St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1914-04-01
PRESS COMMENT



Lyndon be placed in nomination for
Governor on non-partisan ticket
has met with favor in many quarters
!, of the State. Instead of compHcat-
, ing the. question it really simplifies
it. 1t is not likely that Mr.. Vail actu-
: ally wants to be Governor. He has
other interests that demand a great
: deal of his time, but it cannot be
thought for a moment that he would
refuse such an honor if offered him.
For one thing it would break the
mountain rule of rotation for Yer
mont Governors-4one of the nom
sensical things about Vermont poll
tics.
The st. Johnsbury Caledonian gives
a true and strong testimonial for Mr..
Vail with the following: He has
done his work for Vermont for the
sake of Vermont and not as bait
for political honors" That is the
kind of men Vermont needs. There
have been too many of the political
stripe and most of them have lived
for self alone. The Governors have
always played too much politics and
most of them have simply considered
the Office a stepping stone to Con-
gress. How many Governors has
Vermont had who actually served the
State for Vermont alone? Mr.. Vail
is of that kind There may be some
who do not consider his candidacy
seriously but where is his peer among
the men of the State who are capable
of doing the big things that Vermont
is crying for today?
For once in its history Vermont
has not made "slate" to cover the
| list of State Officers several months
/ 1nf
the reason for it is not on account
of any change of heart. The preca-
rious condition of the Republican
party is the factor that that has stop
ped the estate making" of old. Now
the proposition is right down to the
people to get a Governor of their
own choosing. The prestige that
man of Mr.. Wallis character and
standing would give Vermont is
greater than can be measured in
dollars and cents. He is big man
and knows how to handle big things
successfully. His interest in Yer
mont is sincere. He would give
business administration, pure and
simple, and not being a politician,
the political hangers-on would meet
with little favor at his hands. He
would be for Vermont, simply be
State is paramount to any political
ambition.
The Troy Standard Press says he is
more than gubernational in size. He
may be a bigger man than New York
State requires for it's Governor but
he is not too big for Vermont. The
State needs men like Mr.. Vail and
his service as its executive would
awaken the spirit of a Greater Yer
mont with its final fulfllment and
realization.-Bu Burlington Clipper.
Where Thompson Qualities
Now that the drafting of candidates
on a non-partisan basis has become
so popular, the Monitor would like
to- suggest the. name of Charlie
Thompson as a non-partisan candi-
date for state road commissioner.
We need a man in that position who
knows what hard shedding is. And
Charlie qualifies.-Barton Monitor.
The Game of "Give-Away."
As we size it up, the state of Yer
mont stands to lose about $6,250
yearly in taxes from the New Eng
land Telephone and Telegraph Com |
pany in order that six-party resid- |
ence and fifteen-party farmer line
from SIS to SIS a year. That is, |
supposing the appraisal fixed by the
public service commission is adopted /
by the board of appeals before which |
it is now pending rather than the |
appraisal fixed by the state tax COM
missioner, which is practically the |
same as that reported by the COM
pany itself. It is also supposing that
the majority report of the public ser
vice commission making the above
order is sustained by the court, to
which the company says it will take
an appeal.
1t is an odd mixup, surely. Both
the state and the company are put
into a situation that, at first sight,
looks like the old checker game of
"give-away." The state, in seeking /
to establish that New England tele-
phone rates were unreasonable, had
to show that the company, at existing
rates, was earning an undue return
on it's investment or upon the true
valuation of it's properties. Accord
ingly, it sought to establish a low
valuation of these properties upon
which to figure a percentage return
that would admit of a cut in rates.
Manifestly, it could not lower them
arbitrarily and without regard to the
investment feature. If it accepted
the inventory of the company or the
appraisal of the states own tax COM
missioner, it could not order a single
cut in rates without clearly impair
ing the New England's capital. So,
acting on their own judgment as to
the correctness of this investory and
this appraisal and without any evId-
ence, expert or otherwise, presented
RI rot off hNy ho nv
two of the three members of the
public service commission, fixed upon
a valuation of the company's prop
critics that was less than three
fourths that of the tax commissioner
or of the company itself-about
100000 less in round fgures-and
using that as a basis figured returns
enough lower than present ones to
admit of a slight reduction in GER
tain kinds of service.
Had this question of rates come up