The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-02-07


Arnl assembly was precipitated yes
teYday in the house of delegates when
the enabling act loaded with amend
nents piled on by the senate. came
back for concurrence. After nearly
two hours OF hot debate, dealing In
personalities and discussion of the
method Of procedure the FINAL dtspo-
sition OF the senate amendments was
carried over until today. when they
will b taken up as a special order
NJ 1880 O'Clock,
n had been freely predicted that
there would be a big fight but even
the most rndical did not suspect such
= dow OF ippAag1oned speech. and II
vas late N the. afternoon that order
was restored. and the house adjourned.
The result Of the hght was about
even, neither side gaining anything
except that the opponents OF the bill
succeeded In keeping II from confer
ence committee until the amendments
could be taken one At a time and dis
cussed-
Reads the Amendments
when 1t was announced that the SEN
ate had passed the bill with numerous
amendments and sent 1t back to the
lower branch for conference. Judge
Martin williams. OF Cites county. pa
tron OF the enabling act. leader of the
majority on the floor and chairman
OF the committee on privileges and
elections. took the floor. He said that
rs everyone knew what the amend
ments were It was unnecessary to
read them and 1t would only take
up valuable time.
Mr.. Oliver, of Fairfax, who has
since the house convened In January.
been an enemy of the BILL and who
has fought II from start TO finish,
declared tina, he did not know the
amendments tackled on by the senate
and desired TO have them read. To
this Judge williams agreed and the
amendments were read In full. The
patron again took the moor with a
motion that the house should refuse
to concur in the amendments as a
whole. He said the enabling act had
been passed by the house a. II was
originally drawn. but since that time
the senate had In their judgement,
seen NJ to make certain changes, which
the advocates OF the bill did not pro-
pose to accept He wanted the house
TO refuse to concur in the amendments
and let the senate as committee OF
conference.
Mr.. Oliver asked, do I understand
the gentleman from Giles to say that
he objects to all OF the amendments
Judge Williams answered that he could
not say that he objected to all OF the
amendments, but he wanted the house
to refuse to concur in them as a
whole.
Mr.. willis. of Roanoke. leaped to his
feet. declaring that some OF the amend
ments placed In the bill by the sen
ate were excellent and suggested that
the matter should be taken piecemeal
and fully discussed on the floor OF the
house This threw the house Into con-
fusion and from every side members
leapAd to their feet clamoring to be
recognised.
Oliver Heads Fight.
The chair. however, restored order
and recognized Mr.. Oliver Turning
to Judge williams the member from
Fairfax asked: Isn't this the only
time we will have to consider these
amendments? Doesn't the gentleman
from Giles know that when the bill
comes back with a committee report
that We have to act on the bill as
whole7"
Judge williams: 81 don't think SO,
At least l don't understand 1t that
way"
During this brief period the house
was In an uproar. many members
trying to talk at once, whether recog-
nixed by the chair or not
Mr. Birreli. of Alexandria. asked
Judge williams. as he still occupied
the moor. II his reason for wanting to
send the bill to conference com
OF tho members OF the house from
exposing their positions on the mat
ter.
The battle then ragged around the
desk OF the moor leader, who heated
~ answered that 1t positively was
not.
Mr. Myers. delegate from the city
Of Richmond, after vainly trying for
several minutes to get hearing. a.
nally succeeded In making the mo-
ton that the senate amendments be
taken UP one by one and voted on.
This motion was later adopted.
Major Stubs. OF Gloucester. an
able parliamentarian. took the floor
against Judge Williams declaring that
he had no right to expect the appoint
ment OF q conference committee. that
each member had the right to de-
mand that each amendment be taken
separately and acted on. He said u
the house wanted to concur. then Y
could do 80, hut II they only disagreed
on few amendments, then was the
time It should 90 to conference
committee.
Things Get Warm.
Now things begun to get exciting
There had been one or two Tits be-
tween Mr.. Oliver and Judge VIII
lianis. and In the heat OF the discus
sfun Mr.. Oliver made some reference
to taking orders"
Judge Williams turned angrily or
his opponent and said: II am only
the patron Of this bill. and I want "a
know IL Mr.. Oliver insinuated that
was receiving orders from anybody"
Mr.. Oliver, with laugh, addressed
the chair. III the cap didn't At. why
did the gentleman take 1t up &C
4 promptly
Mr.. williams: You have made
these insinuations that I was receiv-
4 ing orders throughout the night on
\ this bill. and i want to say that II is
Y absolutely false
The hpuae was in confusion In an
q n ysekArt hut Mr.. Oliver managed q