The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1902-11-12
AS TO A STATE CAPITAL

House Dill 0ol proposes TO make
Burlington the Capital of the State of
Vermont.
The sum of 5000, 600 is appropriated
for the erection of a State House. pro-
vided Burlington shall furnish for the
same purpose 5000, 1000. A board of
commissioners shall be appointed by
the Governor to select site at Bur-
lington, procure plans and specifica-
tions for capitol building, land
said commissioners are empowered to
take so much of the present capitol
building and its appurtenances as
they shall find it advisable and eXpedi-
ent to move to Burlington for that
purpose, and shall sell and dispose of
all that may remain thereof, and all
real estate belonging to the State at
Montpelier, in such manner as shall,
in their discretion, be for the interest
of the State; and the Governor is
hereby authorized and empowered to
make and execute proper conveyances
upon sale thereof, the proceeds of
which shall be applied towards the re
moval and construction of said capitol
building"
Herein is the gist of the proposition
to provide "a new headquarters for the
State of Vermont If there were any
serious need or purpose of naming
any other town as the place of seat of
government and the erection there of
capitol buildings, involving an i'm
mense expenditure of money, the
proposition could hardly be more in
opportune or more crude and unbusi-
nesslike.
There is definite and clearly de-
fined purpose to do something, and to
do it at once, as the final section of the
bill for the removal reads "This act
shall take effect from its passage "
But beyond this there is no definite
proposition; there is no proposition
at all from Burlington; there are no
plans or specifications of building
that shall adequately provide for the
requirements of the General Assem-
bly,, for the sessions of it's two Houses,
committee rooms, rooms for the Gov
ernor and the official corps of the leg
islative bodies; there are no plans
for accommodations for the State Ii
brary and Supreme Court, and there
are no estimates of what it is all going
to cost the taxpayers to provide a site
and build State House adequate in
size and provisions for the State gov
eminent, And yet, in the absence of
all these fundamental essentials, it is
proposed to act at once in matter of
the gravest Importance to every inter-
est of the State A definiteness of
purpose is expressed and an expedi-
ton of procedure proposed that man
of any sense would not employ in the
erection of a cowshed Again, it is
proposed to sell out of hand lot OF
very valuable property to which the
State has right only so long as it
is used for the purposes to which it is
at present devoted.
sold and "the proceeds applied toward
the removal and construction of said
Capitol building:' Is not this some
thing like Ethan Aliens version of the
interview between the Savior and
Satan, on the high mountain when
Satan was promising all the kingdoms
of the earth which lay at their feet if
the Savior would fall down and wor-
ship him, Though the poor fool didn t
own rod of real estate in all the
world?
When in 1906 Montpelier was made
'the permanent seat of the Legislature
for holding all their sessions, " the town
gave the land and built the State
House, and it was provided THAT if a
future Legislature shall cease to hold
their sessions in Montpelier, the State
shall pay to Montpelier the value of
the property" There is a very valu-
able bit of real estate the State of
Vermont is now occupying, which it
cannot ALLEVIATE, which it is holding
on sufferance and for which it must
pay, eff the Legislature shall cease to
hold their sessions in Montpelier. "
For the first State House Montpelier
paid some $40, O0O for the second,
completed in 1888, the town paid $18, :
900; toward the construction of the
third, occupied in 1859, citizens of
Montpelier contributed some $65, 600.
This city has thus, in the course of
nearly a century, invested in State
Houses tidy sum, the interest there
on is considerable amount, and "the