Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-11-23

Highly important work was done III
che LEGISLATURE last Friday morning
when the bills establishing the state
highway commission and increasing
the taxes on railroads and the appoint,
ment of an investigating committee ot
state commissions were disposed or
The first bill brought out some debate
Mr. Flynn of Springfield representing
the administration on the floor and Me
carr of st. .Johnsbury the committee
Matters of salary in detail were dls,
russed and this measure which carfleh
an appropriation of about slou,OUV was
nasscd after Is minutes discussion
With only faint dissent The railroa'l
tax bill which means an increase oi
about $4,000 in the state 5 revenue
was passed unanimously. The commit
foe 10 investigate state commissions
consists of Finn Of Springfield, Porter
of Wilmington, Jackson of Barre ana
senators Stafford and Chase. In the
afternoop the house killed the employ
ers liability law which does away WIN
the contributory negligence as impair
/ inc the ease of an employee suing tor
damages Senator Chase's bill calling
for an appropriation of 500 to inVestl.
gate state water powers was kiiied pS
/ an overwhelming vote atter some uis
cnssion. Another bill killed was that
making voters ineligible in town meet a1
| inps unless their taxes were pald o'
davs before election. .
Roth branches of the legislature go'
down to work quickly when they re
convened Monday afternoon ana iarg'
amount of routine business was trans
acted. The house thought better OF '''
vote refusing the third reading 10 7en .,
ater Chase S water power bill "hici
was recalled from the senate, the Not'
refusing the third reading reconsldere'
and reeommitted to the committee o.
state and court expenses.
After some discussion the hous'
passed the bill permitting the shootins
| of pickerel in the public waters OF th'
state. The senate ordered to a thif'
reading the bill providing for the ap
nointment of cattle commissioner an
nrosrribinp his duties and powers. I'M
committee on railroads from the sefia'
and house gave a joint hearing MohGa.
evening on the three house bllls reiaI
inc to the state board of railroad com
missioncrs. These bills were introdnce'
bv Gibson of Brattleboro, Finn o
Snring6eld and Senter of Montpelier
These three men spoke in behalf OF tn
measures they introduced, while =.
Writers. attorney for the Central Nei
mont railroad, appeared for the oPpo
s;tion. He said he believed the lay
now in force to be ample for the need
of the state and the railroad anu
Objected to the feature of the pllls ul
der discussion which gave the commi'
, sion mower TO condemn men for rallroa
n,1rn6ses and to award damages II
e.;d he considered the Gibson bill alt'
rether too drastic, giving as 1t does
most unlimited power to the raliroa
! commissioners; whereas as matter
fact they already have more power
than do the commissioners in any state
! Fuller c. Smith, chairman OF the RAJ
road commission, said the Gibson bl
would make the commission a ludlciai
instead of an administrative BODY, as
now is. Judge H. H. Powers appeare
: as attorney for the Rutland rallroa
and said that the present law cove,
= every conceivable case where remeu
/ is needed.
| The feature of the work in the Sc
ate Tuesday was the execution by
vote of II to Il of the house bill gran
| ing municipal suffrage of women IN
bill was taken up under special orde
and the senate chamber was crowd'
| in anticipation of lively debate
| Both senators from Windham coun
| voted against the bill. The hou
| spent a good share of the afternoon
| discussing the bill providing for rec
| ganization of the Judiciary and OF
| tablishing a dual system of eour'
| Most of the lawyers in the house su
| ported the bill The house ordered
| a third reading without dlssenti'
| vote the bill providing for the parti
nation of Vermont at the Jamesto'
| exnosition next summer. This bill CO
| ries with it an appropriation not to
| ceed $4,000 and there were some W
| wished to increase this amount to VI
600 Gibson of Brattleboro and Por'
of Wilmington were among those W
smoke in favor of the appropriate
Nv q vote of 100 to 96 the house pass
| the bill providing for the appolntm,e
of a state fair commission. rms .
which carries an appropriation OF wv
was killed in the house carrier III
1 ,,,os rncucpitatp0 hV