The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1919-05-01
this under various insidious guises. In
the fourth place they will insist upon

this under various insidious guises. Ii
the fourth place they will insist upoI
the application of more common sens'
and sound business principles to legis
latioA and upon less psychology"
Welcome to the fold, neighbor. Some
Of us who have been preaching these
things for 10, these many years, will
be heartily glad of the cooperation Of
our Burlington contemporary, espec
tally when its conclusions come to 9
group of definite conclusions, all Of
which can be describedsas issues.
/. To effectively insist on the re.
election of experienced members foi
at least one additional term means q
constitutional amendment, and the
Herald hopes that the commission
which Governor Clement is authorized
to appoint will duly and truly consider
whether it would be practicable to
recommend such change in the con-
stitution as would provide for four
year term, dividing the membership of
the House so that at least one-half in
any given session would be men with
legislative experience. Nothing pre-
vents such a reform but the desire of
many towns to pass around" the
honor of representing them in Mont
pelier.
1t might be said that there is moth
ing to prevent towns re-electing their
representatives; and that is true, but
the human equation seems incapable
of doing this Systematically, so per-
haps it would be well to consider and
discuss whether the State and the
towns which make up the State would
not be better and more economically
served by plan which would require
four-year instead Of two-year service,
with the tiers Of towns arranged so
that one-half of the representatives
always "held over
2. A lump sum salary for legis-
lators is not only good business but
good psychology, with all due defer
ence to the Bellows Falls Times man,
who says there is no psychology about
it.
During the recent session, the Her
AIDS legislative representative attrib-
uted the failure Of the House 10 pass
a $500 lump sum salary measure to
the reason that it would mean an in
crease in pay as compared with the
average legislative session. So good
business man as Mr.. Wilson OF Rut-
and held TO that opinion.
This Legislature will adjourn in
;ide Of 80 days." said our representa-
i've, (which means that instead Of its
costing the State $500 per member it
will cost probably less than $500. Why
lot save the difference ?"
The reasoning was good, but the
PREMISE was not well taken, because
10 living man knows in advance when
! Vermont Legislature will adjourn.
The cost per head Of 92-day session !
vas 1868, running into considerably |
yer $l25, 900 for salaries and mileage.
$500 lump sum amounts TO about |
10000 in salaries and the Herald !
'elieves that in addition to shortening
he session and saving the $500 over
cad which is not figured in the fore
ding, recess mileage would be saved !.
nd the quality Of Legislation greatly
improved.
II is not necessary TO stipulate
400 lump sum. In fact $3.50 per
lember would not be out of the way, Il
ecause the Herald insists that all the
ecessary business Of session can be
one in GO days just as well as 80
avs. What would the Burlington
'ntemporary say to proposing two
nendments, one for session limited
60 days and one for a four-year