The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-09-04
REVIEW OF WILLIAMS
INDEX TO ENROLLED HILLS

The index to Enrolled Bills Of the Gen
eral Assembly OF Virginia 17t6 to 1910
complied by john W, W4lliams CLERK
OF house OF Delegates. has Just been
Issued This IS book or 1lo5 pages,
very durabIy bound. and handsomely
printed. In 1903 Mr.. Villains printed
an inaex 10 the enrolled bills Tor the
years AIS TO 1850 Ints proved so
useful that the Legislature OF 1910 au-
tAoriAed him to index the bills OF the
heriod, 1851 10 1910. and to print the
whole index anew, the entries for 1916
10 1901 TO form part i and those OF
1881 TO 1910, part :. AS an appendix.
Mr.. Williams mas printed the indexes
copied from the printed acts Of as
semoiies'of the so-cal.ed Restored Gov
eminent OF Virginia, merely his
torical Information. the whole vol
utne, then, IS Key to the Ieglslat ion
OF Virginia from the organization or
the Commonwealth The references are
TO the pages OF the bound volumes OF
the enro4led bills in the clerks
office. This does not deter one from
using 1t In connection with the printed
acts of each session. The prlcipal DIFF
nculty heretofore has been 10 locate
the year IN which certain act was
passed. MIR, Williams index gives the
year and Il is then necessary to consult
ti4s SESSION acts OF that year. tfhe
work has been well done, and the COM
piler ana the state may well take pride
In its publication the legislation OF
no other state in the early years
after the Revolution affected so
many etates and so many interests
as that of Virginia. For this rea-
son the book viii be of great value
TO students out OF the State. But to
the attorney and to the historical stu
dent OF Virginia. 1t Will be simply In
valuable To illustrate it's possible
uses. by turning to ne heading i'ub
ilc Free schools IN parts / and 2. he Will
see all the references. and there are
many or them. on this subject. begin
ming with the first In 1880.
To the local historian the book will
also appeal Under each county or
other local subdivisions win be found
references to all the laws concerning
1t from 1875.
The entries are arranged aud printed
so that the eye may easily consult
them. There Is no undue crowding on
the pages as In many indexes. The
main entry word Is in a line by itself
followed in different line by a de-
scription OF tho act rererrng to 1t.
The value OF an index or any nature
depends upon the amount of intel
1gence and ordinary common sense tho
user Will bring to It, Thus it will be
apparent from tho nature of this work
that 1t cannot index the contents of all
the acts of Virginia from 1876 TO 1910
This would be imprac ticable. But
the book is an index to the subject mat
ter OF the acts 30 far as the titles of
the acts indicate the subject. Beyond
this 1t cannot go. 1t 10 due the COM
piler OF any index to read his preface
and then TO spend = few minutes in
the study OF his plan, before attempting
to use it.
Mr. Williams index adds another use
full tool to the worker in Virginia his
tory or the period succeeding the Rev
oiution, a period OF which there is
waiting to be written much In the line
OF local general. and biographical In
teresc
EARL O. SWAIN,
Assistant state Librarian