The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-20
fEGSk I. HOVE, EaiIor ana Publisher
ANOTHER LIE NAILED.

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well. as every predecessor has done,
but he also paid for it, which most
of them had not done. 1t is prece-
dent worth establishing. -Brockton
| (Mass) Times.
Mr. Fairbanks should come to Yer
mont and watch the Green mountain
| legislators file out of the capitol on
the last day of the session with their
arms full of official stationery and all
other similar perQuisites Of Office that
have been thriftily husbanded to be
I taken home for domestic use. Il is a
laughable spectacle. that long parade
of two hundred odd homespun econo-
mists, but it is a biennial feature Of
Vermont life that reminds the thought
full OF the probable calibre of some Of
the wisdom and virtue upon whose
statesmanlike sagacity our liberties
and progress depend.-St Adams Mes
senger.
Another vile SANDER on the sons Of
old New England Had the story
come from one Of the newer genera
ton about the statehouse no one
would have been surprised but for an
old stager like the Messenger to so
seriously misrepresent things is a
fault not easily forgiven 1t is all a
cruel lie, tending to belttle a body OF
men who have been enough maligned
The statement that members OF the
Vermont legislature wait until the last
day of session before they carry Off
the loose fixtures of the statehouse is
worse than false. 1t is absurd, pre-
posterous-a malignant and utterly
unwarranted attack on the thrift and
forehandedness of the Vermontcr
whether he be native or transplanted
We cannot imagine what bitterness
possessed the soul of the Messenger
in hurting forth such rank calumny It
isn't true Indeed it isn't
Long before the last day of the SEES.
sion there isn't a thing left that can
be moved. The stationery and lead
| pencils all go the first week. Then
it takes few days to lug off the var
ious printed reports Next go the
ink-stands. paste pots and mucilage
bottles in easy sequence The desk
shears, water pitchers, vases, waste
baskets. copies of the statutes, ETC.
gradually melt away like dew before
a July sun. Three weeks before the
end of the session a member has to
go outside the statehouse to get paper
enough to write a letter on or a pen
with which to write it.
On the last morning the members
leave the statehouse with hands and
pockets absolutely empty except for
their pay checks and they only carry
these as far as the door where they
find their boarding house mistresses
waiting with open arms to embrace
them (the checks of course)
This is not hearsay We speak
from sad experience once on a time
there was on the table of the second
assistant clerk a large and elegant
pair of Office shears. We figured care
fully on how much they would add to
the strength and vivacity of the edi-
torial page of the Banner. The pros
pect was altogether pleasing and we
gloated over it from day to day We
watched those shears as proudly as
a pullet watches her first egg. But
we waited too long When we came
back after the Thanksgiving adjourn
ment the shears were gone The
place that had known them once knew
them again no more Our hopes were
as rubble and ashes, We continue to
edit exchanges with a makeup rule
or a iack-knife Those shears adorn
somebody else's desk and we are dis
consulate.
"Perquisites of office-last day OF
sesslon'-Faugh! The legislator who
waits until the last day of session for
the perquisites Of Office doesn't de-
serve any perquisites. Nor does he
get any. The Messenger has been
ncdding.