Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1904-08-26
SOLID DEMOCRATIC TRUTH
Space Controlled by Democratic
State Committee
THE REPUBLICAN BAD FAITH

w inc LOCAL Opuou La" -
lated Measure Two Years Ago-And oy
Vote of Two or Three to One, at DIFFERENT
Stages, Sought to Kill It-Denoera's
and Clement Men Saved It--Reward Of
the Latter
The Republican platform Of 1902 with
reference TO the all-absorbing issue oil
that campaign, said;
And we request the state Legislature az Us
next session u make provision for ascet'Alh,hs
the will of the people by direct vote on tnS
acceptance or rejection OF hcehoe anu " VI
cotton law regulating the sale OF intoAicAuhs
liquors and further provision That upon poP'utd
vote in favor of such law duly ascet tanned tne
same shall become a statute Of the state IN
force.
This was the promise to the people
on which the Republican party won
that election. Without it defeat would
have been inevitable. How did IT fulnl
that promise?
In the first place the promise itself
contained a trick. The Prohbitloh,
neutrality-suspicious. who drew that
platform knew-and they discussed the
fact before presenting the plank TO
the eonvention-that the Supreme
Court had said, in case Just
after prohibition was adopted, that sueh
direct referendum would be uncoh-
stitutional Yet knowing this, they re-
fused to propose form OF referendum
like that by which prohibition was
originally adopted, which indirectly as
certained the peoples will by making 1t
question of dates. They planned to
lead the people into a procedure that
the Court would annul. But for the
Democratic exposure of it, the trick
would have slipped through without
jar.
And vet when the legislature met, in
the face of this exposure, in the face OF
warning from the president of the Bar
Association, and of overwhelming legal
authority that this procedure at the
very least involved needless risk, the
great bulk of the Republicans stood
doggedly to it. Can there be shadow
of doubt of their purpose to cheat the
people. when every man of them knew
| that a referendum in the form of that
| of 1853 would Just as well answer the
purpose of ascertaining the peoples
will?
Then in the face of their promise to
| the people to present a license and
! local option law the Republican party
instead attempted to foist upon us the
Battel state store, enlarged and loos-
ened town agency scheme. Defeated in
both these projects, by the union OF
! Democrats, Clement men and few
genuine local option Republicans, they
bent every energy to spelling the local
option measure with amendments, and
succeeded in large measure.
Does not the record warrant every
one of these charges? Let us see. The
total membership of the last legislature
was 273 80 senator's and 243 represen-
tatives besides vacancies). Of these
AZ were Democrats, Sc Clement men and
] labor. Lawrence of Rutland. The
vote for governor was "A for Meet
trick, 50 for Clement and l64 for
MCCULLOUGH, with absentees. Several
of the l64 were elected as fusionists, but
to leave no chance for dispute we will
count them all straight Republicans.
On the question of substituting the
bogus referendum the vote in the House
was Ill "yea" to l27 may
OF the "nay" votes the Democrats were A
OF the "nay" votes the Clement men
OF the q nay" votes the labor vote was.
OF the "nay" votes the straight Re
publican were OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. 81
T.;
So if it had been left to Republican
alone, the people would have beer
tricked out of the law by a vote OF
nearly three to one.
In the Senate and House together the
vote for this bogus referendum was III
to l47.
OF the l47 that saved the state from
this cheat, As were Democrats. 81
Clement men, labor and 4s Republ
cans. OF the III all but three were
straight Republicans, so of all the Re
publicans in the legislature, over two.
thirds (l0S to 4S), voted for a known
cheat.
If the legislature had contained it
usual Republican majority, or that o.
1900, the same percentage would have
made the vote 1874 Republican in favoI
of the cheat to IS Republicans and Al
Democrats against it, or a majority o
90 for it.
The question of substituting Thu
Battell bill for the license and loca
option law promised did not reach
J vote in the Senate but in the House i
was 81 "yea" (all but 2 straight Re
publicans) to AS may"
OF the las the Democrats wsre...,......, 4
OF the las the Clement men were......-. 4
OF the las the Labor vote was. .......,...
, OF the las the straight Republican were 8
IA
So of the straight Republicans tn
vote was 80 to 55 for a fiat repudia
ton of their platform promise, an,
if it had been left to them, the stat
store system, that has wrought sucl
decentralization in South Carolina an,
built up an impregnable political ma
chine for Tillman there, would hav
been inflicted on this state. And if tn
Republican party has its expected ma
jority this year, relieved from tn
Clement scare, this is just what we ma,
expect of it.
Every amendment calculated t.
weaken the law or make it odous, ha,
an even larger Republican support
One of the worst of these was tina
which would have practically fined ever
town that attempted an honest enforce
ment of the law by making it pay tn
costs of prosecution of law-breaker
and sending the fines realized to tn
state treasury. Senator Sutton, Demo
crat, made a direct issue with pre-
posal to provide a stimulus for stringen
enforcement by giving all fines, les
costs, to town treasures; but he wa
ruthlessly voted down, while even pre-
fessed licensed Republicans wer
threatening that if any more amend
ments were attempted to remedy tn
mutilations Republican bad faith ha
nut into thp bill. the whole mea sur