Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1897-12-14
SPIRIT OF JEFFERSON,
CHAnrrs To~s. Jar,ERsoS coUHTr, W. Va
TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER II. ls97.
Error of the Acts.

1t has been repeatedly asserted by sew
eral of the newspapers of the State that
the acts of the last legislature contain one
law which was never passed. The law re-
ferred to is the one which apportions the
delegates in the lower house among the
various counties; and the specific charge
has been that the acts as printed show
that Lewis county was taken out of the
delegate district composed of Lewis and
Webster, and given delegate OF its own,
Upshur county being put in the delegate
district with Webster county in its place.
A careful comparison of the bill as
originally printed, together with the
journals of the two houses showing the
amendments which were made to it be-
fore its passage, shows it was neverpassed
in the form in which it is printed in the
acts. The Senate made an amendment
to the bill putting Upshur in the place of
Lewis county in the delegate district
with Webster, but the house refused to
agree to the amendment.
The bill which originally intended only
to seperate Morgan county from the dele
gate district composed of Morgan, Berise-
ley and Jefferson counties. and give it
separately one of the two delegates to
which the district was entitled, was We
toed by Governor MacCorkle on the
ground that the constitution provided
that the delegates should be apportioned
after each census only, and that the act
is Unconstitutional The bill was passed
over his veto by both houses, but without
the Senate amendments changing the
Webster district, and as passed it made
no change in the aPPortionment except
in Morgan county and the Berkeley and
Jefferson delegate district.
AS printed in the acts the law gives
Morgan county its delegate, changes the
Webster district by putting UPshur
county instead of Lewis with Webster,
and deprives both Logan and Mingo
counties of all representation. According
to the acts as printed neither Logan
nor Mingo is entitled to any representa-
ton in the house of delegates.
The Gazette has made an investigation
and has ascertained that while it is true,
as charged, that the acts contain one law
which was never passed, that the law as
printed is different from the enrolled bill
which bears the signature of the president
of the Senate, the Speaker OF the House,
and the statements over the signatures of
the clerks of the two houses that the
bill was passed over the Governors veto.
The enrolled bill, properly signed, leaves
Webster and Lewis together as they
had previously been and gives Logan
county one delegate as it had before the
law creating Mingo county, providing
that Mingo and Logan counties should be
entitled to one delegate jointly.
The enrolled bill is the law and the
chapter in the acts is simply copy, sup
posed to be correct, SO thatin spite of the
printed acts Lewis and Webster will pull
together again, and Mingo and Logan
will be represented.
The clerk of the house, whose duty it
is to prepare the acts for publication, can
give no explanation of the error except
that it was a mistake in proof reading.
charleston Gazette.