Evening star., 1940-08-18
Bill 10 Kill Poll Tax
Draws Only Slight
Support in House
Just II Sign Petition
To Get Action on Floor
On Geyer Proposal
Dy the Associated Press.

By the ASSOCIATED Press.
Only II House members have
signed a petition demanding vote
on legislation to outlaw the poll tax
as prerequisite for voting in
Federal elections, in the first 10
days they could have done so.
To accomplish its purpose, the
document must get 21s signatures,
ma jority of the House membership.
Representative Geyer, Democrat, of
California filed it with the Speaker
August 7 and issued a call for
signers.
The measure is aimed at the poll
tax in eight Southern States-Ala-
bama, Arkansas, Georgia, Missis-
sippi, South Carolina, Tennessee,
Texas and Virginia On their own
accord North Carolina, Louisiana
and Florida abolished the voting
levy.
Mr.. Geyer's bill would make it a
Federal offense for any official to
require the payment of a poll tax
as condition of the right to vote
in a presidential or congressional
election.
Death of Bill Seen.
Southern members of Congress
promptly declared war on the plan,
branding it an attempt to invade
States rights. Chuckling over the
slow response to Mr.. Geyers petit
tion, they asserted this week end
the bill would die on the Judiciary
Committees shelf.
But Mr.. Gever was not dismayed.
He wrote letter to House colleagues
reminding them the petition was
awaiting signatures, and added:
Largely because of the poll tax,
rs per cent of the adult citizens in
these States the Southern eight
are denied access to the ballot"
The petition appeared when a
Judiciary Subcommittee failed to
act on the Geyer bill. If a sufficient
number of signatures were obtained,
the bill would be brought directly
to the floor for action
The graying Californian, a for
mer high school teacher, is running
a one-man campaign on Capitol
Hill. Day after day, he addresses
the House briefly or inserts some
statement on poll taxes in the Con-
gressional Record.
Accused of Meddling.
He has started publishing a
monthly organ called the Poll Tax
Repeater. The August issue. the
third to appear, called on organiza-
tions supporting the bill to de
velop letter writing, telegram
sending. buttonholing, lobbying
drive to get the anti-poll tax bill
before Congress-"
1t said Representative Hobbs,
Democrat. of Alabama. a member of
the Judiciary Committee, was lin
Congress on the strength of only
10 per cent Of the votes of the adult
citizens in his district" On the
Geyer bill, Mr.. Hobbs had told the
House, do not kill democracy in
America and the last vestige of
States rights by seeking to punish
those with whom you disagree as to
how they run their internal affairs" 4"
One after another, Southern
members of Congress have taken
the floor to condemn the Geyer bill
and to chide the author for med
ding with the affairs of Southern
States. Every speech draws a reply
from Mr.. Geyer.
The Californian declares the Re-
publican platform upheld his views
in two places. One was the asser-
ton that universal suffrage must
be made effective for the Negro
citizen" and the other a plank de-
claring against using "the taxing
power as an instrument of punish
ment or to secure objectives not
otherwise obtainable under existing
law"
He appealed to the Democratic
Resolutions Committee at Chicago
for direct approval of his bill.
The proposal was rejected.