Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1909-01-22

accepted The Rnsu,ipent aud stated
hss he wished th- oil 10 he perfectly
lair between ali companies conc.rn-d
and although be thought the bin Sar |
lair one without m amendment be VIZ
,isd to have al doubt removed. The |
was adopted and the ball |
passed hy almost Unanimous vote.
This ~ the nniy matter on which Gov
Prouiy's integrity, honesty aud fairness
have been Questioned and the splendid
endorsement Of last week has given him
a clean bill Of health ia the matter.
B.ss in mind tina, although the bill
had all the EAR ms-ks Of New England
Telephone Measure the objectionable
features werr eliminated one by one IN
iii the bill was made acceptable to the
independent companies aud fair to the
public. Thus doea 1t appear that the
Governors z-ai in ls,haif al the measure
WAS prompted .Y TO other motive than
TO fulfil his political promise 10 the
peori. OF the STATE, which promise was
made even before he became director
OF the Passumpsic Telephone Company.
Such was the happy ending OF matter
that hajwaxsd warm, that had become
a personal fight, aud which threatened
TO divide apatty.
II seems to be pretty well set.ied that
the only tax reform we are TO have at
present will be hy way u tax commits.
sioD. The offset bill which has been
s!umteripg for several weeks il dead
and buried beyond recall. 1t was called
on Friday and given its final knocsoat.
The names, occupation and Bradstreet' S
iuaucia. rating Of the members voting
against the bill would he very interest
ing reading, and may and time later
TO compile these very interesting sta
tistics and supplement them Bye hrie!
abstract OF each members tax invent
DRY. With all the data before US aud
all OF il n matter Of record it will be very
easy to place the Responsibility for the
failure Of the promised tar reform. The
Governor urged tax reform the tax
com mission appointed by Gov. Proctor
studied the matter two years aud re.
ported unanimously for IL, the joint
committee on taxation composed OF the
ablest men from both House aud Senate
unanimously recommended it and the
Senate voted for il by.a vote Of "a to 1
The old argument that offsets we're the
farmers salvation has been chased to
the woods aud the hsnks, iumberrneu
manufacturers, merchants aud dealers
have bad 20 come out into the Opening
One-half OF all tbs farmers in the
House voted to aboi sh ofsets but the
! merchants, lumt,ernen, usap ufscturer.
and bank directors were almost unani
nous in defeating the measure. Tha
is why J say that published list O
members together with their tax 10
vsntoriss would bs interesting reading
and would prove my statement Of a few
weeks ago when | say that oue-hslf th'
members voted against the bill did *
for their own l~rsonsi interests
The oply thing VIZ may expec. trou
this session Of the legislature III regard
to tax reform will I've the passage OF til,
no called Bacon bill. The original bill
was drawn by Rap. John l.. Bacon o
White River Junction. The bill ha
been carefully revised by tho pres~o
State Tax Commissioner, j. F.. Cush
man. The bill ia a. hong ~ Hudson Ba,
sunset, but is very comprehensive and
will give the state d proper enforcement
Of existing tax laws. About the oni,
radical change in existing tax laws is
that in order to take advantage Of nj
Offset on April lst it will be uecessar
to fils IL statement ef the debt with tn,
Town Clerk before the 10Th day OF Jan
ualy preceding aid then between tn,
lot and 18th daYs Of April to Gle Al
itemized statement OF thu dsht togethe
with u 4. nome aud address Of the cred
tor, all ofSxhich shall be coompaniec
BY an affidavit statiug that the debt i
an honest debt due aud owing and wa
not contracted for the purpose Of eyad
ing taxes. The commission ia give.
power to look iuto all tax matters, su"l
mon witnesses, examine books aud pa
pers and prosecute for perjury. Til
commission must visit every town il
the state aud instruct iisters "a to thei
, duties and may remove listers n failur
or neglect in the performance Of thei
duties. They must see to it that a
towns apprAise property at its true vaiu
in money. The will insure uniforr
appraisal ali over the state and will pr,
vent the competition between town
which ore now trying 70 keep the gran
list as low as possible on account Of til
state. school aud highway taxes.
} will also materially Increase the gran
list of the several towns and stbereb