Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-01-14
Keep Experienced Men in the Legis.

One of the facts emphasized in connec-
ton with the meeting of various State
agricultural organizations in Burlington
this week was their inability to secure de-
sired reforms. Different speakers referred
to improvements which should be made in
various directions; and when they came
to inquire concerning the responsibility
for failure to secure the same, the reply
usually was that the Legislature could
not be induced to pass the needed meas
ures
When this whole trouble Is sfted 1t is
evident that the explanation of the diff
hcnlty is to be found in the custom of re-
fusing second term to members of the
Legislature. BY the time new members
have become impressed with the neccs-
sity of instituting reforms in various di-
rections the intense rush incidental to
the close of the legislative session has
begun and the men who might accom-
plish desired work at the succeeding ses-
sion are replaced with new men, who go
to Montpelier with few and crude ideas
regarding measures which should be en-
acted. Our lawmaking body has been re-
pcatng this process for decades, and in
many respects we are no further ad-
vanced AS regards legislative methods
than we were when the biennial system
was first established.
We recognize the desrability of keep
ing men of experience in position in both
branches OF Congress, but when it comes
/ he al I'M of tcl,
to the opposite extreme and as a rule in
sist that the offices of representatives, and
senator shall be continually passed around
so as to give every man Il chance. In
other words we insist that men shall be
made for our national legislators, but that
State legislative positions shall be made
for men. This custom is so absurd that
it would be promptly relegated to the
past. but for our antiquated system of
representation and the consequent de-
termination that every man in town shall
have his turn in the Legislature.
What we need in Vermont Is n con-
tinuous Legislative body; that is, a Legis-
lature which shall always contain con-
siderable number of men of experience
! III Id IIldhluS al lcitSt Oue-tH Oh the
members of the House of Representatives
should be reelected in order to secure
satisfactory results, and if the proper
ton of old members were to be in
creased, the results might be still more
gratifying. In such an event the return
ed members would know what to do at
the very beginning of the session. and the
new body would have the benefit of the
experience of its predecessor in connection
with any proposed measure, thus saving
much valuable time which under exist
ing conditions is devoted to the some
what intricate process of learning the
/ legislative ropes and necessarily wasted.
| If the people of the various towns were
really alive to their best interests, they
would insist upon retaining the services
of a good legislator for at least two ses-
sions. if not more. In our Legislature, as
in the legislative bodies of other States,
| it Is the man of ability and experience
who commands the greatest influence:
and the town is much more likely to have
its interests conserved by an experienced
legislator than by a new and untried ma n
of proLlematical Influence and Of I'M
known legislative ability