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

The proper Office of the legislature
in this regard should be to carefully
| formulate reasonable general corpora
ton laws, the benefits of which shall
be uniformly available to all who will
comply with their conditions. Cor
porations of a certain kind require diff
ferent privileges from corporations Of
another kind; but there is no reason
why all corporations of the same class
and under like conditions should not
enjoy the same privileges. There is
no more reason why corporations Of
the same class should have varying
rights and privileges than there is why
individuals should have. The seek
ing and giving of special privileges to
particular corporations is one of the
greatest reoroaches upon the corr
poration system.
With some small qualifications and
few recognized general exceptions,
the constitutions of forty states pro-
hibit their legislatures from passing
special acts of Incorporation and re-
quire charters to be obtained under
| general laws, and many of them pro-
hibit any special private corporate
legislation. The provisions of the
different constitutions may be grouped
under a few types. The type fol-
! lowed by the most states is that or
| the Illinois constitution, which is
! substantially the p, oposal recon-
mended.
In 23 or more States munich
! pal corporations can oH'y obtain char
tiers under general laws. The grant
ing of varying charter % the numer-
our small villages in tits state, though
not so Objectionable Il private cor
porate legislation, is subject to much
of the same criticism. Some general
municipal law broad enough to meet
/ the requirements at least of all vii
lagos would be very desirable; but it
has not seemed to us best to include
in the above proposal any constitu-
tional limitation upon municipal legis
| aton.
PROPOSAL EIGHT
That the annexed draft of a new
Chapter of the Constitution marked
Exhibit Tor such modification of it
as may be decided to most correctly
express the existing provisions) be
adopted to take the place of present
Chapter and the existing IS articles
of amendment.
This proposal is not intended either
to add to or take from the present
constitution as now in force, but
simply to pat it in convenient and
disable form.
The existing constitution Of YER
mont was established July 8, 1893, 1t
has been amended five different times
in 1928, 1896. 1850, 1870 and 1888.
These amendments cover twenty
eight articles, some of them contain
ing more than one section.
Article IS of the amendments pro-.
vides that such parts and provisions
only of the constitution as are altered
or superseded by any of the first
twelve articles of amendment or are
repugnant thereto shall thereafter
cease to have effect. Although un-
expressed, such is also the effect of
ments have never been written into
the constitution; but the constitution
entire and the amendments entire are
printed together and what has been
altered or superseded by any of the
amendments or is repugnant thereto
remains entirely a matter of integpre-
tation, except the 43rd section speci
tcally abrogated by Amendment
Article 25, Section 4
OF the fortythr sections of Chap
ter 2, fourteen have been amended
I one or more times, and of the twenty
eight articles of amendment six also
have been amended. There are
twenty sections or articles, there
fore, which no longer stand as they
read
Section 9 is an extreme example of
the extent to which these changes.
uneXpressed In the text itself, have