Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-09-29
WHAT OUR NEIGHBORS SAY
An Insult to Vermont LegislatOrS--
Boston Paper NEEDLES In Mrs.
Rogers Murder Case.
(From the Montpelier Journal)

months since. The letter states that 1T
is altogether likely" that the Lcgisia-
ture will be asked to vote upon the ques- |
tion, and asks each recipient Of the let |
ter to state whether he is, or Is not, IN
favor of committing the sentence. rms is
asked as favor A blank Is provided
for an answer, and the letter further
states that any communication express
ing an opinion regarding the legislation
in the case, or regarding the propricIy
of visiting the death sentence on a
woman. will be gladly printed.
This is not newspaper enterprise; II Is |
in something that all ideas
of justice demand should be let alone
until the Legislature itself takes it up
and acts upon it. 1t is the same act IN
reality. as would be an attempt to ma
out what jury's verdict or judge 5
decision would be before the case had
even been presented to the court. III the
question of committing the sentence of
Mrs Rogers does come before the gen
eral assembly. that body will be called
upon to act in a judicial or semi judicial
function 1t will be. in sense. serving
as an appellate court to pass upon the
case as to its being ii proper one to
take from the regular course of pro-
ccdure prescribed by the statutes.
Should man. or a newspaper, at
tempt to get jurors or judges to cx-
press opinions in advance on Il case, such
action would rghtfully be adjudgcd con-
tempt of court. TO get the judge or the
jury to maintain a stand on a case be-
fore he had heard the evidence would
tend 10 the pervcrsion of justice. TO ask
the members elect Of the General Assem-
bly, to state in advance their position On
this question is an insult to their in
teGrty. This is not a public question
upon which a person forms his opinion
from general knowledge and his own
reasoning Had the Boston contemporary
asked the legislators to state their po-
sition as to capital punishment as a
general proposition. it might have been
different But this is going too far. Every
one of the men who will soon meet in
tho capitol probably has an opinion on
capital punishment. But probably not "A
half dozen of them are in possession Of
sufficient facts with regard to this
Rogers case TO warrant them in saying
that it is or is not a proper subject Of
Intervention by the LEGISLATURE The brief
reports printed In the papers nre not
sufficient evidence upon which TO base
an opinion as to the enorInity Of tis
crime committed by this woman. Even
these reports were undoubtedly only
partially and perhaps carelessly read, if
read at all. by the mcmhers-clcct II
ing the trial Of the case in Bennington
county court.
lators will treat the proposition IN the
letter as it descrves--that is, pay no at
tention to it, Then they can meet the
question, when it is presented to them
at the proper time and place, in a
judicial spirit. Unhampered by former
declarations. they can weigh the evil
dence and arguments presented relative
to the matter and vote as they decide
that right and honor and justice dictate.
Let them refuse to swallow this insult
to their honor presented by a newspaper
which apparently does not care how it
gets something that will be interesting
reading, If it only gets it. Let this in
quisitor get nothing but the cost of in
curing to pay for its labor, and for its
reward a good humping of it's nose for
! poking that sensational member in where
the commoncst precepts of dec and
propricty ought to have admoi cd it
| to forbear.
| COUNTY BOARDS OF LICENSE COM
SIONERS.
G'rom the Rutland Ncws)
| One of the most important duties OF the
| Legislature, to convene next week, will
| be the amendment and strengthening o
the local option law. 1t is freely predicted
that when the present la W runs ''.e gaunt
let of the legislators il will NJ. know its
!
suggested on various hands arc very rad
cal Without considering the merits anC
dement's of the alterations proposed thu
| statement is unreservcdly made that il
the interest Of the laws effectiveness they
| should be from root To branch.
| Perhaps the suggestion that has beer
made with regard to the liquor licens,
commissioners is as important as any
These commissioners under the prescn
law are appointed in each city or town an'
they have fun control of the granting o
licenses and are held responsible for thu
conduct of the licenses. Many people arr
in favor of having these commissioner
appointed by the governor and to maxi
one commission responsible for all of tn
licensees in each county.
| The system OF county commissioners
rather than city and town commissioners
has distinct advantages In one woult
consider the reason for the failure of tn
lpresent law-nther under license or II.
license-in Rutland. one would perhap
say that 1t principally lay in the too-la:
attitude of the commissioners from til
outset. And yet probably ninety-nine citl
zens out of every hundred, were the
placed on the commission. would have don
no better than the commissioners tina
Rutland has had
1t is only your one man in a hundre
who has the stamina, or who can affor
from business considerations. to stand u
to the rack and rule with iron hand. i
such position. From the nature of tn
case. licensees will not be held to a
strict account by their own neehbors an
fellow-citizens as they would be by
, board composed of say three men selccte
from various parts Of the county
We should like to see the county CON
missioner system tried when this loca
option law is revamped.
NEW METHOD OF SELECTING CHAP
LAINS.
N'rom the Waterbury Record)
| II Is high time that some new mctho
was introduced in selecting the chapla
of both House and Senate for the Lcgis
laturc. To-day it is n political fight fo
the clergyman who wirS and it is bnn
carried so far that it is subject to rid
Cue 1t might be better for the sergear
OF arms to make the appointment.
BIG LUMBER DEAL OFF.
(From the Barre Times)
From n sentimental standpoint the ~
eragc Nermontcr reads, with feclir
akin to satisfaction, that the big lumb,
deal by which l23G0 acres ~ spruce FOL
ests were to be transferred to Rockefe
Ter interests, has been declared Off, An
. this in spite of the fact that we wei
told that the trust" would see to
that the forests would be cut over sciel
tihcally 50 that these immense timb'
tracts would not be dcnudcd as the har
of some ruthless slashers has denudj
and dcSpOilcd some of the best timb