Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-12-04
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Platform Pledges The Free Press
Catechised.

NOW that the fulflment of the Repub-
llcan party's promise concerning the ref
crendum of a liquor law is assured, it
may be in order to ask your opinion on
certain associated platform pledges which
seem to have been forgotten. 1t is too
latc TO refer to the Interpretation ~
| lhc words license and local option
law except to remind you that after
inc utmost use of the party lash clear
majority of the straight republicans in
the House followed conscience and in
tclligencc aud voted for measure which
i'll their judgment fully conforms to the
spirit and letter of that pledge, when
both measure and pledge are fairly un-
derstood. agree with you that in the
present state of feeling the Battell bill
could not be wisely substituted for the
saloon bill. but how did this state of feel
ing come to exist? Partly because the
saloon papers of Vermont have carefully
Kept from their readers the real merits
of the Battell bill, denouncng instead of
discussing 1t and frequently utterly mis-
representing it, and partly because such
papers as the Free Press have merely
printed the Battell bill in such fine type
ana great bulk that not one reader in u
thousand would have the courage if he
mad the eyesight to go through it, and
nave failed to give a brief and clear digest
of its provisions in such form that the
popular mind could grasp it..
! suppose it is also too late to discuss
further the phrase "a direct vote on the
acceptance or rejection" of the proposed
license measure; but the scant majority
in the House which endorsed your view
of this matter was gained only by call
ing in the help of democrats who were
opposed to any referendum, and who
frankly supported this one on the ground
that 1t amounted to little or nothing.
There are scores of delegates who were
in the republican convention of last June
and thousands of republican voters in
the State who will never be satisfied with
any such substitute for the fair and plain
meaning of the words "a direct vote on
acceptance or rejection" The referendum
for which you have argued has no pro-
vision, express or implied, Tor the re
, lection of n license measure; 1t simply
postpones, with mo- ma jority, the date
of its operation and who can give the
slightest assurance that the Legislature Of
1904 would repeal such act, whatever
, the vote next January? The doubt as to
. the consttutionality of a direct vote-and
this is only a doubt not a certainty
; should have been considered when the
direct vote was promised: such a doubt
; is no justification for now deliberately
; violating the plain sense and commonly
understood meaning of that pledge.
But let us look a little further at this
platform of last June. 1t atfrms that
"any material modification of the existing
, law should be made only after a thor
ouSl ulscusSlol anu mature ucipeTatioh
ny lhe people, what nave you com
IneHucu as an interpretation OF thls
pIih"! mere is " measure Wiucn mas
{ pe'h out Oh the committee hahus barely
t"o WEEKS "Hich mas p'eh ruS!itN
through It's passage thus far with scarce
lY any time Ior study or uepatci Whi'h
Is sun incomplete IN some important de-
talls. It's own makers ana friends belnT
- the Judges: and on which popular vote
Will be demanded in probably less than
a month after 1t Is signed by the Cover
: nor. And YOU call this thorough dis
5 cussion and mature elaboration by the
, people True, the opposite policies or
| prohibition and license have been dis
r cusscd for the last twelve months-tor
the last twelve years for that matter
= very generally, but here IS specific
measure notwithstanding the policy of
Vermont for half a century, on which the
| voters of the state are to have less than
/ a month for consideration. The platform
also speaks of ascertaining tine Will of
the people" What people? The Montpelier
convention presumably had in mind the
\ whole people: but the trainers OF this
4, referendum have tricllly planned to take
, advantage of the usual conditions of a
= Vermont winter and secure a vote when
4 there is the greatest likelihood that
blockaded roads will make it impossible
. for the farmers of the State to express
their well known views to the saloon.
20 We rightly understand you, Mr..
, Editor, to insist that this is demanded
- by the test Of the platform? II 50, we