834 



VERMONT. 



027.83 from the courts and Judges of Probate. 

 Regarding expenditures the Auditor says in 

 his report : " A comparison of the figures for 

 some years back will show a steady increase in 

 State expenses, and that, as a whole, they ex- 

 ceed for the last biennial term the expenses of 

 any two years preceding. This change is 

 wrought principally by more liberal legislation 

 of late years in the matter of special appro- 

 priations, increase of salaries and fees, and the 

 transfer to the State of expenses heretofore 

 borne by the counties and towns." The funded 

 debt of the State remains unchanged, consist- 

 ing of $135,500 of 6-per-cent. bonds, held by 

 the State Agricultural College fund. 



Education. The following statistics exhibit 

 the condition of the public schools for the 

 school year ending March 31, 1888 : Districts, 

 2,144; schools, 2,547; pupils enrolled, 68,453; 

 average daily attendance, 46,061 ; male teach- 

 ers, 479 ; female teachers, 3,517 ; total revenue 

 for school purposes, $028,157.47; total ex- 

 penditure, not including supervision, $640,274.- 

 07. The enrollment of pupils shows a decrease 

 of nearly 3,000 from the figures of the previous 

 year, and is smaller than has been reported 

 for ten years. The percentage of attendance, 

 based upon the number enrolled, is smaller in 

 Vermont than in any other New England 

 State. " Another two years of experience in 

 the common schools of the State," says the 

 State Superintendent, "has still more fully 

 convinced me of the utter inefficiency of our 

 plan of district management." 



At the State Normal School, in Castleton, 

 there were 185 students in attendance during 

 the school year, against 217 for the year 1886- 

 '87; at the Randolph Normal School there were 

 115 ; and at the Johnson School about the same 

 number. 



Savings-Banks. The whole number of deposi- 

 tors in all the savings banks and trust compa- 

 nies in the State, June 30, 1888, was 57,520, 

 an increase during the year of 3,710. There 

 was to the credit of such depositors $16,602,- 

 007.76, showing an increase during the year of 

 $1,015,016.83. Of the total amount of depos- 

 its in the different savings-banks and trust 

 companies, $13,888,186.65 belong to depositors 

 living in the State, being an increase of $885,- 

 642.96 as compared with 1887. The average 

 amount of each deposit is $288.63, a decrease 

 of $1.04 as compared with 1887. 



Railroads. There are now 932 miles of rail- 

 road in the State. During the year there were 

 constructed and put in operation 12'8 miles of 

 new road viz., by the Central Vermont Rail- 

 road, from Barre to Williamstown. 7'8 miles; 

 by the Clarendon and Pittsford Railroad Com- 

 pany, in Rutland, West Rutland, and Proctor, 

 5 miles. The Montpelier and "Wells River Rail- 

 road Company has begun the construction of a 

 road from Montpelier to Barre, which will be 

 completed early in 1889. Returns made to the 

 Railroad Commissioners and the Commissioner 

 of State Taxes for 1888 show the following 



railroad earnings for the year ending June 30, 

 1888: Gross income, $4,884,372; operating 

 expenses, $3,319964; net income, $1,504,408. 

 Political. A Democratic State Convention 

 met at Montpelier on May 10, and nominated 

 the following candidates for State offices : For 

 Governor, Stephen C. Shurtleff; Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Thomas C. O : Sullivan : Treasurer, 

 "William E. Peck; Secretary of State, William 

 B. Mayo; Auditor. George M. Dearborn. The 

 platform contained the following : 



We reassert our belief that property should be the 

 principal subject of taxation, and tiiat this burden 

 should fall proportionately upon the property taxed, 

 and we demand such legislation as will make the list 

 of each taxable poll one dollar instead of two dollars, 

 and will adjust taxes upon mortgaged property equita- 

 bly between mortgagor and mortgagee. 



We recognize the necessity of controlling by law the 

 traffic in intoxicating liquors, and are in favor of the 

 enforcement of existing laws enacted for that purpose 

 while they remain in force. But we believe a strin- 

 gent license law with local option would produce better 

 resulte than the present law, and would increase the 

 revenue rather than burden taxation. 



The Republican party in the State has repeatedly 

 professed itself to be in favor of prohibition, and has 

 enacted prohibitory laws; but, although in power, it 

 has neglected to enforce those laws and has left them 

 mainly t<> such enforcement as has been prompted by 

 greed "of gain, revenge, or malice. 



Candidates of the Prohibition party were 

 nominated at a convention held at Montpelier 

 on June 12. They were: For Governor, Henry 

 M. Seeley ; Lieutenant-Governor, George E. 

 Crowell ; Secretary of State, Archibald O. 

 Ferguson ; Treasurer, Armentus B. Bixbey ; 

 Auditor, Charles S. Parker. 



The Republicans held a State Convention on 

 April 4 for the choice of delegates to the Chi- 

 cago Convention, and a second convention on 

 June 27, at which William P. Dillingham was 

 nominated for Governor and Urban A. Wood- 

 bury for Lieutenant-Governor. The Secretary 

 of State, Treasurer, and Auditor were re- 

 nominated. The following ace the more im- 

 portant resolutions adopted : 



That the railroads of Vermont were chartered and 

 endowed with certain powers and privileges, prima- 

 rily for the benefit of all the people, and that their 

 services should be open to all upon the same relative 

 terms and conditions, without discriminations or fa- 

 voritism in any form or degree ; that, in justice to 

 their owners and paying patrons, the practice of issu- 

 ing free passes to persons other than their officers, 

 employes, and officers and employ6s- of other rail- 

 roads, ought to be promptly discontinued. We espe- 

 cially deprecate the issuing to and acceptance for use 

 of free passes by State officers, members of the Legis- 

 lature, and all others whose official acts may concern 

 the rights and interests of the railroads as demoraliz- 

 ing in intent and tendency, and demand that such 

 practices be prohibited by law. We believe that jus- 

 tice between man and man, as well as the obvious in- 

 terests of the State, require that the principles em- 

 bodied in what are known as the " long- and short- 

 haul" provisions of the interstate commerce law and 

 the laws of several of our sister' States should find a 

 place in the Statutes of Vermont, and that our State 

 Railroad Commission should be clothed with ample 

 power to exact obedience to such laws and to their 

 own judgments and decrees. 



Tliis convention reaffirms the devotion of the Re- 



