Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-09-13
VERMONT THRIFTY AND INCORRUPTIBLE
New England Magazines Article the Model State Fee From
Bossism Of General High Standing Other States Its
Railroad and Pure Food Laws.

IfeSluGnl Roosevelt;
Sec 2. The Governor shall, during the
session of the General Assembly Of 1906,
with the advice and consent of the
Senate, appoint three persons as mem
Ders of said board, who shall mold their
offices as follows: one, whose term of
office shall end November so, 1908; one,
whose term OF office shall end Novem-
Der 80, 1910; and one whose term of
office shall end November 80, 1912.
Sec s. Said board shall nave the
powers of court Of record, both at law
and in equity, in the determination and
adjudication Of all matters over which
it is given jurisdiction. 1t may render
judgments, make orders and DEGREES and
enforce the same by any suitable pro-
cess issuable by courts of law and equity
in this state. 1t shall have an Official
seal on which shall be the words, State
of Vermont. Board of I,ailroad Commits
sioners. Official seal"
Sec. 20. AL SummOnSeS issued by said
board for any party to appear and answer
any original petition or complaint pending
before me board shall be served like
Wits OF summons, and at least twelve
days before the return day thereof. Said
board shall have jurisdiction on due notice
to hear determine, render judgment and
make orders and DEGREES in all matters
provided for in the charter OF any rail
road corporation or in the statute of
the state, and shall have like jurisdc
ton in all matters respecting:
another.
IL. All highway grade crossings and
signs, signals gates, or flagmen at the
same.
Ill. The location sunciency, and
maintenance of proper depots or sta
". The construction and maintenance
of proper fences, cattle guards and farm
crossings
V. The maintenance of the tracks.
frogs, switches, gates, signals. culverts,
bridges a1d other structures of wood or
IRON over openings, and rolling stock and
equipments SO as to accommodate the
public and be operated with safety and
in compliance with law.
vi. The. connections, time and times
OF connection, between connecting roads
for the accommodation of the travelling
public and the transportation of mer-
VII. The issue of stock, mortgage
bonds, or the issue of other securities in
order to prevent overcapitalization.
~, OILS ana rates when unreason-
able or in violation of law.
IN. The manner Of operating railroads
and conducting the business thereof as
to be reasonable and eXpedient and to
promote the security convenience and
accommodation Of the public and to pre-
vent violation of law and unjust discrim-
nation, usurpation or extortions.
y. The organization Of railroad cor
porations by voluntary association.
Appeals from the judgments of the
commission are to the states supreme
court but the commissions DEGREES are
not TO be suspended during the hearing
OF such appeals, except by a special or
l.
lntendents are required to report to the
commission in writing. Immediately,
every accident resulting in loss OF life or
INJURY to any person, and every collision
and derailment. If such accident results
in loss of life or serious injury to a pas
sehser' such report shall be given by tele-
graph. The provision by which any ten
freeholders of any county can hale n
railroad before the commission for the
nearing Of complaints makes it impos-
sloIe Tor the roads to stine complaint bv
controlling public attorneys, which is
the TOO common practice in some other
states not thousand miles from Yer
mont
The members of the Vermont railroad
commission are John w Redmond ~
Newport, chairman; Eli H. Porter of
w limington, and S. HOLSTER Jackson of
Barre,-aH good men. of sound common
sense ana some special fitness for their
WORK. and In themselves a guarantee
lnat the new rule will amply protect the
rights Of the public. -whether passen-
gers Shippers or observation-disclosures
doing Injustice to the nonresident can't
taLsts who own and manage the states
public highways.
1t Is worthy of note that Vermont. the
state that first led the way out of chatteI
slavery, now leads the way out of the
newer and hardly less CALLING politico-
industrial slavery that has been laid
upon all the states by the private owners
OF the public highways of trade and
travel Hats off to Vermont!
Progress That Represents Sound Thouoht
Governor Proctors program of progress
siVe legislation last fall embraced. be-
sues railway regulation and pure-food
Jaws inning the state up with the ideals
OF President Roosevelt, the creation of
large permanent public school fund
| ana the regeneration of the states dirt
highways. 1t included plan for higher
taxation of corporations, the authorize
tloh OF nursery for forest seedlings at
the State Agricultural college with a
view to guiding the reforestation of waste
lands IN the state), the improvement OF
superintendent of public schools, and n
VIDE range of other beneticent measures
And all of them were written into law.
In abiding to these measures and
others of like character as forming
the governors program, I do not
mean to indicate that Governor Proc
tor dragooned, or tried to dragon
an unwilling legislature into passing
them In fact, he probably did not walk
iar' II at all, in advance of the desires
OF the majority of the members of the
legislature. Vermont always keenly
alert to modern development for all of
her apparent geographical isolation and
the little that the rest OF the country
hears about herr has felt for a decade
the IeTInent OF new ideas, and has been
preparing TO do just what she did in the
fall Of 1906. The Legislature now in Office
represents, on the whole, Vermont's
highest grade of citizenship. Its leaders
and its rank and file alike, with few ex-
cepuons, came up to the capital resolved
to do just what they did, and the argu-
ments Of special interest fell on deaf
ears. They were not only with the Gov
ernor in all his measures, but they
would have enacted these measures or
most of them, without his assistance and
leadership. These new laws, therefore
are not the freak conceptions of a few
radical politicians. They represent the
matured thought of the state, and they
will be enforced by a strong public SEN
,.ment behind them.
There again Vermont differs from some
other well-known states.
An Actual Step Toward ReforestatIon.
saw the promise of great future gains
for the state in the little nursery for
forest seedlings at the State Agricultural
college in Burlington. There Is a grow
ing feeling in Vermont that the state
ought TO buy and reforest large tracts of
land, once farmed in a frugal fashion,
now abandoned to scrub timber. There
are few land owners who can afford to
plant pine seedlings on their farm and sit
down and wait 80 years for returns.
I lie state could do this easily enough,
and could in this way get a very large
revenue in later years At any rate, the
state is now preparing to show how wild