The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-01-06


the earliest practicable date and II
as near the beginning Of the calendar
year as the present provision. which
makes their term begin December list.
PROPOSAL FOUR
That Section "A Of Chapter 2 Of the
constitution be amended to read as
follows:
Section -. The votes and pro.
reedings Of the general assembly shall
be printed (~hen one third Of the
members Of either house think Il
necessary as soon as convenient AZ.
ter the end Of each session, with the
yeas and nays Of the house Of repre-
acntatIyes on any question when re-
Z 7uired by ten members, and Of the
senate when required by two sena-
tors, (eNcept where the votes shall be
taken BY ballot), in which case every
member Of either house shall have a
right to Insert the reasons Of his vote
upon the minutes"
The constitution now provides that
any one member of the general as
sembly (meaning at the time Of the
adoption Of the constitution the house
Of Representatives. may require the
yeas and nays to be called upon any
question. This provision at times
has been abused It certainly invites
dilIatory tactics and puts II within the
power Of an individual member to un-
reasonably retard the progress Of
business. It Is within common
knowledge that the yeas and nays are
often demanded for that purpose
alone.
There is only one other state which
gives one member that right, and that
is the state Of Delaware, whose lower
house consists OF only thirty five
members Other states which have
any constitutional provision on the
subject require more than one member
or else some fraction Of the mem-
bership. Ike one tenth, one-sixth
or one-ffth IN the beginning
the membership Of the house Of repre-
sentatives ives small and the right Of
one member 70 demand the yeas and
nays then was a very different thing
from permitting II now.
The size of the house requires that
the right should appertain to cer-
tain number Of members instead OF
certain fraction OF the membership:
otherwise, the determination or the
fraction would practically result in
making the same delay ais the calling
Of the yeas and nays Itself.
PROPOSAL FIVE
That Section 10 Of Chapter Of the
Constitution be amended 70 read as
follows:
section 20. No person ought In
any case, or In any time, TO be do
clsred guilty Of treason or felony, BY
the lealsIature, nor to have his SEN
tsnee upon conviction for felony com .
muted, RENTED or mitlgated BY the
legislature.
And that Section II Of Chapter
be amended BY emitting the words
land murder where they occur
therein.
Section II Of Chapter 3. relating to
the powers Of tho executive. provides
that the governor shall have power
to grant pardons and remit anes. ia
all cases whatsoever. except In trea-
son and murder. 10 which they Chez
shall have power 10 grant reprievcs,
but not TO pardon, until after the end
Of the next session Of the assembly;
and except ID cases 81 impeachment.
10 which there shall be no remission
or mitigation Of punishment but by
act Of legislation The inference is
drawn from the above that the power
to commute sentences FOR murder,
which IS Withdrawn from the govern
or, was intended to Be given to the
general assembly, and the general as
sembly is accustomed 70 exercise that
right. if not BY inference from the
passage quoted, then under It's unre-
stricted sovereign powers.
The right to extend mercy to q per-
son convicted Of murder IN the first |
degree being withdrawn from the gov
ernor by the constitution Section
1856 Of the Public statutes provides,
In order to permit the Legislature to
extend such mercy II It chooses, that
mo person sentenced to suffer the
punishment Of death shall be executed +
previous to the hrst day Of January
after the close Of the session OF the I
general assembly following such sen
tence
The execution OF death sentence
is thereby usually postponed from one
to two years. and an appeal to the (
legislature for Communication Id practi- (
cally always made The attorneys
and friends Of the convicted man are
not considered to have exhausted his
defense until such an appeal Is made (
and strenuously pressed The result
is that the case Of every person con- I
vioted Of murder IN the first degree /
must Be threshed over III the leeisla- <
ture, and the evidence and proceed
ings are supposed to be reviewed and /
reconsidered hy a large body, neither I
trained nor intended for such work.
II the purpose Of such review Is to +
see whether any mistake or error has
been made In the trial. that is purely T
judicial question and should apper-
tain finally to the supreme court. II
1t be question Of mercy, il is a
principle common to an American con-
stitutions that such question Is ex
ecutive and should appertain to the
governor or pardoning board.