State

THE STATE May 19, 1934 LEGISLATIVE PERSONALITIES Page Nineteen No. 32 Dr. T. W. M. Lon* By Wade II. Lucas THE fight ingest doctor to serve in the North Carolina General As¬ sembly in a generation or so ! That’s what most of us who have been watching the legislative wheels spin on Capitol Hill in Raleigh for a number of years say when we get to talking about Dr. Thomas Williams Mason Long, of Halifax, a member of a family long prominent in the political life of North Carolina. At a celebration some time ago in Halifax, Dr. Long, a member of the past two sessions of the State Legis¬ lature, paid tribute to his forbear, John Paul Jones, one of the nation’s first and greatest naval heroes, who as an orphan was adopted into the family of Willie .Tones, great patriot of the Revo¬ lutionary War era. The fact that Dr. Long is descended from this fighting family probably accounts for the in¬ disputable fact that in a fight on the legislative floor the Halifax lawmaker seems never to know when he is licked. Neither did Willie nor John Paul Jones. Having known his brother, Lunsford Long, member of the 1927 State Senate and now a prominent Raleigh merchant, I was interested quite a bit when the people of Halifax County held a special election in January. 1931, to elect a successor to Clement S. Kitchin, son of the late Governor W. W. Kitchin, who had died about two weeks before the 1931 General Assembly convened. Senator Lunsford Long had impressed me mightily with his fighting ability in the 1927 Senate. A veteran lawmaker, the Senator had been a leader during the past several sessions and the Senate elected him as its president pro tempore to serve when J. Elmer Long, of Dur¬ ham, then Lieutenant Governor, found it necessary to be absent from his duties of wielding the gavel over the 1927 Senators, a rather decorous group when compared with those who followed them upon the legislative rostrum in later years. Having digressed for a moment to tell briefly about Senator Lunsford Long’s legislative career, I now go back to my fourth paragraph in this sketch to say the Democrats of Halifax — and Halifax is full of Democrats, too — sent Dr. Thomas Williams Mason Long to the House to serve in place of the lamented Mr. Kitchin. If memory serves me correctly, Dr. Long did not run against Mr. Kitchin in the 1930 primary. DR. T. W. M. LONG Arriving upon the 1931 scene in late January, after the session had already grown old enough for the legislators to start cutting capers over the school and sales tax issues, Dr. Long, a state figure for years in medical circles, soon let his fellow members know that he was as adept at prescribing for the ills of the state as for its people. He lost little time in making himself felt in a legislative way as the lawmakers com¬ menced teeing off first one way and then the other as both House and Sen¬ ate laid the ground work for a fight that kept the 1931 legislators here longer than they had ever staved before or since. The fact he had served for eight years ns mayor of Roanoke Rapids before he decided to help prescribe for the ills of all North Carolina in the legislative halls must have taken from Dr. Long the timidity that seems to affect most physicians elected to the General As¬ sembly. There is nothing timid about Dr. Long in a legislative fight. Пе ap¬ proaches one with the same degree of confidence with which he faces a diffi¬ cult surgical operation. Like a number of other 1931 House members, Dr. Long decided to become a member of the 1933 Senate and trans¬ ferred to the so-called ‘Tpper House." a great place for entertainment in spite of the fact that the lower House some¬ times resembles a three-ring circus as it gets into sundry fights. But it also might be said the Senate has not in years resembled a Sunday school con¬ vention by any means. Senator-Doctor Long proceeded to re¬ mind veteran Senators of his brother, Lunsford, once he took his seat in the Senate and again lie last no time in pro¬ jecting himself into the front rank of Senators who do things that help to make headlines. He it was who became the center of one of the most bitterly fought local measures in years. lie fathered a bill to revamp the boundary lines of his home town, Roanoke Rapids, so ns to bring certain mills within the cor¬ porate limits for taxing purposes. The bill, like many other local measures, looked simple enough, but the other lawmakers soon awoke to the fact that Senator-Doctor Long had introduced a bill that was to cause almost ns much discussion on the floor of the House as the sales tax itself. The two House members from Hali¬ fax, Francis Taylor and Hunter Pope, were divided on the bill. Mr. Taylor was with Dr. Long; Mr. Pope was against the measure. In spite of con¬ siderable pressure brought by the Hali¬ fax group opposing his bill, Senator I-ong got it by the Senate with flags flying. Delegations came to Raleigh from Halifax to appear before com¬ mittees for and against the bill. In much the same manner ns John Paul Jones must have braved the British cannon balls. Dr. Long strode up and down in front of his forces, fighting all the way liefore the House committee working on his bill. Time and again his opposition laid down heavy bar¬ rages, but no shell holes did Dr. Long seek. The measure reached the House floor. Oratory flowed against it in a veritable flood. Mr. Pope eventually encompassed the defeat of Dr. Long’s bill after the House had indulged in several roll calls. Back in Halifax the Long bill of 1933 is still a fighting issue and largely on that issue Dr. Thomas Williams Mason Long, a fighter with much intcntinal fortitude, is running for re-election to the 1935 Senate.