The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-08-17
COVE HoR WHITE TELLS WHAT
B WAS ACCOMPLISHED BY THE
EXTRA SESSION. s3{5s

Il
: he thought OF the work of the specia
session of the Legislature and the re
Z suits accomplished. and in reply made
4 the, following statement
The length of the session was
i eighteen days. two Of these were
4 Sundays, thus leaving bu, sixteen
i working days. Three Of those were
flost by the death of Delegate 4Trum
i DO. In the thirteen actual working
days the Legislature considered and
1 passed stwenty-four bills. twelve OF
. which originated in the House and
twelve in the Senate. Twenty-one OF
1 those bills related to the assessment,
i collection and disbursement of reve.
nue.. and most OF them are of the ut
most importance and OF far reaching
effect. No State in the Union has
made as much advance in tax reform
legislation in so short period Of time
as West Virginia has in the past two
years. We will now have on the stat
| ute books laws which in some States
have been secured only after years Of
| work
The work of the Legislature was
having the bills in charge were indie.
fatigable in their labors. 1t should be
noted that one of those bills as print
ed covers ITO pages, and deals with
the very practicable subject of assess
ment of property for taxation which
is a matter of great details. a practi-.
cal subject on which there are as
many opinions as there are men al
most: that another deals with the,
similar subject of license taxes. about
which scarcely any three men will
have the same ideas, and that there
Were other bills on similar practical
subjects of every day interest to ev-
cry citizen. We can thus see how
vast was the labor done in the short
time of the session, and how faithful
" the Legislature labored. and how
successfully
The Legislature was convened q 4
little over three weeks after receipt
of the bills which were submitted
to it.
Short Notice Necessary.
1t was necessary to convene the
body with as short notice as could be
in order that action might be taken on
the constitutional amendment. A
amendment to the constitution must
be advertised three months before it /
is voted on by the people, the constitu-
ton commands this. SO 1t was neces-
sary that if the amendment be gotten
before the people. in the November
election, it be advertised in the news
papers before August Sth.
"It will be remembered that in
called session the Legislature can leg
islate on no subject not named in
the message convoking the session.
The message referred to an amend-Sl
ment expressly permitting the legis-
ature to dispense with all State and
State school taxes on property. 1t +
IS well to remember this point here
n connection with what will be said
l little later on. To submit an amend
nent to the constitution requires the
Affirmative vote of two-thirds of all
he members elected to the Legisla-
ure, to each, house,, not merely two
birds of a quorum. but two-thirds of ;
III that We're elected, which includes ii
,acancies made by death, or by sick s
less and not filed. Every Republi- l
AN member able to be present voted l
o submit the amendment; it had the +
equired number of votes in the Sen |
tie, but in the House the Republicans (
10 not control the necessary two #
birds. They were lacking five votes.
sot a Democratic member would vote {
o submit this amendment The Dem t
cratic leaders sought to excuse this /
ction by seeking to amend this c
ent. by providing that no
otter should vote in any election I'M S
ass he had paid his poll tax. Right |
Y the speaker of the House ruled l
hat this could not be done. It was +
OF germane; it was not covered in i
he call of the governor 1t was clear C
Y an effort to do something which b
ould not be done. Besides payment r
poll tax relates to the qualification r
{ voters, and the part of the consti- i
Ition devoted to this subject is Ar b
Gle 4 (section -, while the propos-i f
d amendment related to; an entirely
iherent subject. and proposed to add S
new section to Article Is. the head /;
lg of which is land titles f
People For It,. f