James A. Hughes

James Anthony Hughes ( born February 27, 1861 in Ontario, Canada, † March 2, 1930 in Marion, Ohio ) was an American politician. Between 1901 and 1903, and again from 1927 to 1930, he represented the fourth electoral district of the state of West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives. In between, he represented there from 1903 to 1915 the fifth constituency.

Career

James Hughes attended the public schools of his Canadian home and wandered as a youth in the United States. By 1875 he studied at Duff's Business College in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania). In the following years he worked as a bank clerk, traveling salesman and businessman. Hughes was a member of the Republican Party. Between 1888 and 1890 he was a delegate in the House of Representatives from Kentucky. After moving to West Virginia, he was sitting there 1894-1898 in the State Senate. Between 1892 and 1924 he was a delegate to every Republican National Conventions. From 1896 to 1900 Hughes served as postmaster in Huntington.

In the congressional elections of 1900 he was in the fourth district of West Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of Romeo H. Freer on March 4, 1901. Hughes represented the fourth constituency initially for a term of up to 3 March 1903. Starting in the elections of 1902 he candied for the then newly created fifth district, which he after a few elections between March 4, 1903 to March 3, 1915 represented in Congress. Between 1903 and 1907 he was chairman of the committee that the expenditure on public property controlled ( Committee on Expenditures on Public Buildings ); 1907 to 1911 he chaired the Committee on Accounts. In 1914, Hughes opted not to run again. During this time, in Congress there were the 16th and the 17th Amendment, discussed and adopted. It was about the nationwide income tax legislation and the direct election of U.S. senators.

For the congressional elections of 1926, James Hughes returned to the political arena and ran for the seat in parliament in the fourth constituency, which he had taken 1901-1903 before. After winning the election and re-election in 1928 he was able to represent this district March 4, 1927 until his death on March 2, 1930 in Congress. Hughes was married to Belle Vinson.