St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1910-11-02
LEGISLATURE IS BUSY
VIII Begin Serious Work of the Ses-
sion Now Appointments
by the Governor.

friday Until Iu0SOdy Ol ILLS week
but is now in session for real busi-
ness. Although they plan for hard
work from now on it is already hint
ed they will not be able to adjourn
before Thanksgiving. The open date
for introducing bills has been eX-
tended until next Tuesday. After
that bills can only be introduced by
the committees. Up to date less than
200 bills have been introduced and
it is believed there will not be so
many as two years ago when there
were nearly 500.
Gov. Mead has announced the ap-
pointment of J. A. DeBoer of Mont
pelier, Porter Dale of Island Pond,
and ]. l.. Southwick of Burlington as
trustees of the permanent school
fund.- Mr.. Dale is the only new
member, he succeeding q. M. Mansur
of Newport. 1t is expected he will
name member of the public SER
vice commission. to succeed Eli
Porter some day this week.
A great. food of bills came in
yesterday, in fact so many that the
regular business for the day was
side tracked. 1t was expected the
house would vote yesterday on the
matter of doubling the tax on dogs
but the fate of the dog will not be
decided until today. There is evil
dence that the dog has some friends.
The house yesterday reconsidered
its vote changing the name of Otter
Creek to Otter River and after a
warm debate killed the BILL This
weighty subject has already cost the
state many thousand dollars and the
river is still creek.
1t looks now as though the legis-
lature would put a bounty of so
cents on hedge hogs, if it can word
the bill so it will not require the
slayer of the hedge hog to take his
head to the town clerk and "cut his
ears off and bury his head" 1t is
not yet determined whether to raise
the salary of the revision committee
for it's lucid wording of the bill or
not.
Considerable excitement has been
caused by the action of the Senate
in killing bill passed by the house
forbidding the payment of justice
fees for trials in places where there
are municipal courts except upon
certificate by the municipal judge
that he was unable or disqualified to
hear the case. This was intended to
effect considerable economy and stop
the payment of justices in places
where municipal judges were draw
ing a regular salary. The senate has
recalled the bill and it may yet be-
come law.
A bill to prevent forest fires is to
be introduced. The matter of a pri-
mary law is to receive serious at
tention two bills providing for such
a law having been introduced.
Some Bills Introduced.
Here are some of the new bills of
the past week:
Mr.. Howe of Bennington has intro
duced another primary election meas
ure This bill is more simple in it's
provisions than the one already be-
fore the House committee on internal
affairs and follows quite closely the
law now in force in the State of
Washington. The bill covers only
icers. 1t provides for the nomina-
ton of candidates almost exactly as
it is done at the present time, and
for the use of the Australian ballot.
S. 38-By Senator Borden of Rut-
land, an act providing appointment of
director of statistics, publicity and
advertising. Governor to appoint
said director at salary Of $4,000
and expenses for Office. Director to
tica1 references. Statistics regarding
resources and attraction of Vermont
and advantages State offers to in
vestors, tourists, summer visitors and
farmers. Under direction of Gov
ernor he may advertise or export that
which will aid developing resources
of Vermont. Shall prepare detail re-
port and publish it with those of
other state officers. Ten thousand
dollars appropriated annually for the
purpose of this act. Act to take
effect from passage.
S. 40-By Senator Clark of Rut-
land, an act to amend section g., acts
of 1908, relating to location of Ii
censed places. (License commission
ers cannot grant license anywhere
than in one or more principal villages
or settlements. If there is no village
IN town license to be located near
center of town.
H. 126-By Mr.. Amey of Brighton,
a bill amending the statute relating
to homicide. It provides that the
penalty for murder in the first degree
shall be Imprisonment for life un-
less the jury adds to it's verdict with /
capital punishment" and for. MUIR
der in the second degree imprison-
ment for such term as the court may
direct.
Senator Tuttle of Rutland has in
troduced joint resolution in the Sen
ate that may prove one of the most
important of the session. 1t pro-
vides for committee of two sena-
tors and three representatives who
are to consider the needs and adj
visibility for the state to make a
more uniform system of keeping town
accounts and report by bill or other
wise within two weeks. The COM
mittee is given authority to call on
persons and papers, but not to spend
more than 500 for actua1-an neces-
sary expenses. The resolution was
fCou4ir,r1ed s,r, E3exxa Ky