The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-03-20
LISTERS GIVEN
INSTRUCTIONS
Commissioner Plumley Met
Officials at Montpel-
Ter To-day
VOTING FEMALES
MUST PAY POLL
Offset Law Simple if Worked
Out According to
the Plan

AT Montpelier to-day, State Commits
sioner of Taxes Charles A. Plumley OF
Mortified met the listers of Washington
county and surrounding counties for a
school of instructions as to taxation
methods. Some of the points brought
out by him are as follows:
Female Poll Taxpayers.
by the provisions of House bill No. |,
which was signed by Governor Clement
March IL, last, all female inhabitants of
this state, citizens and aliens, over 81
and under 70 years of age who desire to
qualify themselves as voters in town
meeting must file on or before April 90,
1910, with the listers a written request,
that said listers shall set the poll of such
female inhabitant in the grand list of the
town wherein she resides on the first day
of April
CAS- listers, you should bear in mind
that upon the written request of fe-
male citizen or alien over p and under
20 years of age it is your duty to set the
poll of such female in the list The nee.
essary blanks will be furnished YOU in
order that you may be able to supply
the same to any woman who makes re.
quest therefor. The blank is furnished
in order that there may be uniformity,
but any written request made and filed
with you on or before the goth day of
April should be received by you.
you will proceed as heretofore to re.
quire all women who own personal prop
erty to file an inventory, and all women
who own real estate will of course be set
in the list as heretofore, but the fact
that woman owns personal property
and returns an inventory or owns real
estate and no personal property, or owns
both real estate and personal property
on which she pays taxes does not qualify
her as a voter in town meeting. Only
those women who make a written re-
quest and file it with you as provided by
section ? of the law as printed on the
blank request can qualify as voters in
town meeting
you will also note that in order to
qualify as a voter, woman must be a
female citizen, must take the freeman S
oath and must have paid her taxes on
or before the 18th day of February,
you should minute the date on which
the request is filed with you and should
carefully preserve these requests. | can
not impress upon you too strongly the
necessity of filing and preserving these
rnn d / hn
taxpayer to insert her name on the list,
without which order you have no au-
thority to list her for poll tax and you
should be ready at any and all times to
produce the written request and to prove
the date on which the same was filed
with you. You should not receive or file
any written request after midnight of
April 20.
"The names Of the females who file
these written requests should appear in
your abstract and grand list in alpha
betical order. Let me say again that the
fact that a woman's name now appears
on your list as the owner of personal
property, or of real estate, or Of both,
and the fact that she files an inventory
does not authorize you to set the poll Of
such female in the grand list of the town.
Such poll can only be set in the list upon
her written request filed with you as
provided by law,
Offsets.
Il have been asked to discuss the off.
set law for the benefit of the newly
elected listers. Now this offset law
works out as simple mathematical
proposition if you will follow the rule
prescribed by statute. So far as getting
anywhere is concerned you might as well
be lost in London in a fog without a
guide as to undertake to figure an offset
in any other or different way than pre-.
scribed by law. At the outset and be-
fore taking up the examples let me call
your attention as listers and taxpayers
to your duties and to the law.
An Offset is that amount which under