The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-07-14
FRANK 3. HOWE. Editor and Publisher
The Attorney General

The Rutland Herald in a long edl:
torial reprinted in this issue of the
Banner makes lame effort to justify
its wild charges against Attorney
General Clarke C. Fits, but only
makes the weakness of its argument
the more apparent. The Herald re-
marks:
THE Banner says that the office of
attorney general costs the state $500
to $4,000 per year and that the EN-
ployment of counsel to assist the
states attorneys would cost a great
deal more. AS the Herald has al
ready pointed out neither Mr.. Fits
nor any one else is ubiquitous, he
cannot be in more than one court at
a time, so that, in the event OF more
than one important cause, counsel
would have to be employed in any
event"
One of the things shown by the
record of the past four years is that
important state cases can be so placed
on the court calendars of the various
counties so that the attorney general
can 90 from county to county as his
assistance is required with no detri-
ment to the business of the court
Mr.. Fits came to Bennington last
winter to assist in trying the Mahan
case direct from the trial of another
murder case in another county and
went from here to the northern part
of the state to appear in another i'm
portant trial. All three of these were
timed by the court for the convent
ence of the attorney general. For in
Stance here In Bennington county 1t
made no difference whether the Ma
har. case was the first case of the
term or the third, so by making il
the third it was made convenient for
the attorney general. In this respect
it would be no different If the state
hired a special attorney, for the
courts always arrange so that busy
lawyers with important cases in diff
lferent counties can take care of them
lall to the best advantage. Later on
the Herald says:
In 1906, this paper, with several
others, published facts about the
shameful traffic in diseased beef en-
couraged and participated in, as it
afterwards came out, by officials OF
the state OF Vermont. The facts were
supported by sworn afiidavits and
were indisputable and yet this man
Fits came brazenly forward with a
statement in which he practically
whitewashed the whole rotten mess.
declaring that there was no evidence
that showed that the states officials
were involved, although one of his
first official acts after the legislature
adjourned was to prosecute the gull
| ty parties.
Herein we suspect lies the real
reason for the Herald's animosity
toward Fits. The Herald has never
become quite reconciled TO It's failure
TO land Clement in the governors
chair and still feels a bit disgruntled.
The real facts in the case are some
what different from the Herald's
theory. In the height of the 1906
campaign the Herald and its candidate
after complete failure in making
out case on the other issues hit on
the diseased meat scandal. In a
fierce outburst the Herald attacked
the state of Vermont, all the state of
ficials. the entire Republican party
and even a few peaceful Democrats
who weren't on the Herald list So
tremendous was the Herald onslaught
that even the selectmen of the Her.
aids own favorite town of ''Hayville'
began to worry lest they might be in
dicted and sent to prison because
they didn't cremate the carcass OF a
dog that they killed for chasing
sheep.
The attorney general as was highly
proper, came to the defence of the
state and answered the Herad's
charges against the state of Vermont
and at the same time proceeded with
his duties in prosecuting any indivd
ual violators of the law to the finish
When the election day came the vot
ers sustained Fits instead of the
Herald and the Herald appears t.
have not yet forgiven Fits.
AS has before happened in Its
career the Herald has failed to prove
its case.