The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-02-22
Nd. VA.-special.-

ciaI and continuous business next
Tuesday at 1890 O'Clock. 4,
RICHM Nd, VA.-Special.-l
Members of the State Senate are
wondering just what will happen when
the time comes to take vote on the
Statewide bill. which was yesterday
introduced in that body by Senators
Walker, Saunders, West and Mapp.
That the temperance people pro-
pose to force the lighting there is no
question, and the fact that the mi
nority in the House has hindered and
stayed the vote on the Jordan bill is
responsible for the introduction of the
measure in the Senate. and for the
determined fight that will be made
to have the bill reported and sub
mitted to the vote Of the Senators.
That there is very good reason for
believing that the vote will be close /
much closer than the opponents OF /
the measure have believed-there is |
no longer any question. caretul
poll has been made of the Senate, and (
the majority of several votes that /
were claimed to be against the meas |
ure has now dwindled to tie, with |
four members noncommittal, but with !
indications that two Of them will vote |
for the enabling act
THE matter is not one which the
Senate will assume responsibility for
| defeating" said Senator G. Walter
| Mapp, of Accomac. THAT was the
/ case two years ago The Senate had
to carry the load. This time Ii will
be vastly different. 1t will be mat
| ter of individual responsibility. and
each man will have to answer to his
constituents for his vote. Not that
alone. but / happen to know that
pressure is now being put on by the
supporters of the Senators in their
| districts. Letters are coming to them
in such numbers that Senators have
begun to realize that they are to be
Ill n lanf ffnn -
| will do in the matter.
"Candidly, L believe that the bill
stands an excellent chance of becom-
ing law. Why should il not2 The
people of the State are not asking us
to give them prohibition Not bit
of it. They are merely asking that
they be allowed TO decide this mat
ter for themselves. That seems to me
to be reasonable and fair enough.
| I'm my opinion the people of the
State will resent a refusal to- decide
this matter for themselves. What
will be the consequence? AT the very
next election there will be an effort TO
elect members Of the General Assem-
bly, who are friendly to the temper
ance view. and they will come down
here and make such Il clean sweep
of every department that the party in
power would have trouble in meet
ing old friends when they come to the
State departments. / believe that the
part of wisdom is to let the people
have their way on matters OF this
! kind. Why are they not entitled to
, as much consideration as anyone else
They send us here to represent them.
and they know our views on matters
regarding legislation. When we vote
to let the people have u voice in the
management of their affairs we do
!, not commit ourselves to casting our
7 individual votes for the measure
which we give them a chance TO vote
on. We reserve the right TO vote as
we believe to be right
, That there is some alarm among
the advocates of the liquor trade there
is no question. They claim TO have
! more than enough votes to defeat the
{ measure. even if the House shall pass
the Jordan bill,s and yet they are
they had not more than a half-dOzen
votes pledged to them. A careful can
r vass of the attitude of Senators has
; been made by a group of five mem
T bers, and IL shows some interesting
5 matters. There are just twenty votes
L that the group has counted AS un-
d equivocaly committed TO defeat the
h Statewide bill. while there are sixteen
= who are known To be for the prOpo-
e sition. OF the four who are not com
q mitted ii is known today that one OF
them has declared that he will vote
for the bill, and that at least one
other has declared that he would sc
O vote "in obedience TO the will OF the
n people who elected him" This last
n man was elected on a prohibition
platform and has been for sometime
e counted as q friend of the liquor men
Il am going to vote for the State
wide BILL" said a Senator from on,
of the southside counties today. -.
~ am going to do so for the very rea
~ son that unless that is done we viii
. have trouble-large amount of trou
he ble-in all parts of the State over tn
,e refusal to let the people vote and ge
ID rid of this question once for all.
ne prefer that you do not use my name
< but there will be party trouble. lonl
is and continuous. unless we do VIVA
o. we should do. / am one of thos
"a members who think that the suprem
70 acy of the party is paramount to an
one interest in the State. This thin
40 is not in politics, and we should kee
u ii out Therefore. let us send ii {
" the people and let them do with
g as they see fit
10 The natural question arises. in cas-
= there is a tie vote on the matter 4
" the Senate. What will be the result
-, Lieutenant Governor Ellyson woul
:, have to cast the deciding vote. Woul
a.. he vote wet or dry? Answer tina
~ question. and you might tell what tn
-. result will be.
- Will there be members of the Ser
a ate who will be away from the cit
~, when the vote is taken? Will tn
eu wet or dry members have most me
-, on the Senate floor when the matte
~ is reached? These are some of tn
,u' questions which are being asked.
n Whatever may be the outcome
ny the matter. the temperance peop
no have been in excellent mood in II
ut last few days.