Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1878-08-20

No uOuOb oi ludI, IRu hSiSdtSu WI
Town platform-unintentionally, Of
course, Salem Register
And yet there sat you, the Edi-
tor CT the Salem REGISTER, on that
floor as a delegate, a flaming For
chile Readjuster, and an ex-mem
Der of the House of Delegates,
and you failed to open your mouth
to make that point Of order on the
ruling of the chair! But you are
not alone in this desire to exhibit
what Gov. Floyd denominated the
virtue of "hindsight y Our fore>
| father Adam, looked about for vic
tim, and Ike you Bro. Weber, he
took his best friend for the sacrifice.
/ The fact is there was not a Read
ulster in all that Convention, who
at the time took any exception to
the action OF the Chair, all was
acquiescence, until you went home
to Salem, slept a week and then
arose "to a point of order"
And now your point CT order is
not well taken. The Convention
had adopted the rules of the House
OF Delegates. Those rules recog-
nized no "scaled vote" There is
no scaled vote in tie House Of
Delegates, though that body, like
the Wytheville Convention, is COM
posed Of unequal integral parts
The counties of Bedford and Au-
gusta, and Pittsylvania, have each
3 delegates. Rockingham, Shen>
andoah, and Washington, each 2
delegates. Roanoke, Lee, Scott,
Wythe, Montgomery, &c, 1 dele
gate. Wise, Buchanan, Giles,
Pulaski, Bland, Smyth, &c, halt
delegate. Yet all votes in the
House are counted by the dele
gates who are present, Two Of
the Bedford delegates may be alb
sent, and then Roanoke will vote
as much as Bedford. One of the
Washington delegates only, may
be present, and only one will be
counted. The "one~ffth'' YOU
allude to, can lave the vote res
corded that is all. Onc-tifth
cannot have a new vote on differ
ent distribution of power taken.
The usual vote is ayes and noes
simultaneously sounded. A diVi-
sion is called for. The members
rise and the same vote is merely
counted accurately by the presid~
ing officer. The "Une-fifth" dce
mand call of the roll, and the
same vote is MERELY RECORDED
The COMPOSITION of the vote is not
changed 4 whit.
The facr l. that fhp scaled vote
was either to be accorded on the
DEMAND of any one delegate, or
could only be reached by vote of
the Convention. No delegate, no
readjuster, made any such demand.
One delegate made a moToN-"l
move that the vote to lay on the
table be taken by a scaled vote.
The Chair knew that Railroad
Companies had provided for the
difficulty Icy special enactment in
their by laws, that any one stock
holder can DEMAND a scaled vote.
The scaled vote in Conventions is
generally used alone in voting for
the Candida Every departure
at Wytheville from usual customs
was ordered by vote Of the dele
gates present. Such vote took
from the Chair the appointment
of the committee on the Platform
and bestowed it on the delegation
from each county, then and there
pr esent. The motion to scale the
vote on the motion to table had
been partially taken, when
the request of a delegate, the
Chair explained "what a scaled
vote is" and illustrated it by the
county of Washington, and re-
took the vote. No objection was
urged, no point OF order made
The entire Convention acquicsced.
The Chair saw no way out eX-
cept by putting the motion to the
Convention. The Readjustcrs had
previously carried the Convention
on similar vote, in the teeth Of
strongly expressed opposition, to
appoint committee on platform,
and it was expected that the same
,-ntn ,rnnld not table tie rn-k of