The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-01-31

portant matters, and now that the peo-
pie know where they are at" The Free
Press will undertake to speak of diff
ferent subjects separately, taking up to-
morrow what has been accomplished in
connection with matters of taxation and
considering other topics separately from
day to day.
1t may be of interest in this connec-
ton to say that the great railroad fight
resulted in a disagreement of the jury
or the conference committee representing
the two Houses, so that the matter will
have to be fought all over again, unless
the Grand Trunk and the New Haven
reach an agreement between now and the
session of the next legislature in 1912
Burlington Free Press.
The legislature Of 1910 has adjourned
without day, after session of unprece-
denied length, during which it has been
called upon to consider larger number
of bills than was ever laid before any
preceding Vermont general assembly
That its aim has been to legislate for
the best interests OF the state as a
whole is not to be doubted; that it al
ways hit the mark cannot be truthfully
asserted by even its most friendly crit.
les.
Lawmakers are human, and their leg
islative work, however conscientiously
and carefully done, must of necessity
carry with it The imperfections that are
inseparable from every human product
This will not be forgotten when de-
tailed review of the work of the SEES
sion is undertaken, as it will be in due
time.
For the present, IL Is sufficient to re-
mark that it is unfortunate from every
point of view that a legislature over
whelmingly Republican should have
failed to redeem the pledge twice solemn
" made in the Republican state plat.
forms to enact fair and equitable
trustee process law. Such a deliberate
ignoring of reiterated promises can have
no other effect than to weaken the hold
the party has upon the voters of the
state and to create in the minds of all
thinking citizens a doubt OF the sincerity
and honesty of any pledges it may make
in the future.
Equally regrettable is the failure to
pass law providing for publicity OF
campaign expenditures, as promised In
the party platform
These are errors of omission for which
the legislature of 1910 viii be severely
criticised, and justly so, since there is
not even the fimsy excuse of expediency
to be advanced for its. amazing failure
to discharge plain and imperative duty.
From an error of commission no less
open to censure the legislature has been
saved through the timely intervention
of Governor Mead by the exercise of the
veto power. Senate and House passed a
bin providing for fiat rate of taxation
on intangibles, which, had it become a
law, would have worked injury to all
the larger municipalities, while its ben
etits to the remainder of the state would
have been infnitesimal Such a far
reaching measure proposing radical
departure from present methods and af-
fecting so many established interests
should have been enacted, if at all, only
after most deliberate consideration and
careful scrutiny. No such attention was
given the measure, which was passed in
concurrence by the House with but scant
examination, and but for the governors
interposition would have become a law
and a costly example of the folly of
hasty legislation. Montpelier Journal