The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1917-02-28
Villas ATTACKS
BOARD OF CONTROL
Chittenden County Senator
Says Administration Meas
ure Is Dangerous
GIVES GOVERNOR
TOO MUCH POWER
Bill viii Be Ordered to Third Reading
by Large Majority, But Opposition Is
Very Active Plan for Getting Bet
ter Jurors.
ter Jurors.
special to The Reformer.)
MONTH ELIER, Feb

MONTPELIER, Feb. 2S.
Senator Martin L. Villas, in one of the .
most brilliant speeches made in the sen
ate this session, charged this morning
that the board of control bill, an ad /
ministration measure, is the most dan \
gcrous bill presented to the Vermont I
legislature in 20 years, and lie asked,
as member of the senate judiciary
committee, to be allowed to present a
lone minority report that bin ought not
to pass.
Senator Villas maintained that the bill
is unconstitutional and that il prac
tically creates council for the governor,
but he went farther and charged that
it gave the governor group of men
who might become creatures Of his own
to such an extent that they would be
subservient to every wish and whim
OF the chief executive.
| The speaker declared that if a board
/ of control was necessary the governor
should ask that the board be com
posed of men elected by the peo-
pie rather than appointed by the gov
ernor and suggested that in place of
director of state institutions on the
board of control the state auditor be
substituted; that in place of the com
missioner of agriculture the state au
ditor be substituted.
Senator Villas construed the bin as
fT1.1r Il
Of control, power to withdraw from
the institutions Of higher learning
state aid or in fact to completely domi-
nate every department of the state gov
crnment.
Senator Peck of Chittenden county
reported the measure and objected to
making the last retiring governor the
fifth member of the board. He said
he did not want the governor s hands
tied by placing on the board the last re-
firing governor who might be hostile to
the incoming administration and he
thought it unfair to former Governor
Gates to serve as a member of the
! board. He stated that the fifth mem
ber. if appointed by the governor, would
be sort Of deputy for the governor.
Senator Villas interrogated his col
league, asking if he thought it undemo-
cratic for the people TO elect indirectly
the men who were TO serve on the board
$ of control The arguments on this bill
: are being continued. and although it is
e admitted that the bill will be ordered to
]. q third reading by a large majority, the
c opposition is very active
In the house this morning there was
h some discussion over consideration OF
o the bill creating the office of director OF
r state institutions. Yesterday on mo
|. tion of Mr. Miner, this bill was made q
{ special order for March IA and the
n friends of the administration this morn
7. ing promptly asked for re consideration
O mt this time, which was granted and be
fore the bin was ordered to third read
ing Mr.. Metzger OF Randolph spoke il
favor of the bill and presented state
ments to the house which had been madC
before the committee which considered
, the bill
1 Mr. Moore of ludlow stated that while
he was in sympathy with a part of th'
administration he could not see the val
s. lie to the state of placing one man il
charge of all its state institutions, whcl
we now have the combined judgment o
many able men in the direction of thes
institutions like John f. Weeks, an
NuIIe the OIL souiGeQ SoOu 1n theory IL
4, doubted it working out we'll in practice
T. Walter Fenton of Rutland favored tn
n bill and said it was time that the stat
:, run its institutions and department
:. from business standpoint
The house judiciary committee pre-
sented bill this morning which is III
a. tended to give better jurors. The bill es
Lh tablishes a board of jury commissioner
2 for compiling names from which juror
IL may be drawn.
The house yesterday afternoon &C
journed as soon as the death of Williar
II. Bundy, the representative fror
Manchester, was announced. Last ever
r, ing the house judiciary committee hel
- its final hearing on the administratio
measures abolishing the dual court sys
tenn and creating district courts.
u Senator Melvin G. Morse, sponsor fo
the district court bill, opened his re
marks by demanding that those OF
posed to the administration fight in th
open rather than by circulating mea
u rumors about the corridors. The speal
IN IN er then went on to say that he wante
~ the poor man to stand on an equal basi
q, with the man of wealth or the corpor;
% tion in our courts of law. The ablest OF
ponents of the measure have been a
torneys for railroads and large corpor:
tions, insisted Mr.. Morse. The attent