The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1915-01-30
Plans REDUCTION
OF HOUSE members

/ Ut nUuO[ WLIHlDLEl6
Delegate Ysager Of Wood
Offers Amendment To
Constitution
CHARLESTON. Jan. so.-For soms
time there has been consid erable talk
especially when legislatures are ii
session. relative to the reduction d
the membership of the House Of Dele
gates, but no definite action has here
itofcre been taken until the introduc
ton Of q proposed amendment to the
constitution which was presented b,
j. b: Yeager, a delegate from Wood
county. 3 8 ~
: Under the present constitution, un
less o delegate district is formed
which has not been the case since
1910, when each county was given q,
ieastone delegate. a county must have
q population not less han. three:hfths
OF the ratio of representation for the
house of delegates and owing to the
fact that many counties have less
than te nthousand It is necessary ir
order to give each county q delegate
to make the house membership yer,
large. The present membership o.
the house is seighty.six. but under the
census OF 1910 the. house should have
under the constitution a Membership
OF ninety-four, or an increase OF eight
In the ten years, and IL the state
should increase In population at the
same rate between 1910 and 1920 the
membership would be one hundred
and two.
In Line With White.
he amendment proposed by Mr.
Yeager is in line with the suggestion
that was made by Governor a. b
Whitefa few months ago, and II the
proposed amendment becomes effec
tive 1t repeats section six OF article
six of the constitution. and amend:
article seven of the same article. Civ
Ing to each county regardless OF pop
ulation at least one member and then
sets the apportionate rate for each
delegate at three.fourths OF tho quo
tient ascertained by dividing the
whole population Of the state by the
number Of counties.
This would make the membership
OF the house to consist OF sixty.nine
members; Cabell, Harrison, Mellow
ell, Marion, Mercer and Wood having
two each; Fayette and Ohio three
each, and Kanawha five.
Would Increase tt.
This amendment, however, woult
not be voted on until 1916, and II the
apportionate bill introduced by Mr.
James A. Smith of Wood county, Ii
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 that census will very mater,
tally increase the membership, and
that It would only eb matter OF a
few years until the membership is as
large as at present, but under the pro
posed amendment It would no longer
make 1t necessary to have the large
membership, owing to the apportion
ment being virtually based on the
population of the smallest countySin
the state, as the delegate district plan
will not likely ever be put in force
again thereby depriving counties af
fected by such q plan from one mem
Der each. III =
Ohio county at present has foul
members; under tho census Of 191C
1t would still be entitled to the same
membership and would be entitled un
der the. proposed amendme nt to three
members. The representation from
Brooke and Hancock will remain the
same under the measures proposed
but Marshall would be entitled to one
delegate under the proposed constitu
tional amendment, instead OF two as
at presentIand by the censuse Of 1910
The New Proposal.
The following table shows what
would be the membership Of the house
OF delegates under the proposed con
stitutional amendment introduced By
Delegate Yeager, of Wood county, the
present membership OF the house and
the representation that each county Ii
entitled to under the present constitu
tional provisions:
Under. Member Membership
County. Amndt. ship now Entitled to
Barbour / 1 1 tsl