The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1911-03-04

for fairness, & quality which ihons
eenspicaously In him during the en-.
Tire session, Nobody would expect
Nh Howe, strong local opuonist.
TO MI up his committee with men az
ter Mr. Fergusons heart. What |
expected was that he would make up
the committee fairly, and | think he
did this in the estimation of all I'M
prejudiced persons. Let. me mention
these facts about the committee fav-
orable TO prohibition interests.
l. Although the speaker was in
many cases generous TO the Democrat
&c members he gave them only one
place on the temperance COMMITTEES,
though theirs was the more pronoun-
ced local option party. Two years
ago there were three Democrats.
.. A majority of the committee
were from the east side of the state,-
the dry section.
3. Two of the members actually
voted for Mr.. Ferguson's bill, known
as the referendum bill, providing for
statewide prohibition. This was
fully as large proportion of the
committee as the proportion OF the
a. Five of the seven members vo-
ted for the bill granting municipal
suffrage to tax-paying women, which
was defeated but which If II had be-
come law would probably have
made every city and town In the state
dry One of the two voting against
this bill voted for the referendum
bill and the other did not vote on the
referendum bill.
D. The committee reported ad-
versely the inn keepers license bill.
which the committee OF two years ago
reported favorably. These facts fail
to indicate that the committee was
! made up OF as bold and bad lot OF
: men as the Issue would have us be-
lieve
|, Mr.. Ferguson complains that none
of the four clergymen in the House
= was appointed on the committee. One
! at least OF those gentlemen asked the
. speaker as special favor. not to be
. placed on 1t, and in my opinion min
;, listers ought not to be placed on II
more than any other class. | know a
= man whom the speaker appointed on
: that committee who was as constant
friend of temperance measures and
2 probably more influential In their ad-
= vocacy than any minister would have
been.
Unlike Mr.. Ferguson, / size up
: Speaker Howe as an earnest and con.
scientious legislator and strong tenn
, perance man. On the temperance
= committee with him two years ago l
. generally differed with him, but be-
= lieve him to have been exactly as
= earnest and disinterested a temper
= ance man as myself. During the re-
= cent session he left the chair to OPP
y pose bill introduced by Mr.. Peck
!, of Burlington (Mr. Ferguson's candi-
= date for the speakership) allowing H.
I. censees to sell liquor on HOLIDAYS,
= instead of on none as at present. The
= bill was defeated. On Senate bill 1.
- the hotel exemption bill, he appointed
e two of the strongest temperance men
- in the House Zone of them a minister)
>, as conferres on the disagreeing votes
~ of the two branches as to cutting out
- licensed places from the privilege OF
= exemption, although the vote of the
"a House had been unfavorable to the
- amendment and the Senate conferr-
.fl IL.
- result the Senate amendment was
!. added to the bill and towns cannot
., exempt the liquor business. He ap
- peaIed before the committee and
strongly opposed the election of lie
ense commissioners by the towns on
- the ground that town voting for II
~ cense might be likely to elect com
~ missioners too liberal toward the lie
80 ensees. Would Mr.. Ferguson moi
~ succeed better with his measures n
~ he could see good points, as we'll a
~ bad ones, in his opponents?
-, want to correct mlsapprehensioI
=! regarding IT, 8 which was INTRODUCED
by Mr.. Webster Of Swanton, who wal
~. as Mr.. Ferguson says "a good Demo
~ crat" and whom | was glad to follow
In many things. Mr.. Ferguson gives
the impression that this bill (which
~ the committee reported adversely ant
80 was defeated) was a new idea, WHOLLY
" inconsistent with the local option
ss idea. whereas 1t simply proposed L
~ repeal a law passed in 1908 which II
OF most cases think has worked benefi,
VI tally. Local option, however, existe,
Us six years without II.
a.. hi. NSib uoOh says lueTo were III
T, temperate men there" lin the House.
~ lin astonishing numbers" Probabl,
W there We're some, but PERSONAL,
know all but three or four OF the men
-. bers and in all my contact with then
30 ~ was not in any case made consclou
~. that they had been drinking Thl
60 60 was not quite true two years ago. an,
had put down the recent House q
~, more temperate than its predecessor
20, "a, This, however. is simply a differenc
AZ Of opinion and proof of either his o
'u mine is impossible.
- .D Mr.. Ferguson and his sponsors ar
- now making the remarkable admii
sions that he is liable to error. tina
he has made mistakes, etc. Has b
not added a few more OF the sam
ep- kind in his story OF what happene
to temperance measures In 1910?
nee j. Wesley Miller.
the Bethel, VT, Feb. 20. 1911.