The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1915-01-29
PLAN To REDUCE
HOUSE MEMBERS
DELEGATE NEAGER OF WOOD OF.
FERS AMENDMENT TO
CONSTITUTION.
Reducing NoUse from Eishty-SE %
Sisty-Nins-Pian Follows that
Suggested - ES-GoV. White.
By ". p. kENsER
star Corrcgpondcntl

CHARLESTON. W Va. Jan. Is
For sometime there has been conSid-
cradle talk. especially when lsEisla-
lures are In session. relative 10 the -
ductiOn % the membership OF the
House OF Delegates but no definite
actloL has heretofore been taken until
the introduction yesterday Of a pro
posed amendment 10 the constitution
which was presented BY ]. a. Neager.
a Delegate from Wood county.
Under the present constitution. un-
less a delegate district T. formed.
which has not been the 1ass since 1901
when each county vas given az least
n delegate. q county must have a
population not less than three-hfths OF
the ratio Of representation for the
House OF Delegates and owing TO the
fact that nan counties hAve less than
ten thousand Il is necessary In order
20 give each county a delegate TO
rake the House membership very
large. The present membership OF
the House IL eighty-six but under the
census OF 1910 the House should have
under the constitution a membership
OF n~inety-four. or an increase Of eight
In the ten years and II the state should
increase I'm population at the same
rate between 1910 and 1920 the mem
bership would be- one hundred and TWO.
In Line With White.
The amendment proposed by Mr..
Yeager f. In line with b suggestion
that was made in an interview with
Ex-Governor A. II. White. which ap-
peared in the I~ntelligencer a few
months ago. and n the proposed
amendment becomes effective Il re
peals section six OF article six OF the
constitution, and amends article seven
Of the same article. giving TO each
county regardless OF population at
least one member and hen sets the
Approximate rate for each delegate at
t~hree-fOurths u the ~quotient seer
tanned by dividing the whole popula-
ton OF the state by he number OF
counties.
This would make the membership
OF the House to consist OF s~ixty-nine
members; Cabell. Harrison. Mellow
ell, MarionAMercer and Wood having
two each: Fayette and Ohio three
each, and Kanawha FIVE.
Would Increase u.
This amendment, however. would
not be voted on until 1916, and II the
apporuonment bill introduced by MIR.
James a. Smith. OF Wood county. Is
passed at this session. no apportion-
ment could then be made before the
census OF 1920. and no doubt the in
crease in population that will be
shown by hat censu will very ma
terially increase the membership. and
that II would only be the matter OF a
few years until the membership Is as
large as at present. but under the pro-
posed amendment II would no longer
make Il necessary to have the large
membership. owing to the apportion-
ment being virtually based on the
population OF the smallest county in
the State. a. the delegate district
plan will not likely ever be put In
force again. thereby depriving coun-
ties affected by such a plan from one
member each.
Ohio county at present has four
members; under the census OF 1910
n would stiIl be entitled % the same
membership and would be entitled
under the proposed amendment to
three members. The representation
from Brooks and Hancock will remain
the same under the measures pro
posed. blu Marshall would be enti-
tied TO one delegate under proposed
constitutional amendment. instead OF
two as at present and by the census
OF 1910.
The New Proposal.
The following table shows what
would be the membership OF the
House OF Delegates under the pro-
posed constitutional amendment in
troduced by Delegate YeaEer, Of Wood
county. the present membership OF
the House and the representation
that each county Is entitled TO under
the present constitutional provisions:
Under Member Membership
% County. Amndt ship Now. Entitled TO
Barbour
Berkeley