NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1961 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1079

SENATE BILL 444

 

 

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE GOVERNOR TO APPOINT A COMMISSION TO ERECT A FITTING MEMORIAL TO THE LATE ROBERT LEE DOUGHTON, FORMER STATE SENATOR AND LONG‑TIME MEMBER OF CONGRESS, AND TO APPROPRIATE THE SUM OF $25,000 TO AID IN BEARING THE EXPENSE OF ERECTING THE MEMORIAL

 

WHEREAS, the late Robert Lee Doughton was born at Laurel Springs, North Carolina, on November 7, 1863, receiving his education in the public schools of Laurel Springs and Sparta, North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, Robert Lee Doughton was appointed as a member of the Board of Agriculture of the State of North Carolina in 1903, serving with distinction until he was elected to the State Senate from the Thirty‑fifth District in 1908, after which time he devoted his energy and talents as Director of the State Prison from 1909 to 1911; and

WHEREAS, Robert Lee Doughton was elected from the Ninth District to serve in the Sixty‑second Session of Congress and was re‑elected for succeeding terms by large majorities with the results being that he served his District, State and Nation from the Sixty‑second to the Eighty‑second Sessions of Congress, both inclusive, in a manner unexcelled by any other public servant; and

WHEREAS, while serving as a member of Congress, he was nominated Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means during the Seventy‑third to the Seventy‑ninth Sessions of Congress, both inclusive, being reinstated to that most important post during the Eighty‑first Congress, a position which he held longer than any other man in the history of the government, still finding time, however, to serve as alternating Chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation; and

WHEREAS, Robert Lee Doughton rendered distinguished service to the public life of the State and Nation through his fine, well‑balanced personality, his ability to study public problems without regard to the pressures of interested groups and reach a solution in the best interest of the entire State and Nation, always with the highest degree of intellectual honesty; and

WHEREAS, Robert Lee Doughton has served as a leader in the moral, religious, and civic life of the State, always conducting himself by the book of his chosen church; making his citizenship a thing of fine obligation, following no guide but integrity into the political forum; and

WHEREAS, the General Assembly is of the opinion that a fitting memorial should be erected as a memorial to his long and distinguished record as a public spirited citizen and servant of this State and Nation: Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  The Governor of North Carolina is authorized to appoint a commission to be known as "The Robert Lee Doughton Memorial Commission" and to consist of twenty‑five (25) members. It shall be the duty of this Commission to erect a suitable and fitting memorial in the Town of Laurel Springs or at some appropriate site in the vicinity of said town.

Sec. 2.  There is hereby appropriated from the General Fund to the Commission created by this Act the sum of twenty‑five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) which shall be expended by the Commission in the erection of the memorial herein referred to.

Sec. 3.  The members of the Commission created by this Act shall serve without any pay or expense allowances of any kind.

Sec. 4.  The Commission created by this Act shall have authority to accept or reject donations from private individuals or corporations to be expended for the purposes herein set forth.

Sec. 5.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 6.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 21st day of June, 1961.