James William Collier (September 28, 1872 – September 28, 1933) was a politician from the

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Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. Born on the Glenwood

Plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

near Vicksburg in 1872, he graduated from the

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in 1894 with a degree in law. Later that year, he was admitted to the

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and commenced practice in Vicksburg. Collier's political career began in 1896, when he was elected to the

Mississippi House of Representatives The Mississippi House of Representatives is the lower house of the Mississippi Legislature, the lawmaking body of the U.S. state of Mississippi. According to the state constitution of 1890, it is to comprise no more than 122 members elected for ...

. He remained in that position until 1899. From 1900 to 1909, he served as Warren County's circuit clerk. Running successfully as the Democratic Party candidate in the state's eighth congressional district, he took office on March 4, 1909, and went on to serve in eleven

congresses A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

( 61st- 72nd). Collier chaired the

United States House Committee on Ways and Means The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other progr ...

during the 72nd Congress (1930–1932). He decided not to run for a twelfth term due to controversy over whether candidates should run

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

or by districts.

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Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

appointed him to the

United States Tariff Commission The United States International Trade Commission (USITC or I.T.C.) is an agency of the United States federal government that advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of trade. It was created by Congress in 1916 as the U.S. Tari ...

. He served in that position from March 28, 1933 until his death on September 28, 1933, his 61st birthday. He is buried at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Vicksburg.

References

* - Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
James William Collier
- The Political Graveyard {{DEFAULTSORT:Collier, James 1872 births 1933 deaths People from Warren County, Mississippi Democratic Party members of the Mississippi House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi University of Mississippi School of Law alumni 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Mississippi Legislature