State

\ parch 17, 1934 THE STATE LEGISLATIVE PERSONALITIES From Dare — home of R. Bruce Etheridge, the legislator described to you in last week's personality sketch — to Cherokee is a long hop l'or any¬ one except a sliek-longued politician, but it is worth taking this week to tell you about Giles William Cover, Jr.. the only representative North Carolina's farthest western outpost has had in the last two sessions of the House of Representatives. Giles William Cover, Jr., who really likes to be called “Bill,” came to Ra¬ leigh in January, 10:$:$, at the age of 23 to become a member of the legis¬ lature and quickly demonstrated he was not afraid of anyone connected with that session. He obviously came to Raleigh to be heard and if he had ever heard that freshmen legislators are likely to get along better by being seen instead of being heard he never at any time let anyone feel that he believed in this theory. Young Mr. Cover started talking I about what he was going to do before the 1933 session ever convened. He had announced in a voice loud enough to he heard as far east as Mantco that his I prime mission in Raleigh was to dig a grave into which he hoped to deposit the State liquor control act Mr. Zebu- Ion Vance Turlington, of Iredell, had I persuaded the 1923 General Assembly to write upon the statute books. It was only natural that other legis- I tutors wanted to take a look at the beardless Mr. Cover when he arrived upon the legislative scene to perform the task he had carved out for him¬ self. The Cherokee legislator (the first from that county since 1929 by rea¬ son of the fact the 1931 member, John H. Dillard, died while en route to Raleigh for the convening of the ses¬ sion and his scat was never filled in that long session) was not long in pro¬ jecting himself into the limelight. The session had been grinding away only a short time before Mr. Cover was observed one morning to be rum¬ maging around in his coat for some¬ thing. And then the member from Cherok<>c arose, called a page and sent forward to Speaker R. I.. Harris a bill designed to do unto death the fa¬ vorite piece of legislation Mr. Turling¬ ton had fathered in his long and honor¬ able career as a legislator. Feverish inspection on the part of "BILL" COVER - ★ - the buys at the press table of Mr. Cover’s repealer failed to reveal that the member from Cherokee was of the type of legislator to work himself into a fever by inserting a multitude of “whereases” in the bill and as 1 recall now all the writing in the measure did not take up more than three sentences. Mr. Cover, after all. was no lawyer and lie never pretended to lie one dur¬ ing his service in the House. The fact that President. Roosevelt was known to be an advocate of repeal and the fact that Roliert R. Reynolds had while running on a repeal plat¬ form been elected to the United States Senate by a tremendous majority, how¬ ever, failed to convince the members of House Judiciary Committee, No. I, of which О. B. Moss, of Nash, was chairman, that the time had come for them to fall over themselves in plac¬ ing their stamp of approval upon Mr. Cover’s bill. And so after a time Chairman Moss reported to the House that his com¬ mittee had not been able to look with favor upon Cover’s repealer and had given it an unfavorable report. Where¬ upon, Mr. Cover raged but did not weep. In his eye there was a gleam that did not spell love for the mem¬ bers of the judiciary committee, who Page Twenty-one No. 2:i Giles William Cover, Jr. By Wnde П. I.ucns hail so upset the ineinlier fmm Chero¬ kee. He tried unsuccessfully to get the House to override the Cnuuuitti-c re¬ port on the bill. Later on in the session, Mr. Cover sent forward another bill that was couched in language the lawyer-mem¬ bers of the legislature like to use to impress those who are not lawyers. Apparently the measure had been writ¬ ten solely for the tenefit of the con¬ stituents of Mr. Cover, and the House, thinking it was “purely a local bill.” as so many meinhcrs are wont to refer to county measures they want passed without any too much investigation into the contents, passed it without a murmur and then consented to the Cherokee member's request that the bill go to the Senate by special messenger. The bill outwardly had nothing to do with Mr. Turlington's act. To the Senate the measure went while its author leaned back in his chair with a satisfied expression on his face. The House was rooking along like it does when it has nothing of great importance before it when Mr. Moss came striding down the center aisle apparently much upset over something and announced in a loud voice that Mr. Cover’s “local bill’’ ought to be instantly recalled from the Senate. “We have passed a bill repealing the Turlington Act and we must undo wliat wc have done,” said Mr. Moss in effect as he scented to struggle to con¬ trol himself. Members looked at one another and then looked at Mr. Moss. They appar¬ ently seemed to wonder if the popular member from Nash had gone suddenly insane, but as Mr. Moss talked they not only realized he was in his right mind, but that Mr. Cover had made them look somewhat ridiculous by what they had done. Recall machinery was speeded up, the Cover bill came back and the law¬ yer members inspected it to find out that a layman had persuaded them to pass a measure that would have wiped the Turlington Act off the books if the Senate had also passed it. Little time was lost in killing the bill. Back in the hills of Cherokee today Hill Cover must chuckle to himself when he rccalLs how he took the 1933 House for a buggy ride.