The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-04-05

WORK REVIEWED
State Highway Board Bill Called
the Most Outstand-
ing
MANY STARTS BUT
FEWER FINISHES
The Legislature Was Noted for
Uncompleted Perform
anceS

ne loiloWlHS summary VI CDe WoFi
of the 1927 legislature at Montpelier i
prepared by E. f. Crane, a reporter o
the Vermont Press bureau, in which
|, The Barre Daily Times was a member
To summarize numerically, out Of SOL
: bills introduced, ll6 in the Senate anc
442 in the House, 1888 III Senate anc
306 House, have reached Gov. Hardness
n OF this number, the governor hat
5 signed 2S2 and vetoed five up to fna
Z adjournment Five were recalled from
; him and taken care of through suhsti
E tuition, etc.
The five bills vetoed by Governor
Hartness were: s. %, homestead law; S
%, surviving husbands interest in real
estate of deceased wife; S. S., placing
expenses Of mentally defective persons
upon the state; H. 800, registers fees
and fees of county clerks; and III. 800,
enabling minors TO contract for and
surrender insurance policies Only one
of the five, the homestead law, passed
both houses over the governors veto,
and that by two. thirds majority of
only one vote in the House. s. 20 passed
the Senate in spite OF the veto, but
failed TO get by the House.
This being the year for submission
of proposals of amendment TO the con
stitution of Vermont, it is of interest
to note that out of % proposals sub
mitted, only eight got out of the Sen
ate and only four OF these we're con.
CURED in by the House. These are:
| Proposal one. giving equal suffrage to
women; proposal three, providing that
the legislature shall designate the man
ner Of filling vacancies in the House of
| Representatives proposal FIVE allow
ing accused person 10 waive right of
jury trial, and proposal rs, making le-
gal age of women q instead Of Is.
Things Started But Not Finished.
1t is yet too early 80 look back in
retrospect and Judge the worth of the
changes made in the Vermont laws by
the legislature of 1921. In five or 10
years, 1t will be easier to Judge But, |
looking back now over the session lust
closed II would seem TO the observer |
from the side lines that the legis lature ,
OF 1927 would be more likely 10 be re.
membered for the things which il start. |
ed to do, and did not, than for what |
II has really done. This is due to a large |
extent to disagreement on many impor-
tant matters between the House and I
Senate
For instance. the Senate repealed the
direct primaries. The House killed the
measure. The Senate passed the central
normal school bill and a bill increasing
the number of scholarships at Middle
bury, Norwich and the University of
Vermont. The House killed both. The
Senate reciprocated by killing the
Stearns supervision bill and the meas
ure TO limit the salary of the commits
sioner Of education. and BY so amend
ing the teacher training bill that il
was held up until the closing DAYS Of
the session in a committee of confer
ence
But outside Of the educational fight
which, with the mixup over the com
missioner Of highways, kept the SEES
sion well stirred up and dominated
everything else, the House started to
put through an income tax measure, TO
build dairy plant. and even seriously !
discussed establishing an aviation
board. but decided not to in each case
The House also passed a bin which !
would have brought more revenue from
banks, but the Senate blocked this and .
no agreement was reached /.
Whether these actions were wise or :
otherwise is not the purpose Of this ar
liele to discuss. but attention is merely
called TO the fact that many of the
before this legislature which
we're OF statewide interest failed to !.
become law. This il not saying that no
important legislation was enacted at !
he session OF 1921, however
In the matter Of highways and
schools, legislation was enacted. even
hough there is still much difference
II opinion as to whether this legisls-
ion will bring about the desired re.
Mlts. Time will have to settle that =
question
Highway Board
The creation OF a highway board Of I,
hree members, including the governor =
Is chairman and two members appoint !,
q by him, the board to choose the high. =,
way commissioner and have general SUI :,
'eryision of the highway matters Of :,
he state, is probably the most out n.
landing piece Of legislation enacted a
uring the session. II is practically the 4
My radical change in the states pol b
~, with, perhaps, one exception, I,
This is the change which provides 4
hat the women in the states prison {,
I Windsor shall be removed and shall
e placed temporarily in the house of
direction at Rutland. A movement to-
ard this end was started early in the "
ession after Mrs. Lillian II. Olzendam "
Burlington had visited the prison n
nd reported on the condition Of the 4
omen there. The report of the com "
littee from the legislature authorized at
D inspect the penal institutions recon- OF
tended that the women be removed OF
rom Windsor. From the statements m
hich have been made. il il probable "a
hat the men and women in the penal m
istitutions win be kept in separate Ia
arts Of the state hereafter, and the an
olicv thus adopted looks toward the -
establishment in the near future Of a an
omen's prison in some country dis Of
let, where farm land will be avail nj
be. co