The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1911-01-13
House Reverses its Vote on
Reconsideration
LITTLE TOWNS WERE FEARFUL
That the Measure Presaged Some Cur
tailment of Their Power-This Sus-
picion Was Created and Fostered by
Attorneys of Cooperative Interests.
state House, Montpelier, Jan. -.

direct primaries was sounded IN the
house Tuesday afternoon by that aggre.
cation of wiseacres after handing out
a few slams to the newspapers for
whose welfare the lawmakers were so
solicitous that rather than place temp
tation in their path by restricting the
political opinion of candidates to the
advertising columns which they char
acterized as graft, among other
things. they killed the bill. 1t would ap-
pear from some of the arguments made
on the bill that this was the only ques'
ton involved II all goes to show that
the many members of the present
legislature instead of looking at the
broad question involved will pick at
minor defects.
The politicians did not want the bill
passed, and il took only hint TO
few TO frighten the small towns wlth
the bugaboo that the bill threatened
their prestige in the state and county
conventions and that il was only pre-
liminary heat TO redistrlct the stare
OF course. this was all bosh But 1t
killed the bill hy vote of IL TO w.
Last Friday the bill was passed. lOl 70
50. The next dav those who passed IL
began hearing from the politicians ana
when it came up again IT'S passage was
refused. Speaker Howe, who haa intro- Ii
duced a measure along the same INES,
left the chair to favor it, and no Doubt
his influence saved the bill from a
greater defeat. Former Senator Glbsoh
was standing under the gallery looking
over the arena when Joe Martin OF
Brookline charged him with having
finger in the pie, and even with being
in the newspaper business, some say
Joe has his eagle eye on the senate.
House of Berlin, chairman OF the com
mittee on internal affairs. denied that
Wr Gibson had ever appeared before
the committee. While he had heard
of Mr.. Gibson he had never met him.
Mr. Martin had to take slight shy at
Mr.. Gibson s political record and aspir.
ations. >Gibson s name was brought
into the case from the fact that he IN
troduced a direct primary bill IN tine
senate two years ago. 1t passed that
body and died in the house :,
Mr. Stafford of Brattleboro was IN "a
yor of. the bill. He had sampled the
advice of the lawyers in the city and
tbe farmers ON the side hills, and he
preferred the latter brand. He found
II more substantial. The bill allowed
the farmer to have Just as much infiu-
ence with the ballot as any other man,
and he believed his sound Judgment
would prevail. Wright of Westminster
was against the bill. Those who voted
for the bill from Windham county. were
Stafford of Brattleboro, BALDWIN OF
Dummerston, Whitney OF Marlboro,
Miller of Putney, Alderman nSi. Of vernon; m |
Covey of Grafton, and Chapman OF
Windham. Those who voted against
the bin were Bemis of Athens, Martin
of Brookline, Hill of Dover, Thomas OF |
GuiIford. Plumb of Halifax. Sherwin
of Jamaica. Howard of Londonderry,
Dewitt of Newfane, Lyman Of Strat,
ton, Grout of Townshend, Wells OF
Wardsboro, Wright of Westminster, al:
lard of Nottingham, and Buttertield OF
Wilmington. The vote in the county
was seven for and IA against the bill.
The others were absent.
The senate killed the direct inheri-
tance tax measure Wednesday after
noon. The committee on central nor
NAL school reported that measure ia
vorablv Wednesday morning and Of
fered two amendments, one making the
presiding officers of both houses mem
bers of the board of trustees, together
with two other persons to be appointed
by them. so that the measure VIII be e., IN
bin also provides for discontinuing the
normal schools at johnson and Castle
ton after July l, 1912. This is where
the fight will come. 1t looks very
doubtful if this can be done. The war
dance is scheduled for this morning,
and the chances are that it will take up
nearly the whole day.
The house adopted all the proposals
of amendment to the state constitution
thn "a nHuI
nesdav, taking up most of the forenoon
and afternoon sessions.
These proposals provide for veto for
the governor requiring two-thirds vote
of either house to pass a bill over his
disapproval, biennial elections in No
vember, and sessions of the general as
sembly in January, five members of the
house to call the yeas and nays, taking
away from the legislature the power to
commute, remit or mitigate death SEN
tence, members of the legislature to be
ineligible for office created by that body,
no special charters by the legislature
that may be provided by general law,
changing the name of Judges of supreme
court to justices, legislature may pass
compensation acts, supreme
court to rewrite the constitution, incor-
porating these amendments when finally
adopted. There was debate on all ex-
ceDG Unp ldSU. lHe plo-
posal had 125 votes, the smallest of
any.
Although it is the middle of January
four bills were introduced on Wednes-
day, two of them to legalize grand lists
of certain towns. The committee on
public buildings has introduced bill
for $250,000 annex to the state
house. It is needed for committee
rooms and offices, but with everyone
wondering about the condition of the
treasury there is a question where the
is coming from. 1t is
urged that it is preferable for the state
to invest the permanent school fund IN
Vermont in this manner than to buy
bonds to build up other
states.
The bee bill, the bull bill, the doe bill,
the rabbit and hare bill, muskrats,
pickerel, mink and skunk
have been successfully disposed Of, 50
that the house tackled with safety this
week the dog bill. The license, fee OF
male dogs remains the same under this
bill, and so does the fee for the female
dog not used for breeding purposes, but
as soon as she starts raising family
the price goes up to $40, and to hold
the fee to the $4 rate certificate
must be filed with the town clerk.
Future contingencies are at owner s
risk. The idea is to stop the breeding
of "tramp dogs" the bill being in ad-
vnoocv of race slIicide The bill ap-