isles, that buddcd at Hastings and Run
nymedc, at Lewes and Naseby, that
blossomed at Bunker Hill and Benning-
ton and Yorktown, al Gettysburg and
Appomatox, needs no guiding hand to in
struct its subjects in the matters best
suited for their welfare and government.
Your ancestors who founded this little
mountain commonwealth struck off your
nrst constitution in 17T in the midst of
war and with the enemy upon your bor-
ders declared Vermont a free and indie
pendent State" And under it's rule, anu
tained an Independent existence; and af-
ter admission into the Federal Union es-
ia blished the constitution of 1898 under
whose benefcient provisions and the
amendments from time to time adopted,
you and your ancestors for over a CEN
fury have enjoyed the blessings Of free
government, and so far as human wis
dom can foresee, you and your posterity
, will continue for other centuries to en-
Joy the multiplied and multiplying bless
ings of even a freer government.
The very conservative method. too.
| providing for Its amendment insures
against any hasty innovation from pop
ular impulse, and assures that liberty
regulated by law shall continue to be the
rule of Anglo-Saxon development
The provision of the National Constitu-
ton that requires for Its amendment
the concurrence Of wo-thirds of both
| Houses Of Congress or two-thrds OF the
States, and then the subsequent ratifca-
ton of three-fourths of the States, has
received the highest encomiums of mod
, ern political philosophers as one Of the
wisest guarantees of good government.
The provision In our constitution is
equally. If not more conservative, and
yet in practical working there is little
difference
, These provisions insure solidity and Sc
curity and as Is well said these are the
most vital attributes of Fundamental
law.
Our town system existed before the
/ State; II is the inheritance and the
growth Of the ages of Anglo-Saxon up.
, lifting. 1t was simply recognized in our
, | constitution.
These republics in one form or other
have always had their legislatures. IT
their annual March meetings. or at Other
q sessions regularly called, they selec
their rulers for the year and discuss al
3 public questions and. decide what is FOL
q the best good of the community and thu
State; and that judgment expressed a
the general election is reflected in thu
persons Of the GAG representatives stand
ing for these little republics and In thu
persons of the 80 senators representing
the counties.
r The duty and the responsibility OF an,
I | needed legislation rests almost wholly OF
1 you; the function of the executive beinl
. | advisory.
y The retiring message Of my predecessor
. delivered yesterday Is SO full and ex
= haustlve and gives such a comprehensive
e review of the affairs of the State for tn
. past two years, accompanying the SAM
: with most valuable suggestions. that 1
: only remains for the present executive
1 | to add his recommendation to the Gen
| eral Assembly to give these suggestion
!, | their most careful consideration.
. The reports of the various State Of
licers and of the boards of trustees ant
superintendent OF the State institutions
G furnish you with full information upol
- which to exercise y0uy tatslligsat 5udg