9 2o VERMONT 



to frame regulations for the prevention of infantile blindness. No camp or sanatorium 

 for the cure of tuberculosis may be established in the state without the permission of the 

 state board of health. A board of registration of nurses was established and nurses licensed 

 by this board may use the letters "R.N." after their names. The sale of oleomargarine 

 was restricted by an annual tax of $100. Liquors and tobacco may not be advertised on bill 

 boards within 200 ft. of a church, chapel or school, except by permission of selectmen or coun- 

 cil. Villages may be chartered and established on petition of a majority of legal voters there- 

 in with the approval of the public service commission. Many special laws in regard to 

 corporations were passed including charter amendments, an act for the incorporation of the 

 village of West Glover, and acts to incorporate power, traction, trust, bank and insurance 

 companies, churches, fraternities, clubs, etc. The name of Bennington Center was changed 

 to Old Bennmgton and that of Franklin Pond or Silver Lake in Franklin town to Lake Carmi. 

 Among many game laws there was one granting a bounty of 10 for each black bear killed. . 



Finance. There was in the state treasury July I, 1911, 566,142. The receipts for the 

 fiscal year 1911-12 were $2,303,755 and the expenditures 82,350,508, leaving a balance June 30, 

 1912 of 519.388. In 1911 $26,000 a year was appropriated to pay interest on bonds and other 

 debts of the state. The same session of the legislature authorised the issue of 135,000 in 6 % 

 certificates, redeemable I932,to|refund the agricultural college fund loan. In 1911 the governor 

 appointed a commission to introduce a system of bookkeeping in the office of the state treasurer. 

 Enlarged powers were given to the commissioner of taxes, to whom aggrieved tax payers may 

 appeal in regard to appraisal or other action of local listers. The inheritance tax law of 1908 

 was revised: a tax of 5 % was laid on bequests, except to charities, for religious purposes, or 

 to certain near relatives. Only corporations under supervision of the bank commissioner may 

 (191 1) use the word "trust" in name or advertisement; and the whole savings-bank and trust 

 company law was revised. 



Education. In 1911 the "state" normal school at Randolph Center was discontinued 

 and its buildings were used for an agricultural school; 10,000 a year was appropriated. 

 The two other normal schools at Johnson (where a new dormitory was built in 1912) and 

 Castleton, formerly state schools only in name, were taken over (by lease or purchase). 

 Courses in agriculture are to be given in them, and normal training in certain high schools; 

 12 courses were provided for 1911 and 15 in 1912. 



The age limits of compulsory schooling were increased in 1911 by the addition of a year, 

 so that they are now 8 to 16; "legal pupils" are those between 5 (7 in schools having no 

 kindergartens) and 18. A law for medical inspection of schools on vote of annual school 

 meetings was passed in 1911. The state superintendent is to control high-school entrance 

 examinations, and he may grant 5-year certificates to normal school graduates of other states. 

 Towns and incorporated districts may vote pensions (not more than one-half average salary 

 for last 5 years) from school funds to teachers who have served 30 years. School reports are 

 to be of uniform date and form. 



In 1910 the percentage of illiteracy of the population 10 years of age and over was 3.7 

 (5.8 in 1900). For the school year 1911-12 the school population was 78,660; total enroll- 

 ment in public schools, 64,518; average daily attendance, 52,160; length of the average school 

 year, 32 weeks; total revenue for schools, 1,672,896; and total expenditures, Si : 9i5,344. 



After the death in 1910 of Matthew Henry Buckham (b. 1832), president of the Universi- 

 ty of Vermont since 1871, Guy Potter Benton (b. i86s) l president of Miami University, Ohio, 

 was elected his successor on May 18, 1911, and he was inaugurated on October 5, 1911. 



Charitable and Penal Institutions. In 1911 laws were passed regulating transfers from the 

 industrial school to the house of correction; making two superior judges with a secretary 

 chosen by them a commission on probation; and authorising the building of a criminal ward 

 in the state hospital for the insane at Waterbury. 10,000 a year for five years was voted 

 to the Austine Institution at Brattleboro for the care and education of defective children. 



History. In the state election held on September 3, 1912, 64,839 votes were cast for 

 governor; under the constitution 32,420 votes were necessary for a choice, but there was 

 no popular majority. Allen M. Fletcher, Republican, received 26,237 votes; Harlan 

 B. Howe, Democrat, 20,001; and Frazer Metzger, Progressive, 15,629. No other 

 state officer received a majority and the election was thus thrown into the joint session, 

 which on October 2, chose Fletcher as governor (by 163 votes to 76 for Howe and 

 32 for Mctzgcr) and elected the Republican candidates for other state offices, each by 

 a larger plurality than it cast for Fletcher. Two Republicans were elected representa- 

 tives in Congress 1 at the September election. Governor Fletcher took office im- 

 mediately, succeeding John Abner Mead (b. 1841), Republican, who became governor 

 in 1910 after two years as lieutenant-governor and who was mentioned as a possible 

 successor to James S. Sherman as nominee for vice-president on the Republican ticket. 



1 David Johnson Foster (b. 1857), Republican, representative in Congress since 1901, 

 died on March 21, 1912. 



