Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1910-12-09

tai punishment" II in the minds of the q
jurors the respondent ought To I've exc r.
cul-d. lh.. i.,ll vas snr-',i'''i i'y
Peck If Burlington. Stone ui Nalling- I
ford, Howard uf Whiting aud oth-rs. I
The principal arguments against the
bill were hy Hunt Of New Haven aud /
Stafford of BrattIehoro. The vote was
in favor OF the passage Of the bill 10y ll3
to "a. The Senate has taken up the
bill and advanced it tn third reading
aud will probably have passed it before
this is published. Thus does the Leg
islature of 1910 dare to face the music
and thus does the Legislature break
away from life long traditions aud take
steps toward making Vermont rank as
one of the progressive states. IL is not
| afraid to meet conditions AS they exist
today aud that is why the people of the
state may hope that this Legislature will
meet the tax problem face to face aud
decide it according to present CONNER
cial conditions rather than upon the
conditions of years ago.
| THE REFERENDUM
On Tuesday evening the Committee
On Temperance gave public hearing On
the question of referendum which was
largely attended and the so called ret
erendum bill had many loyal supporters
the chief of which was Mr.. Ferguson of
the Anti Saloon League. The bill pro-
vides for absolute prohibition on sales
by individuals, but it creates system
of state dispensaries in every town of
1000 people and smaller towns may
have dispensary for the asking The
buying and distribution is done 10y one
man appointed by the Governor. No
person can buy from the town dispen-
sary except upon oath as to his inten-
tiou to use the liquor for mechanical,
: medicinal or chemical purposes, The
bill also carries the referendum clause
: permitting the people to vote upon the
G measure before it becomes law. The
, principal advocates of the bill were MIR.
b Burbank of Cabot, Mr.. Ferguson of
!. burlington, Rev. Mr. Moody of Island
, Pond, Rev. Mr.. Schneider of Danville,
h The arguments in favor Of the bill
d dwelt largely with the evils of the rum
e traffic and with the evident advantages
of the referendum. Mr.. Austin, former
:, mayor of st. Adams made the principal
=, argument against the proposed bill. He
a agreed with the preceding speakers ii
, everything they said as to the evils re-
. sulting from the rum traffic aud the
beauties of referendum. No respon
sible person could well argue that there
was any good in intemperance and un
der our form of government no mar
would dare venture that the people
should not rule. The only ditferenc,
e. between the thinking people of the stat
TIE today is as to the very best method o
NV meeting the evils of intemperance ant
&c the best method of permitting tn
"a people to rule. Mr.. Austin made hi
be fight, not against the principles of TEN
rs perance or the principles of referen
tn dun, but against the particular bill he
fore the committee and as to that bill
Sc he made his position very clear. Hi
in first objection was that the bill con
TO- tanned the worst feature of the presen
all law, viz: the sale of liquor by the bot
tie by some person whose income de
a, pended upon the amount sold; second
be this bill put the state of Vermont int
or the wholesale and retail liquor bushes:
thus giving standing to a disreputabl
traffic; third, the opportunity for graf
u by the purchasing agent would be irri
, sietihle and must in the nature of thing
result in building up political machin
:. of tremendous power, which machin
:. would be gladly supported by tn
:, liquor interests if such interests wer
lr.
organized as is charged by the Ant
. Saloon League; fourth, the provisio
- that every person obtaining liquor a
-, any one of the many dispensaries in TIN
state must make oath that he gets it TO
medicinal, mechanical or chemical pul
"e poses would have no other effect tha
OIL to multiply the number of perjurors il
81 the state. Ex-senator f. w. Gibson G
e' Brattleboro spoke from his experienc
in South Carolina where similar la
is in operation and he sincerely hope
this state would not adopt any sue
nt measure. The Temperance Commute
have not yet reported on the measur
est. There is general feeling her
however that the present law is the bes
temperance measure the state ever ha
'rd' and it is doubtful if any change will /
a made. Some minor changes in til
Ks present law have been attempted An
all they have been voted down with sue
mes regularity that it is good guess that
mt large majority of the members are ft
on leaving the present law very nearly il
dld tact.
mt ELROY KENT