Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1908-06-25
Where Vermont Wastes Money.

Where vermont VASES MONEY
The first expensive folly that the Her
aid thinks of il the commission evil.
Vermont has over 40 commissions and
special boards of one kind and another,
with something approximating $50 mem
bers. This IL exclusive of county jail
commissioners, county highway com
missioners, justices of the peace, super
visors of educational districts, fish and
game commissioners and officers of the
Vermont National Guard.
some of these commissions do not cost
the state anything and many Of them,
such a. the board OF health, board OF
penal institutions, railroad commission,
cattle commissioner. etc, could not be
dispensed with as the state il at present
organized, but the large bulk OF them are
expensive and useless features Of the state
scheme of government and ought TO be
abolished. Other boards ought TO con-
solidste. The way l. already shown in
the case of the board of penal insfitu-
tions, which nov oversees the business
of the state. prison, house of correction
and industrial school, and in the case OF
the cattle commissioner, who now does
the work formerly given to three men.
A commission should never be created
whose work can be done by one man or
by Q legislative committee.
In this relation, the court of claims IL
suggested. II any one can give q good
reason why bills against the state of Yer
mont, of whatever character, cannot be
passed upon by the auditor, or IL neces-
sary, by comforting with other state
officers, the Herald is ready to be con-
WINGED. And yet the court of claims sits
solemnly in its imposing court room at
- -
bills against the state and in some cases
solemniy spends more money TO decide q
claim than the face Of the document calls
for -
Undoubtedly, money can be saved to
the state in the enormous biennial ex-
pense of the Legislature. By paying the
members q fixed sum for each session,
with mileage, the utterly absurd custom
Of adjourning on Friday morning and
converting on Tuesday morning would
speedily fall into disfayor. The principle
Of paying members by the day. wbeth her
they work or not, cannot be justified on
any business foundation. In fact, it~
continuance, session by session, lies st
the primary basis of much Of the petty
graft that crops up In the bills OF the lit
tie commissions and which, until the ex-
posures of 1906, received but little stten-
ton by auditors and those responsible for
the peoples moneys.
II the members OF the legislature could
receive only . fixed sum for any biennial
session, Vermont would see the most
summary slaughter of useless bills, the
most admirable industry in the dispatch
of public business, that ever surprised
and delighted the taxpayers of the state.
II makes q big difference whether a
man is loafng on his own time or the
states.
large amount of money IL wasted an
nuaiiy in trifiing litigation in the county
courts and in grsft-fat cases before JUS
tices OF the peace. The re-organized ju.
dietary, which WAS to be such q saver of
the public money, such Q fastener Of the
process Of justice, has not smade good. ,,
The state IL spending more money than
ever before and, 90 far, the Improvement
is barely noticeable. Just how this NAV
be remedied is . question. The lawyers
on the judiciary committee OF the present
legislature did not agree on the present
organization; there weren't enough
ludgeships to go around The lawyer
don't agree on what IL needed now.
The Herald does not know whst /. nee
essary; il does know that, for the money
expended, Vermont 10 not getting resulte.
A few honest justices, honest officers ana
honest states attorneys might help the
situation . trifie, here and there.
In TACT, the latter suggestion IL the key
note OF the whole problem. Until Yer
monters agree TO give the state the same
sort OF service % they exact from their
hired men and women, until the state.
anairs are organized upon the same basis
- any business handling over half q mil
hon dollars each year, until public sery-
ants begin to plan the saving OF the peo-
pies money, instead Of deliberately s~t-
ting out to acquire ~ much of Il q they
can, there viii Be NO reduction In STATE
expenses.
The coming Legislature can save var
mont great many thousand dollars II Il
- out. And Il might bsgin with axr,e-
ing 70 pay itself nxec salary-wifh mil |
eage. Rutland Herald.
Stops itching instantly. Curss pils.
0Cx0D0s mM Y1n0Un e~&t~~ g.