The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-11-17
Smallpox Scare Makes Legis-
Iature Thoughtful
PLANNING TO GO HOME
Speaker Cheney To-day Urged All the
Members to Become vaccinated--A
Great Many New Measures in
the House To-day.
State House. Nov. II. ,Os.

State House, Nov. IL, '0s
'When IS the legislature to get
through" is the oft repeated question
heard on the streets and in The State
House corridors and the offices about
the building. If person hazards to re.
ply by naming date this side Of
Christmas there is a pause for the ex-
planation Of how it is figured out.
When a person attempts to make this
explanation he realizes what this legis-
ature is really up against and what it
las done in the more than SIX weeks it
has been in session.
Ask man, legislator or observant
citizen who has followed the official re-
port of the doings and attend some of
the sessions, what has been accomplish
ed up to this seventh week and sudden
ly he viii knit his brows, look perplex.
Cd and finally grasp with delight at
a couple Of monstrous measures that
ctme TO his mind like the abolisbment
cf the court of claims, the voting OF
the 5000 for the ChampIain celebra-
tion and that is about all.
II would be unfair to say that moth
ing else had been done, for many pre-
liminarics have to be gone through with
before big measure in which new ter
ritory is TO be hewn out comes into
either body. Public hearings have to
be held, many committee meetings and
a division by the committee Of a bill
t.ra cod IN, casak 80 .lv=
what the committee believes is a meas
ure that viii meet the approval Of the
members Of the two bodies. IL remains
a cold fact, however, that 40 days Of
tile session have rolled away and none
cf the big questions, all of which will
require large amount Of debate and
consideration, have come before the two
bodies for consideration.
The taxation question is one involv-
ing many opinions and ideas. The pass
hes been reached when the state wants
something done. If mistakes are made
the people will stand for them but they
want something done. There Is the
question Of a permanent taxation com
niission TO be decided, the question Of
whether offsets will be abolished on
debts outside the state, inside or botn
and the question Of the tax on intan.
gibles to draw out wealth which has
heretofore remained hidden. This ques-
tion mas not been touched in either body
yet and doubtless viii not be until af-
ter Thanksgiving at least.
There is a question Of the testing of
cattle for tuberculosis. The state has
spent St7s,000 in two years for cattle
killed on this account, yearly about one.
tenth OF all the states receipts. Some
thing surely will have TO be done with
this and ii will involve considerable dis
cussion, If it is done away with alto
eether, and there must be discussion to
safeguard the peoples interest by some
other protection.
The public service commission plae-
ing all public utilities under the 81.
peryision Of state commission Ia GER
tainly important and will have to come
In for lot of debate 1t il novel
idea placing the expense of tine com
mission upon the concerns over which
the commission has supervision,
Then the primary bills have not
come lin for debate and it is really be.
lieved that the state wants something
actually done in this respect. The
license question, while it may not be
materially changed, win still come in
for large amount of debate on some
of its features. The employers Iiabili
ty bills are many. The question is i'm
rcrtant and it is new ground in this
state. 1t il understood the committee
has not come to any conclusion as to
what to recommend
The district court bill is still under
discussion Of the committee the higa-
ways bills must be sifted ont BY the
committee and then threshed out on the
floors Of the two bodies, the education
al measures are still with the commit
tee and one bill alone provides for
manual training normal school that
will cost over 100000. The state fair
bill has not yet come up for discussion
These are some of the things that re-
main for the legislature to handle after
the Thanksgiving recess.
What Has Been Done7
Now in justice to the legislature IL
should be stated that in actual point
OF time this legislature has been cut
down over two weeks time from that
Of two years UP to Thanksgiving. The
opening day Of the legislature this year
was nearly a week later than two
years ago and Thanksgiving comes
nearly week earlier so that eompari
sons can only be made in actual point |
of days consumed. Two years ago the |
legislature was in session 70 days in all |
Up to Friday of this week tie present |
legislature will have been in session |
45 days. If the legislature comes
back the Tuesday following Thanks
giving and remains in session up to /
the day before Christmas it win still
be a shorter session than two years ago /
by three days.
The question is, can the legislature /
do the work in the time remaining and /
the many more big and untried ques-
tIons before it than faced the legisla
ture of 1906 In the House ATS bills |
had been introduced up to last night, /
% passed. 35 advanced to a third read /
ing. dismissed and ordered to lie. /
Eight Senate bills have passed the
House and one has been killed with 16 +
n the hands Of the committee. This1
makes about 3s0 bills to be disposed Of
IN the House and more than that, in