William Newell Vaile (June 22, 1876 – July 2, 1927) was a
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
.
Born in
Kokomo, Indiana, Vaile moved with his parents to
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, in 1881. Vaile was of
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
descent.
[, p.262.] He attended the public schools and graduated from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1898. During the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
, he served as a private in the First Regiment of the Connecticut Volunteer Field Artillery from May 19, 1898, to October 25, 1898.
Vaile studied law at the
University of Colorado
The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
in 1899 and
Harvard Law School in 1900–01. He was
admitted to the bar
An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...
in 1901 and began his practice in Denver. He was counsel for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, 1901–16, and he served as County Attorney for Jefferson County from 1911 to 1914. He married Kate Rothwell Varrell on June 14, 1914. Valie was a Republican candidate for Congress in 1916.
[ Bench and bar of Colorado (1917)/Portraits, accessed July 9, 2010] He served on the Mexican border from June 28 to December 1, 1916, as a second lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion, National Guard of Colorado.
Vaile was elected as a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
to the
Sixty-sixth and to the four succeeding Congresses, serving from March 4, 1919, until his death on July 2, 1927. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury (
Sixty-eighth Congress, March 4, 1923 to March 3, 1925).
Congressman Vaile co-sponsored the Cummins-Vaile Bill which was introduced on April 8, 1924. It was the first birth control bill to reach debate in Congress of the United States.
Congressman Vaile was a noted restrictionist.
[, p.145.] He was a prominent supporter of the
United States Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the National Origins Act, Johnson-Reed Act, or the Immigration Quota Act of 1924. This legislation limited the number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States in 1890 according to the census of 1890. These quotas remained in place with minor alterations until the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. They had the intended effect of shifting immigration dramatically from Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe to Northern and Western Europe with the foreseeable ethnic results.
[Naturalization Acts -- ALL -- Legislation timeline]
accessed July 9, 2010
On the issue of immigration Vaile said:
In the Fall of 1925, Vaile published a novel, The Mystery of Golconda, which dealt with life in the mining camps of the Rocky Mountains.
[, 301 pages.]
During his life, Vaile was a member of the University Club (Denver), the Cactus Club, Masonic orders, the Spanish War Veterans, the Denver Civic and Commercial Association, and the Denver School League.
[, p.268.]
On July 2, 1927, Congressman Vaile died of a sudden heart attack as he was traveling by car with friends and family to Grand Lake near
Rocky Mountain National Park for the Fourth of July.
He was interred in
Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.
See also
*
List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)
References
External links
*
* ''New York Times''
"Soviet Ark Lands its Reds in Finland," January 18, 1920 accessed July 9, 2010
* ''New York Times''
Editorial by William N. Vaile, Representative from Colorado, Page 41, accessed July 9, 2010
* ''New York Times''
To The Editors of the New York Times by William N. Vaile, House of Representatives, Page 15, accessed July 9, 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaile, William Newell
1876 births
1927 deaths
University of Colorado alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
American people of English descent
People from Kokomo, Indiana
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado