The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-02-26

form on which he stands in the pres
ent contest
Let il be understood that for M
Fleetwood We have nothing but the
highest personal regard. He is an &C
complished and attractive gentleman
but there is one plank in his platform
which under any circumstances
would render il impossible for US 10
favor his nomination OF that of any
other man. however high our person
al regard for him. who holds like
views on the subject. We refer 10
taxation. The following is his state
ment in reference thereto
Believing that the faithful admin
istration of the existing tax law
would clearly reveal wherein chang
es should be made, l would favor the
| establishment of a state tax commits
| sion of which the commissioner of
state taxes should be chairman, as
recommended by the reports of the
/ special committee on taxation. Such
/ a commission would greatly aid in
making the administration OF the
present law uniform throughout the
state"
In other words, Mr. Fleetwood IA
yors the establishment of a commits
sion TO enforce a discredited and non
enforcible law. He Omits to specify
the powers with which he would
| clOthe such a commission nor does
he specify what good he would &C
complish by it, for it is idle to say
that the enforcement of the law by a
| 81 Mould ranvr,a1 r.rhrraff, tho
changes should be made, for the evil
dence already gathered at great ex-
pense and submitted by the very able
commission appointed by Governor
Proctor by virtue of Ace No 50l of
the Laws of 1906, demonstrated as
far as any evidence can the changes
necessary to be made in our law be-
fore a tax commission can be of any
practical benefit
If Mr.. Fleetwood refers TO the rec
ommendation made by the commits
sion then we beg TO call his attention
to the fact that that commissions
recommendation touching perma-
nent tax commission was coupled
with certain other recommendations
for radical changes in our existing
law, for this commission was unani-
nous I'm stating that the strict en-
forcement of our present law in some
respects would be disastrous Let Mr..
| Fleetwood read its statement touch
ing the appraisal of forest lands for
instance and we are of the opinion
that he would have to admit that he
had never read the report with any
degree of care or that when he for
INFLATED this plank he had reference
to the report of the special commit.
tee on taxation which served in the
legislature of 1908. If he had in mind
the report of the latter then the
writer must call his attention to the
fact that the members of that com
mittee were unanimous in not press
ing tax commission bill without ii
could be accompanied with certain
changes in the law for it was found
from careful investigation that such
a commission could be of no practical
use without an annual expenditure OF
more than $4,000 and none Of them
was able to see that the state would
derive a benefit commensurate with
the expense thus to be incurred
And so from a careful reading Of
his statement touching taxation, We
are forced to believe that he was
: lightly and unadvisedly" led into
making IT, The day has gone by when
the people will accept a commission
as the cure-all for any evil. The state
has already been commissioned
= well nigh unto death.-Springfielt
| RauOrtpr