The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-10-14
LEGISLATURE is
FINDING ITSELF
Convened Tuesday to Begin Reg
ular Work.
HOUSE PASSES THE FIRST BILL
Providing for Rebuilding Of LAmoills
County Buildings al Hyde Park
windhAm county's Representation on
Various Committees Statistics.

State House. Montpelier. Oct. II.
The second week OF session shows the
High Court Of Virtue aud Wisdom ssi
Ting down 20 business In mighty good
shape, and the members hanging around
the state house with as great a desire
for employment as mothers Matching
hen. The week > work didn Z start, ac'
coriing 20 surface Indications. until
Wednesday afternoon when the revision
committee on bills reported four bills
in the house and one IN the senate.
But this does not mean that there was
nothing doing up 10 that time. The
committees were reported on Tuesday.
and then the house and senate coasied
on resolutions of a varied nature-what
would be called in the athletic sense,
the prcliminaries the revision
committee began 10 disgorge some Of
the initial efforts of the novitiates.
The speaker made his committee ap-
pointmcnts Tuesday according TO the
schedule. and IL seems 10 be the gen.
eral opinion that he did good Job. OF
course. IL he had "A few more chairman.
ships 10 give out there would have been
more satisfied. Some members come up
with an inflated idea of their capabill.
ties and they act very much chagrined,
privately, when they find they have
drawn blanks.
Among the chairmanships passed out
TO Windham county men were highway
and bridges to Mr.. Stafford of Brattle'
boro. land taxes TO Butterfield of vii.
misgton, internal affairs To Babbitt of
Roe bingham, minor courts 10 Martin OF
Brookline. Messrs. Martin and Babbitt
have places on the judiciary, Babbitt
on ways and means, Whitney of Mari
boro and Plumb of Halifax on elections,
Dewitt of Newfane ON education,
Covey of Grafton on claims, Chapman
of Windham and Baldwin of Dunn
merston on railroads, Stafford of Brat.
tleboro on street railways. Dewitt of
Newfane and Butterfeld of Whining.
ton on banks, Hill of Dover on manu-.
factures. johnson of Somerset on land
taxes. Whitney of Marlboro and Al
lard of Nottingham on grand list, Be
mis- of Athens on general committee.
of Jamaica on mileage and
Stafford of Brattleboro on
public buildings. Alderman of Vernon
on appropriations. Miller of Putney on
internal affairs, Wright of Westminster
on state schools, Wells of Wardsboro
on conservation, Howard of London
derry on game and fisheries, and on
state and court expenses, Stafford OF
on immigration and indus
trial interests, and Butterfield on revis'
ion of bills.
Of the committee on ways and means;
X. S. Page. son of the senator, temper
ance; Billings of Woodstock, game and
fisheries; Amey of Brighton. appropria-
tions; Cave of Barre. banks; Calder
wood of st. Johnsburv. corporations;
Chaffee of Rutland, railroads; Bronson
Of Hardwick, agriculture. The chair
men of the new committees are: Bah
bitt on internal affairs; Dartt of
Springfield, state schools; Martin of
Brookline, minor courts; Battell of Mid !
ilebury, conservation, all of whom may
produce good results this session.
The revision committee have been
waiting for the officers of both houses !
20 name the clerk and his assistant for
heir committee, but they couldn t hold
back any longer and slid a few. bills
nto the arena for the champing gladia-
.ors from the hill and valley<towns to
null over in their committees. The re-
vision committee were in hopes that
Charles d. Watson of st. Albans would
De clerk and Walter A. Dutton Of Hard
wick his assistant, which would make
! splendid combination, but word came
.ouldn t leave the railroad town to help
lis friend and political competitor,
Governor Mead, conduct his Cook tour.
Hence the committee Was obliged to
lgain 90 out into the jungle and apply
he strangle hold on several unwilling
one of whom was brought
lown, Walter Dutton, who was Gov
'rnor Bell s executive clerk, first-rate
awyer.
Speaker Howe is the first man to
,ccupy that seat who has discovered
reated by joint resolution and expires
It the end of the session. but once the
ustom is established the state will have
o keep at it. No doubt the speaker
las lots of chores around his office that
iced someone to look after, yet there
vas a time when the speaker didn t
ave an office even that he could call
is own. He was in the same position
hat the lieutenant-governor finds him
elf. When he wants to smoke he steps
ut into the lobby, and If there ism t
iazza. The state gives the lieutenant
overnor place to hang his hat, but
him no Office in which to do
usiness in the state house, and no sign
n anv door to point out to his admirers
rom Caledonia county that Leighton
yes here. Herbert Erastus Slayton.
Tho is credited with wonderful per-
picuity in the matter of filling long !
elt, easy wants about the state house.
ill probably have the place as clerk
} the speaker.
Both houses have adopted their rules, d,
-hich are substantially the same as
hose of last session. There is talk OF 6
aving the daily sessions begin at. one
nd last through until business is done, !
ut if this rule is adopted brea kfast :
our at the Pavilion will have to be
hanged to 10 clock. 1t looks like a
polish idea to try to oblige members to !
t in their seats four or five hours at !
stretch, which a solid session would
,auire them to do later in the session. :
lost members in the cramped house q
,ats would find it positively a physi- ""
i imrossibilitv. The clerks must have =
me to iournalize their work and mes !;
zoe business from one house to the .
her, which can be done better with Z
70 sessions than one.- :
The four bills introduced on Wednes- =
Nv afternoon relate to building $50, \
70 county court house at HYDE Park y
repace the structure recently burned
issuing $135,500 of the agricultural =
md held by the state for another 20 I
,ars. giving the public service COM :, !
ission authority to hire an office wher- \
-er the chairman ic located, an ex- =
.nse that ought to be within $3.50;
ID last but not least bill for the