Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1904-03-04
MAJORITY FOR LICENSE
Margin Was Only is in Total Of
Over 1900 Votes Cast
Old Town officers Reslected--Tax 80
certs-Special Highway Tax OF
cents-AustraIian System Continued.

License won again i'm Brattleboro by
the narrow margin Of 1G majority, Gt5
YES to $50 no. at the annual town meet
ing on Tuesday. The opposition ticket to
the old board Of srlcctmou was beaten
bv about leo votes The only other puos-
tions of the day in which the voters
were generally Interested were the hN-
ing OF the tax at 80 cents on che dol
lar of the grand list voting special
highway tax of cents. and deciding To
continue the Australian system of vot-
ing.
The main interest centred i'm the license
vote. Positive men could be FOUND on al
sides, men who knew jnat the town would
vote no. and men Who knew that the
town would vote yes. but the great ma tnr-
ity realized that the result was i'm doubt
and would be very cl,s,. The counters
of the votes We're kept guessing until
they reached the last handful of votes
There were two boxes of ballots and In
the first one yes led only by two votes
Ten blank ballots were thrown out
There are all kinds of theories to ac-
count for the result. rho Phoenix las an
impression that if absolutely nothing had
been done the town would ha e voted no.
The work on the part of the believers i'm
prohibition led the liquor interests and
some suppcrtcrS If license to send out
claims that no-liceuse would mean high
or taxes and that the Traffic here in liz
uors would be driven across the river.
etc. Some active work was done at the
last in getting out the license vote
Teams were sent about the village but
the campaign was not as Systematically
conducted as last year \ number of new
names were added to the check list town
meeting day. Twelve names of young
men who have become of age since last
April We're added in one batch. and it is
4 hot L.,
vote yes.
Some of the pie-meeting literature
which was circulated was amusing.
Hundreds of circulars which were
mailed Saturday were signed Local
option Supporters. These circulars
called for no vote and attacked
the license commissioners. The express
sion was general that this circular came
from those who were dsgruntled over
the revocation Of license last September
If they had an influence they helped the
license caUSc.
Last year the vote was yes $50. no
81. so that it will be seen that the yes
column lost 1@5 votes ana the no column
gained %
The meeting opened promptly at .
o'clock, and the voting began Immediate
". The polls were closed for the election
of town officers at > and for license vote
at 3. The result Os the license vote was
declared before 4, but OWING to the mixed
markings on the official ballots the fig
ures for town officers were not given out
until $50. The largest vote for any can
didate was for w. II. Brackett as town
treasurer. His name was ON both the
Peoples and Citizens tickets ana he ro-
ceived 1882 votes. L. :. Eames as road
commissioner had 1913, and w. :. New
ton as town clerk 1871.
For selcctmen the vote was as follows.
Peoples ticket, w. II. Ninton 6l5. f. f.
Gleason G26. q. H. Putnam COZ: Citizens
ticket, f. w. Blodgett 1919, T.. w. Glib
son 500, w. l.. Walker 511. For lister G
L. Piper on the Peoples ticket Resolved
5t2 votes and Frank $. Pratt on the Cit
liens ticket AS.
There was cheering when the license
vote was announced. but there was but
little in the way Of demonstration during
| the day. Not more than 100 voters were
present when the figures for town officers
were read.
When the meeting vas called to order
at p m. for the transaction Of the gem
eral business, DR. Holton said that a
pleasant surprise was in waiting for the
people of Brattleboro, and then called
upon James +. Hooker Mr. Hooker
spoke briefly bat with fine effect Swing
that he had n picture to present and
| that the services to the town of the per
son it represented were too well known
! for him to speak upon eXtendedly. and it
would not be becoming for him to do so
He then stated that his father used to
say that among all the public positions
which he had filed, none gave him SO
great pleasure as that of moderator in
presiding over the town meetings in Brat
tleboro. Mr.. Hooker then undraped the
large photograph of his father which was
on an easel on the stage and covered with
a United States flag. y loud outburst of
applause followed and it was a few mo-
ments before DR.. Hoiton could respond
He thanked Mr. Hooker on behalf of the
town for the presentation, saying that it
came at an opportune time, when all
wished to be reminded of the Importance
of good citizenship, and he referred elo-
quently to Col. Hooker as a man who
never shirked the interests of good gov
eminent and good citizenship. His re-
marks were also applauded.
j. l.. Martin moved that a committee of
three be appointed by the moderator to
draft suitable resolutions recognizing the
public services of Col. Hooker and that
they he spread upon the records OF the
town and published in the local news
papers. He referred to Col. Hooker as
that grand soldier and grand citizen"
More applause followed and somewhat
later in the meeting DIR. Holton named
Mr.. Martin, George w. Pierce, and Rev
j. M. Keneston a committee upon resolu-
tons Mr.. Hooker, in his remarks stated
that the gift was on behalf of his mother
and himself and that it was to be hung
upon the walls of the town house. Mrs.
Hooker and lady friends occupied seats
in the balcony while these proceedings
were in progress
The business of disposing of the arti-
cles in the warrant was conducted as
smoothly as a stage rehearsal, the mo-
lions being quietly made and quickly
carried, with nothing in the way of
contest or of oratorical display.
The auditors report was accepted and
adopted. On motion of George w. Pierce
tax of 80 cents on the dollar of the
grand list, payable July /, was voted. in
accordance with the recommendation of
the selectmen.
The sum of $1,000 was appropriated for
the maintenance Of the Free library G.
b. Kirwan moved that the appropriation
be $1,000, but when II. b. Chamberlain
stated that the amount last year was
$1,000, and that this sum was needed Mr.
Kirwan withdrew his motion, and Mr.
Chamberlain's amendment, making the
amount $1,000, prevailed.
An appropriation of 800, the same as
last year, was voted for the proper OBJ
| servation of Memorial day.
Article asked for an approximation
for the care of the commons and burial
grounds. Chairman Ninton, of the board