The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-01-06

ARTICLE (29). NO senator or reg
resentative shall, during the term 70
which he may have been elected h
! eligible to any office, the election T.
which is vested in the general as
sembly, nor shall he be appointed {
any civil office of profit, which shal
have been created or the emoluments
of which shall have been increased
during such term; but this latter gro.
vision shall not be construed to apply
to any office elective by the people"
The long existing practice of mem
bers of the Legislature being can&
dates for election to office by the Joint
assembly is wrong in principle and
) pernicious in its influence 1t lessons
| their independence as Legislators and
, mikes in an unfortunate way elections
' and legislation. which ought to be
entirely disassociated. The practice
! is also unfair to other candidates be-
fore the joint assembly who are not
members of the legislature
The appointment by the governor of
member of the legislature to an Of
| flee which has been created or the
! salary of which has been increa sed
during his term is also contrary to
one of the most common provisions
! Of American constitutions Section
Article of the United States Consti-
tuition provides that mo senator or
shall have been created, or the emol-
/ u-hn ho1
creased during such time" This pro-
vision of the federal constitution or
something very like it has been estab-
lished in thirty-seven States.
Such provision alone is not suffi-
cient for our purpose, because our
system of election by the joint as =
sembly, which is peculiar to Yer
mont and few other states, is more
exposed to abuse in this respect than
appointments by the executive. The
proposal recommended is an exact
copy of Section so, Article 1 Of the
constitution Of the state of Indiana
and seems to us to meet all the re-
qurements.
PROPOSAL SEVEN
That new Amendment be added
to the Constitution, to be known as
Article 1907, as follows:
ARTICLE (3o). No corporation shall
be created by special laws or it's
charter extended, changed or amend
ed, except those for municipal, chart
table, educational, penal or reforma
tory purposes, which are to be and re =
main under the patronage or control
of the state; but the general assembly
shall provide by general laws for the
organization of all corporations here
after to be created. All general laws
passed pursuant to this article may be
altered from time to time or re
pealed."
In 1904 only 243 pages of the print
ed laws were devoted to public acts
while 292 pages were devoted to act
| granting special charters or amendme
existing charters OF private and NUM-
cipal corporations In 1905 there Were
| 260 pages devoted to public acts and
All pages TO special corporate legis
lation In 1908 there We're 200 page.
devoted TO public acts and 34S page
to special corporate legislation.
This special legislation not only
makes up the great bulk of the printed
laws but it occupies a good deal of the
time of the legislature which ought
to be devoted to general public cues
tons. II is quite impossible for the
legislature as whole to examine the
details of special corporate legisla-
ton 1t is largely handled by COM
mittees and their ideas of what is es-
sential and non essential vary much
from session TO session
The result of special corporate
legislation is the destruction of all
uniformity, the granting oftentimes
Y OF privileges which ought not to be
granted, the omission in many in
stances of safeguards which ought to
be preserved, the confusion of ques-
tons of broad public policy with
someone's desire tn gain a special
privilege, and the diversion of the
mind Of the Legislature from its real
lntsic duties.