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

OF at least the leaders Of IT, After
the December Vermont Issue appear.
cd announcing the presence OF the
Brewers Lobby" the lobby sbsented
itself from the State House for some
weeks, or changed its personnel. but
IL re-appeared later and they were
not there for ornament.
Tire seape Goat
It was systematically claimed at
Montpelier that the superintendent
letter caused the defeat of the WON
ems Bill" To claim IL is nothing less
than to indict the members with a
charge of incompetency, for a lsgisla-
tor who had SO little sense was not
and is not ft to represent any town.
The Real Cause Of Defeat
The fact was, the members voted
against the "Women's Bill and the
Referendum bill for various other rea-
sons. There were some good men,
good Legislators, who voted against
one or both of those measures be-
cause in their best judgment the pre-
sent law is the best temperance mea-
sure" We have the utmost respect
for such legislators. We have erred
in judgment ourselves before now and
are always ready to grant the same
privilege to our fellows. The writer
could name number of members of
the House whose candor and intelli-
gence he would no more question than
his own but who voted against the
bills we thought ought to pass. 1t
does seem to us that such men ought
to have discovered the probability of
their error when they looked at the
company they were in. but they evil
IDENTIFY did not think of that.
But those of the class just mention
ed who voted against the bills we adj
vocated were not many, for the most
part opposition to the bill came of a
vastly different motive. One OF
those motives was the desire to live
up TO the Democratic party platform
which held many Democrats but not
all Of them. Another motive was q
selfish one. There were some saloon
keepers in the House. There were
some of the sort of men we hear Of
in other states called blind tiger,
keepers from towns voting dry" DE-
people expect temperance Legislation
from any kind of saloonists? Let nj
one think that the writer is guessing
at this. There were owners of no
tells there in which licensed bars ar,
| running and they are fattening on tn,
profits. Some of these were yer,
prominent and posed as very disinter
ested statesmen. There were intem
perate men there in astonishing nun
bers and to them In the last analyst
must be charged the defeat OF all TEN
Iperance legislation by the legislator,
. Iof 1910 There were men who hai
left off the habit of drink at HON,
whose town thought it would he'll
I them to send them to the Legislature
1t was a generous thought, but alas
was not new or before untried wit
I equally disastrous results The writ
er has knowledge OF legislators bt
fore sent to the legislature to encoul
age their reform and then now slice
in drunkard's graves by reason G
I their towns mistaken kindness
!, others have had to reform after tn
+ Legislature experience. 1t would b
I well for the towns to remember tina
i the Legislature is not a reformator.
4 The plans and specifications" an
+ practices are quite antagonistic to r,
/, formatory incinations. Only men {
i fixed good habits and strong characte
8 can stand the rigors Of the legisli
4 tive climate. A moderate drinker q
4 home is very apt to be an immoderat
!, drinker at the legislature.
Let no one think for a moment thu
4 this Is froth. The writer had a littl
!, time al Montpelier to study the hal
Il Its OF the members and many town
, may well be proud OF the men thu
7, represented them, for they did re
!, resent them with ability and at III
u same time maintained a correct pc
IS sonal life. There was, however, man
4 members OF the House who misrepre
4, ented their respective towns in mol
II respects than one. but especially G
y the temperance question. for the
Y, towns don't get drunk, as they did.
will only take space to speak of OF
e instance and will not make that pc
II sonal, for that is not the purpose
q this discussion One representa-,
II returned to his room late one nigl
y in such an intoxicated condition TIL
10 he knew little of his surroundings
4 what happened and when morniT
)f came he was still in such conditiC
that he called the landlady into
lie room to find his trousers for him.
d is due the landlady to say that Il
lie legislator was invited to look for a
i. other room. which he did
O. The writer insists that he will n
Iy serve as scape-goat for the House
70 Representatives which contained n
o. a few men Of that specie. The Hou
N LOT Representatives itself will have
II bear the responsibility for the defe
lie of all advance temperance legislati
IT. In 1910. 1911. But the people ma
IS the House OF Representatives a
Z, should exercise more care hereafte