Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-03-25

en- from one Of the two or three towns
| In that district? Most certainly not.
The natural result would be to alter
nate between the towns and get the
best men in the district.
am sure man from Roxbury
could be trusted to take care Of Fays-
ton and Warren or n man from Marsh
field could represent honestly tho
towns of Cabot and Woodbury..
II we cut down our membership OF
the House we will naturally get
broader, and more experienced set OF
men for we shall have a greater num-
Der to select from. The vote for gov
ernor in 1905 in Glastonbury was eight
and that town elected a representa-
tive from the voters Of that town. st.
George with vote Of 20. Baltimore
with a vote Of IL and Brunswick with
n vote of 10 each furnished member
of the House--and there are is or 20
towns in the state whose vote was
less than so that year.
AS rule men of broad business
capacity will not and do not locate in
small towns for there Is not business
enough to tempt them to locate there
This Is only a natural result.
In commenting on this situation the
Mortified News says
| The News Is very glad to publish
| In another column a communication
from Hon, Elihu y. Taft of Burlington.
who Is strong advocate of reduced
membership in the lower branch OF
the General Assembly.
| While the News believes that n
smaller representation in the General
Assembly would be Of advantage. II
can hardly agree with It's Burlington
| friend that a resident Of a small town.
who objected to losing the unit ~
representation. must necessarily be q
narrow minded man. Until human
nature changes n good deal the small
Ter communities are not likely to con-
cede what advantage there Is in hav-
! ing their town count as whole in
the law making body of the State.
The small town has interests which
are not altogether identical with lar
ger towns. While it Is true as the
| correspondent points out that one
small town would look after the in
terests OF others Of the same class.
the district system of course tends to
greatly reduce their representation
and largely increases the more popu
lous communities.
In Mr.. Taft's illustration the larger
towns in Washington county would be
in the saddle on the district plan. as
they would have seven of the 10 rep
rcscntatives A small town set off
with large one would of course have
no voice in the election OF representa-
IL; hn in to- n w
to give It.
| Agreeing, 1t does with Mr.. TAFT.
| thai a smaller representation in tho
House would be desirable, perhaps 1t
would be more consistent in the News
tn do its humble part In trying to
create public sentiment to that end.
The obstacles against such a change
and the argument In favor of the
present representation by towns are so
strong. that it seems to the News a
wiser course is to advocate some plan
whereby the great weakness OF put
ting an inexperienced body OF men
into every Legislature may be over
| come to some extent. =
| A glance at the situation IN the diff
ferent counties shows that II Mr..
Taft's proposition were to be carried
cut the large towns would still fall
far short Of being In the saddle. Our
original proposition. however. was to
provide that no large town should
have more than one representative
ana that the remaining members
to which each county was entitled
should be distributed among the re-
naming towns in the county divided
into representative districts in an
equitable manner
Then the arguments advanced by
Mr.. Taft n. regards man represent
ing his districts towns thoroughly
ans the rotation of representation
b: legal requirement apply
esteemed contemporary do not apply.
In other words no town would have
an overshadowing influence in tho
House, the small towns would still be
far In the majority; every town would
be entitled to a representative within
|
a stated period whether it be large
, or small.
On the other hand the smaller House
would act more promptly than larger
body; the standard of Legislative rep
resentation would be raised: and the
saving with a House like that pro-
posed by Mr. Taft. would amount "a
| over $4,000 every session
No one is trying to steal march
on the small towns in this connection
but simply to secure Just as good re-
suits as at present. II not better, and
at tho same time save large sum.
CARNEGIE'S THREE-LEGGED STOOL
Mr.. Andrew Carnegie never spoke more
| wisely than when he said that ability