The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1911-07-05
MISREPRESENT


from said committee. reported
that the committee had discharg
ed the duty assigned Il and that
the governor had requested them
10 notify the House Of Delegates
that he had no further commune
cation to make: s
"a motion Of Mr. Smoot, the Z
House of Delegates adiourned s;
sine die
Moore Questioned Ruling. 4
Those who are familiar with the,
facts remember that the motion OF
Delegate Smoot TO adjourn sine die.
was made twice within thirty min
lutes. The. first time It was made the
sneaker refused To- entertain the mo-,
ton because, as he stated from the
rostrum, the consent Of the senate
had not been secured, and under con.
stitutional rules the house could not
adjourn for more than three days
without the consent OF the other.
Delegate Moore of Marshall county
raised the point OF order, which the
speaker sustained. This motion of
Mr.. Moore was made before $3.50 p.
M. and is not recorded in the journal
of the house, nor is the point Of order
raised by Moore and sustained by
Speaker Wetzel, The journal of the
house was falsifled when these mat
tiers were left out
In less than thirty minutes from the
time Delegate Smoot had made his
first motion to adjourn sine die, which
1.-The speaker would not entertain and
for which he gave his reason. Smoot
made his second motion. On this sec
ond occasion the same circumstances
existed, but Speaker Wetzel enter
tanned the motion, put it to the house
while Delegate E. F. Moore, the min
ority leader, was on his feet protest.
ing against the bold action, and the
motion to adjourn prevailed. The
house adjourned at 6:15 p. m.
The house journal shows that SEN
ators Silver and Kidd reported to the
house that the senate was ready to
adjourn before Senator Smoot made
his motion to adjourn sine die. Silver
and Kidd never reported such a mes
sage to the house of delegates when
| 1t was in session, and the house of
delegates adjourned without receiving
the consent of the senate or the noti-
flcation that the senate was ready to
adjourn. :.
Snators Kill and Silver as well
as the rest Of the senators, knowing
that the house had adjourned, dld not
leave their seats in the senate after
they had been appointed by President
Hatfield, and without leaving the
senate chamber Senator Kidd rose
from his seat and stated that the COM
mittee had performed the duties re-
quired of them.
FaIsification Of Records.
It is plain Justification Of the Of
fetal records of the house Of dele
gates, which records bear the sigma
lures of Speaker, G. NJ. Wetzel and
Clerk M, M. Nicely.
The journal of the state senate
for the last day OF, the session shows
that resolution to notify the house
that the senate was ready to adjourn.
in accordance with that resolution
President Hatfield named Senator's
Silver and Kidd.
That messages was never delivered
to the house of delegates while 1t was
in session, for the house had adj
iourned tine die thirty (3O) minutes
before that time, and several Of the
members Of the house had left
Charleston for upstate points after
the house had adjourned, and were
fifteen minutes out of the city of
Charleston before Kidd and Silver
were appointed to notify the house
that the senate was ready to adjourn.
While no effort was made 10 the
Democrats to conceal their efforts to
defeat any legislation at the recent
session, except to appropriate money
to pay the expenses Of the session, 1t
was not thought they would attempt
to cover up some Of their actions by
falsifying the official records Of the
house of delegates.