Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1912-02-29
NO CHANGE IN
CONGRESS- DISTRICTS
Democrats in Legislature Caucus and Vote
to Reject the Williams Bill GeTTman-
deTng Congressional Districts.

would-be leaders of the machine in their
party and make a "shoestring" out of
the Sixth congress district, by adding
to it Giles, Bland and Tazewell, is pret-
ty generally known, but how the meas
ure was beaten in the House of Dele
gates is not so well known. as the daily
papers publishing detailed accounts of
the the legislative proceedings do not
circulate very extensively in this sec
tion, and, for this reason, we give the
proceedings dealing with the question
of redistricting in full.
1t is worth while to note that during
the discussion the Tszewell Republican
was misquoted. the language read by
Mr.. Williams and attributed to US, be
ing that of the present editor of the
Roanoke Times. We quoted from his
celebrated confession" with the hope
that it might influence fair men in the
General Assembly to give US an honest
redistricting measure. 1t seems though
that Mr.. Williams tried to use it for the
very purpose for which it was not in
that the vigorous position which this
paper took for fairness and justice 70
the people of the Ninth had much to do
with the defeat of the iniquitous mess
ure to separate us from the associa-
tions of many years.
The question, for the next ten years
at least, was disposed of in the Demo-
cratic caucus that met on Wednesday
night of last week, by the adoption Of
the following resolution, introduced by
Hon. Joseph Stebbins, jr,, of Halifax
county:
Resolved, That it is the sense of
this caucus that in redistricting the
State of Virginia into congressional DIS
tricts. the present district boundaries
should be preserved. and the Committee
on Privileges and Elections is hereby
directed to have the bill recommitted
and report bill re-enactIng the present
law, so that the same boundary lines of
the districts shall be preserved"
The vote was as follows:
Ayes-Adams, Balm, Bargamin, Bell,
Borden, Bowman, Brewer, BUT, Chalk
ley, Christian, Curtis. Daniel, Fitzhugh,
Howerton, Jennings. Jordan, Kemper,
Kent, Love, Lunsford, Martin, Monts-
que, Moseley, Norris, Oliver, Page,
Parker, Peyton, Radford, Rev. Rob-
erts, of Mecklenburg, Rolston, Smith,
Spesssrd, Stebbins, Stephenenson, Of
Bath, Templeton, Utz, Walton, White,
of Rockbridge, Willeroy and Wise-42
Noes-Anderson, B k T, Banks,
Brown, Browning, Byrd, Coleman. Of
Spotsylvanis, Cox, Evans, Gillian,
Grant, Gregory, Harwood, Houston,
key, Kinsey, Land, Malbon, Moncure,
Moore, Rakes, Richardson, Row, Ruth
erford, Stephenson, of James City,
Terrell, Throckmorton, Watts, Weaver,
White, of Albemarle, Williams-32.
Pair-Mr. Clarke and Mr.. Tate.
Although the members from the three
districts affected-the Fifth, Sixth an6
Ninth-voted ten noes and nine ayes,
the result being that the members from
the districts not affected decided the
case. Judge Martin Williams cheerful
ly acquiesced in the wish of the major
ity, and moved to make it unanimous.
Agreed, at first opportunity. to make
the necessary motion to recommit the
redistricting bill to the Committee or
Privileges and Elections. of which he is
chairman, for the purpose of havicg the
changes made which will leave all the
districts just as they are
1t is fully understood that the Senate
will not interfere, and that the bill will
so through barring unexpected develop
ments, as decided upon by the House
The caucus was replete with resolu-
tions, points of order as to procedure,
and parliamentary rulings. 1t was sale
that the form in which the resolution
was put lined up among the ''stand
patters" some of those who would have
voted to remove Halifax county from
the Sixth district and put it in the Fifth
but who would not have agreed to take
Giles, Bland and Tazewell from the
Ninth and put them in the Sixth. Il
this be true, the credit for engineering
the situation belongs to Joseph SteD
bins, of Halifax, who led the fight OF
the floor, and who made a fight ovei
the matter which excited the interes
of the entire legislature. He worked
day and night over it, and was exceed
ingly active in securing friends sgins
the bill as reported from the committee
Judge Williams made the opening
statement, after Chairman Edwin P
Cox had called the meeting to order
He said that he would have the redis
tricting put on the same plane with tina
of every other state-settled with
view to advantage for the dominan
party. He said the only way to saw
tho Fifth district from Republicanisn
was to add Halifax toit. Then, coming
to the Ninth, he felt that had the wealtl
and influence of the Tazewell Republi
cans been out of the district, Henry C