Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-09-09
WANTS NEW HIGHWAY
SYSTEM FOR STATE
Frederick c. Martin, Democratic
Candidate for Governor, Elk.
pounds His PlatfOrm-WOuld
Have Roads in Hands of Com.
mission of Three Men

Inc next governor or Vermont should
devote his entire time to Vermont de-
clared Frederick c. Martin Of Bennington.
candidate for the Democratic nomination
for governor. speaking Thursday noon
at the Hotel Vermont before a good-sized
group of representative Burlingtonians,
both Democratic and Republican, at the
fifth and last in the series of guberna-
torial 1uncheons under the auspices of
the Chamber Of Commerce.
In expanding this idea, Mr. Martin said
that the salary of the governor is small,
and business man does not feel that he
can afford to devote his entire time to
the work Of the office, 80 tho governor
does as little as possible and still main
tain his position. The speaker declared
that he did not believe the governors of
the last few years had had very full
understanding of tho operation and the
needs OF the various State departments,
such as governor should have in order
to properly head these departments. The
salary of the governor should be increas-
ed, said Mr.. Martin, and the public should
then demand that the governor give his
entire time to the affairs Of the State.
Mr.. Martin is very unassuming young
! man, with n pleasing personality. He
| made very good impression with his
| audience. There was little beside the
mark in his talk. He told simply and d.
rectly what he thought about State af-
fairs He knocked nobody. He expressly
stated that he was not going to ask any,
body to support him for the governorship,
and ne appealed to Vermonters whether
Democrats or Republicans to support the
man who, in each ones opinion would
do the most good for Vermont
Briefly stated, here are some of the
things which Mr.. Martin favors: Building
moro hotels and advertising Vermont to
attract more tourists. and interesting them
permanently in the State new high
way system, doing away with the office
| OF commissioner and substituting COM
mission of three; also more power in the
| hands of the county supervisors OF high
ways; establishment by the state depart
ment of agriculture Of a system of ware
| housing and storage whereby the agricul-
| tural products Of the State could be kept
for longer time, thus encouraging the
farmer to cultivate more land: larger
indemnity in case of death under the COM
pensation law OF Vermont: the strict en-
| forcement Of the 18th amendment; more
| opportunity for women in Vermont. in
! GLIDING a mothers pension law, better
divorce laws; equal pay for equal service:
| and shorter hours of labor for women:
! greater development of the water-power of
| the State
Enlarging somewhat on these Ideas Mr.
| Martin declared that Vermont is unsur-
| passed in natural resources and that
what the State needs in order to grow is
to get new capital interested here To do
! this. the speaker advocated the building
of more summer hotels and advertising
Vermont as 'the picture garden of the
world" And when the tourists respond to
| this advertising and come to Vermont
we should make every effort to interest
them here, get them to buy land. estab-
| lish estates and bring their money into
| Vermont. both to employ labor on the
| large estates. as Is being done on a large
scale In the vicinity Of Bennington and
to develop the land. This would increase
the taxable property Of the State and in
crease the value of the land.
In order to attract the tourists to YER
mont. we must have better roads. Mr.
Martin declared that the present road
system in Vermont Is worn out and that
it should be discarded His plan provides
! for doing away with the office of high
way commissioner, substituting high
way commission of three members. one of
whom should be a live promoter, another
an expert accountant. and the third, a
practical road builder. Then the powers
| OF the county supervisor OF roads should
be enlarged so each would be responsible
for all the roads in his county, instead of
leaving the matter with the several towns
as at present. And the roads should he
thoroughly patrolled under the direction
Of the county supervisors. and not left
to the towns.
| Regarding the water power Of the State
Mr.. Martin said that it should be more
! fully developed, especially now that IL
| is so hard to get coal In this section IF
| we are to have more industries in the
State. we must furnish the power to
| operate them, and we cannot hope to get
coal enough in here from Pennsylvania
to keep them going properly. We must
develop our white coal to the fullest ex-
tent.
Something must be done at once TO per-
suade men to take up the farming land In
Vermont which IL lying idle and to per-
| suade the farmers now on the farms to
remain there hIr Martin declared that
the farmer could farm more success
fully IL the State department. OF a1ricu!-
ture would establish a system Of ware
housing and storage where surplus pr,,i-
ucts could be stored until they could be
properly marketed. This, said the sneak
er. would do away with the loss Of many
of the products Of the farm which rot
in the cellars because Of marketing dIf-
ficrlties. The farmer would DO oncour-
aged to plant more acrcs. with hope of
realizing something from than. Mr.. Mar
tin also urged fuller practical co-opera-
ton between the State partment of
agriculture and the farmers
He spoke briefly Of the compensation
law now on the statue books and said that
ne helped 10 open IN tho way for this
lay as member OF the Legislature of
19G. He said that no thought the indem-
nifty In case Of death was not large
enough. Otherwise, the law is good
one.
Taking UP the 18th amendment Mr..
Martin said that 1t is now law of the
nation, and, as such, il should be main
Itained. supported and enforced. 1.-THE ques-
ton of the law Is not a Vermont issue, -
he said "All we should do Is to enforce
tine law"
In speaking of the 18th amendment, Mr.
Martin said that the question now is:
What will women do with suffrage in
| Vermont? What can we help them 10 do
in Vermont? The women of Vermont have
always been strong and heroic declared the
speaker. He then told Of what the earli-
er women Of this section did in connec-
ton with the winning of the Battle of
Bennington. He paid fine tribute to
the women and their part In all the ac-
tivities of the state. He mentioned. cs-
peclaIly, the part which the women took
In the World War.
"They were the ones who spent sleep-
less nights; they were the ones who toiled
and waited for sons and brothers and
husbands to come home. And some OF
than uAVar Came hama Tho Rap,h1ica .,