William N. Vaile

Born in Kokomo, Indiana, Vaile moved with his parents to Denver, Colorado, in 1881. Vaile was of English descent.{{Citation |title=Encyclopedia of birth control |last=Bullough |first=Vern L. |year=2001 |publisher=ABC-CLIO, Inc. |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1-57607-181-6}}, p.262.

He attended the public schools and graduated from Yale University in 1898. During the Spanish–American War, 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 in 1899 and Harvard Law School in 1900–01.

He was admitted to the bar 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 an unsuccessful 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 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.{{Citation |title=US immigration and naturalization laws and issues: A Documentary History |last1=LeMay |first1=Michael C. |first2=Elliott Robert |last2=Barkan |year=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, CT |isbn=978-0-313-30156-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1Aclme7AMkC&pg=PA145 |access-date=July 9, 2010}}, 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.[https://www.scribd.com/doc/9573151/Naturalization-Acts-ALL-Legislationtimeline Naturalization Acts -- ALL -- Legislation timeline], accessed July 9, 2010

On the issue of immigration Vaile said:

{{blockquote|Let me emphasize here that the restrictionists of Congress do not claim that the "Nordic" race, or even the Anglo-Saxon race, is the best race in the world. Let us concede, in all fairness that the Czech is a more sturdy laborer … that the Jew is the best businessman in the world, and that the Italian has … a spiritual exaltation and an artistic creative sense which the Nordic rarely attains. Nordics need not be vain about their own qualifications. It well behooves them to be humble.

What we do claim is that the northern European and particularly Anglo-Saxons made this country. Oh, yes; the others helped. But that is the full statement of the case. They came to this country because it was already made as an Anglo-Saxon commonwealth. They added to it, they often enriched it, but they did not make it, and they have not yet greatly changed it.

We are determined that they shall not … It is a good country. It suits us. And what we assert is that we are not going to surrender it to somebody else or allow other people, no matter what their merits, to make it something different. If there is any changing to be done, we will do it ourselves."[Cong. Rec., April 8, 1924, 5922]

-Cong. Rec., April 8, 1924, 5922}}

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.{{Citation |title=The mystery of the Golconda |last=Vaile |first=William Newell |year=1925 |publisher=Doubleday, Page & Co. |location=Garden City, NY |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3RqHAAACAAJ&q=The+Mystery+of+Golconda}}, 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.{{Citation |title=10,000 Famous Freemasons from K to Z Part Two |last1=Denslow |first1=William R. |first2=Harry S. |last2=Truman |year=1959 |publisher=Kessinger Publishing |location=Whitefish, MT |isbn=978-1-4179-7579-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-cCeOEXGyoC&pg=RA1-PA268 |access-date=July 9, 2010}}, 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.{{cite news |title=Congressman Vaile Dies In Automobile |date=July 3, 1927 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=E5}} He was interred in Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

{{Election box begin no change | title=1916 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (US)

| candidate = Benjamin C. Hilliard (incumbent)

| votes = 30,146

| percentage = 48.53%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (US)

| candidate = William N. Vaile

| votes = 26,121

| percentage = 42.05%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate minor party no change|color=#ffff9a|party=Liberal|candidate=George John Kindel|votes=3,306|percentage=5.32%}}{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Socialist Party of America|candidate=Charles A. Ahlstrom|votes=2,551|percentage=4.11%}}{{Election box majority no change

| votes = 4,025

| percentage = 6.48%

| change =

}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes = 62,124

| percentage = 100%

| change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change

| winner = Democratic Party (US)

| swing =

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=1918 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change||party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=William N. Vaile|votes=27,815|percentage=54.19%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change||party=Democratic Party (United States)|candidate=John L. Stack|votes=16,364|percentage=31.88%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change||party=Independent politician|candidate=Benjamin C. Hilliard (incumbent)|votes=6,112|percentage=11.91%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Socialist Party of America|candidate=Fred Underhill|votes=1,039|percentage=2.02%}}{{Election box majority no change||votes=11,451|percentage=22.31%|change=}}

{{Election box total no change||votes=51,330|percentage=100%}}

{{Election box gain with party link without swing||winner=Republican Party (United States)|loser=Democratic Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change | title=1920 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (US)

| candidate = William N. Vaile (incumbent)

| votes = 45,658

| percentage = 66.93%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (US)

| candidate = Benjamin C. Hilliard

| votes = 22,557

| percentage = 33.07%

| change =

}}

{{Election box majority no change

| votes = 23,101

| percentage = 33.86%

| change =

}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes = 68,215

| percentage = 100%

| change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change

| winner = Republican Party (US)

| swing =

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change | title=1922 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (US)

| candidate = William N. Vaile (incumbent)

| votes = 32,939

| percentage = 55.48%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (US)

| candidate = Benjamin C. Hilliard

| votes = 25,477

| percentage = 42.91%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Farmer–Labor Party|candidate=Hattie K. Howard|votes=959|percentage=1.62%}}{{Election box majority no change

| votes = 7,462

| percentage = 12.57%

| change =

}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes = 59,375

| percentage = 100%

| change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change

| winner = Republican Party (US)

| swing =

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change | title=1924 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (US)

| candidate = William N. Vaile (incumbent)

| votes = 47,155

| percentage = 54.19%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (US)

| candidate = James G. Edgeworth

| votes = 36,519

| percentage = 41.97%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Farmer–Labor Party|candidate=Thomas O. Spacey|votes=2,686|percentage=3.09%}}{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Workers Party of America|candidate=Louis A. Zetlin|votes=654|percentage=0.75%}}{{Election box majority no change

| votes = 10,636

| percentage = 12.22%

| change =

}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes = 87,014

| percentage = 100%

| change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change

| winner = Republican Party (US)

| swing =

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change | title=1926 United States House of Representatives elections, Colorado's 1st district{{Cite web|date=|others=Compiled from official sources by William Tyler Page|title=Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 1926|url=https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1926election.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070105011727/http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1926election.pdf |archive-date=January 5, 2007 |access-date=January 28, 2021|website=Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives}}

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

| party = Republican Party (US)

| candidate = William N. Vaile (incumbent)

| votes = 39,909

| percentage = 54.86%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

| party = Democratic Party (US)

| candidate = Benjamin C. Hilliard

| votes = 30,337

| percentage = 41.70%

| change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Farmer–Labor Party|candidate=Isaac Dunn|votes=1,972|percentage=2.71%}}{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Socialist Party of America|candidate=Clyde Robinson|votes=530|percentage=0.73%}}{{Election box majority no change

| votes = 9,572

| percentage = 13.16%

| change =

}}

{{Election box total no change

| votes = 72,748

| percentage = 100%

| change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change

| winner = Republican Party (US)

| swing =

}}

{{Election box end}}

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

{{CongBio|V000004}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Find a Grave|11261121}}
• New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/18/archives/soviet-ark-lands-its-reds-in-finland-buford-reaches-hango-and.html "Soviet Ark Lands its Reds in Finland," January 18, 1920], accessed July 9, 2010
• New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/1920/01/11/archives/before-the-buford-sailed-eyewitness-tells-of-ceremonial-to-berkman.html "BEFORE THE BUFORD SAILED - Eyewitness Tells of Ceremonial to Berkman and Anarchist Hoots for Incoming Immigrants' Cheers," January 11, 1920], Editorial by William N. Vaile, Representative from Colorado, Page 41, accessed July 9, 2010
• New York Times: [https://www.nytimes.com/1920/11/26/archives/representative-vaile-distrusts-red-offers-tells-of-talk-with.html "REPRESENTATIVE VAILE DISTRUSTS RED OFFERS - Tells of Talk With Martens and Urges Against Entering Into Trade Relations," November 26, 1920], To The Editors of the New York Times by William N. Vaile, House of Representatives, Page 15, accessed July 9, 2010

{{Bioguide}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-par|us-hs}}

{{US House succession box |

state=Colorado |

district=1 |

years =March 4, 1919 - July 2, 1927 |

before=Benjamin Hilliard |

after =S. Harrison White}}

{{s-end}}

{{ColoradoUSRepresentatives}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaile, William Newell}}

Category:1876 births

Category:1927 deaths

Category:University of Colorado alumni

Category:Harvard Law School alumni

Category:American people of English descent

Category:People from Kokomo, Indiana

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado

Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives