E. Y. Webb Papers Inventory (#3482)

Edwin Yates Webb (23 May 1872-7 February 1955) of Shelby, N.C., graduated from Wake Forest College in 1893. He took a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1894 and passed the bar examination in 1896. He then studied constitutional law at the University of Virginia. In 1898, Webb was chair of the Cleveland County, N.C., Democratic Executive Committee. From 1900 until 1902, he was a state senator from Cleveland County. Webb served as a Democratic member of the United States Congress from March 1903 until November 1919, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed him district judge of the Western District of North Carolina. He served as district judge until 1 March 1948.

Webb's parents were Reverend George M. Webb, a Baptist minister, and Priscilla Jane Blanton Webb. His first wife was Willie Simmons of Wake Forest, N.C., with whom he had three children: Elizabeth Y., Edwin Y., and William Y. Willie Simmons Webb died in 1923. In 1928, Webb married Alice Pender Taylor of Tarboro, N.C. She had two children from a previous marriage.

Collection Overview

Correspondence and other papers of E. Y. Webb, chiefly during his service as member of the United States Congress, 1903-1919, and as federal district court judge, 1919-1948. There is little correspondence for the years 1901-1907 or 1948-1955.

Congressional correspondence concerns the interests of constituents; prohibition, of which Webb was a leading advocate; agricultural laws and legislation; labor laws and legislation; the tariff; nativism; women's suffrage; pure food and drug laws; issues surrounding World War I; Democratic Party politics; Webb's re-election campaigns; and other matters. Webb's friends, constituents, political supporters, and fellow attorneys wrote to him offering views on issues before Congress. Several items, 1915-1920, concern the passage of the 19th Amendment, against which Webb successfully mounted delaying actions, using his position as member and then chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Correspondents include Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C.; Charles A. Jonas; Robert N. Page; Herbert L. Davis; Josiah W. Bailey; David Clark; Heriot Clarkson; Henry Groves Connor; Josephus Daniels; O. Max Gardner; Wade Hampton Harris; Clyde R. Hoey; Claude Kitchin; Isaac M. Meekins; Lee S. Overman; John J. Parker; Clarence H. Poe; William Louis Poteat; Joseph Hyde Pratt; Daniel A. Tompkins; and Woodrow Wilson.

Description

Congressional correspondence concerns the interests of constituents; prohibition, of which Webb was a leading advocate; agricultural laws and legislations; labor laws and legislation; the tariff; nativism, women's suffrage; pure food and drug laws; issues surrounding World War I; Democratic Party politics; Webb's re-election campaigns; and other matters. There are only a few letters representing Webb's first year in Congress and none at all for the years 1904-1905 or for 1907. Webb's friends, constituents, political supporters, and fellow attorneys wrote to him offering views on issues before Congress. Letters, 1908-1912, discuss the proposed Kings Mountain monument, Catholic political power in America, pure food and drug legislation, labor legislation, anti-liquor measures, the parcel post bill before Congress, the interstate commerce act, proposed income tax legislation, the Agricultural Extension Bill, the Ogden movement and southern education matters, the tariff, and other matters. Letters, 1913-1917, address issues related to the war in Europe, as well as national problems such as the business depression, immigration, and child labor legislation.

Letters in 1917 discuss Webb's vote against President Wilson's declaration of war and Webb's efforts to have enacted a law to prevent manufacture of cereals and grain into liquor during World War I. Several items, 1915-1920, concern the passage of the 19th Amendment, against which Webb successfully mounted delaying actions, using his position as member and then chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

The papers especially depict North Carolina Democratic Party politics during the period, 1908-1919, and agitation for prohibition measures, for which Webb conducted a vigorous battle throughout his public life. Letters written at election time often mention alleged tactics of the Republican Party. In 1918, Webb's election opponent was Charles A. Jonas of Lincolnton, N.C., who became a correspondent of Webb's in the 1930s. Jonas's campaign was reported to be financed by John Motley Morehead, a charge which the Democrats of the Ninth District had made on a number of previous occasions against Webb's Republican opponents. Odus M. Mull, Webb's law partner in Shelby, N.C., frequently wrote to Webb about political conditions in Shelby.

Beginning in 1919, correspondence relates to law; the judiciary; politics; civic and personal concerns, including Gardner-Webb College; and national, state, and local prohibition. Correspondence, 1925-1928, is dominated by Webb's efforts to have another judicial district established in North Carolina because of the large load of cases in Webb's court. In the early 1930s, Webb was a leader in the fight to get Judge John J. Parker of Charlotte, N.C., appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Other items from the 1930s reflect Webb's concern over the agitation to repeal the 18th Amendment and his work in western North Carolina to keep as many counties "dry" as possible.

There are three folders of miscellaneous papers, which contain drafts of speeches favoring prohibition, legal papers, a few undated letters, and other items. The last five folders contain legal papers relating to bankruptcy proceedings against the Atlantic and Yadkin Railway Company.