St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-03-12


filed a petition to discharge the
Judiciary and Rules committees
from further consideration of H. R.
z, and to bring the measure up in
the House for vote.
H. R. Z is supported by a coali-
ton of four out of the six House
members who introduced anti-poll
tax bills in the House: Warren G.
Magnusson of Washington Dem ;
Joseph A. Gavagan of New York
(Dem.); George H. Bender of Ohio
(Rep.); and Congressman Marcan-
tonic of New York (ALP), thus
achieving unity on abolition of the
poll tax in the House of Represen-
tatives. Isolationist Stephen A.
Day (Rep., ILL., who also introduced
a bill, has not taken the necessary
measures to bring it to the floor.
Signatures of 218 members of the
House of Representatives to each
of the petitions, which will lie on
the Speakers desk, are required to
complete the action. A joint drive
will be carried on to secure these
signatures to the Marcantonio and
Gavagan petitions.
Speedy passage of the bills in the
House is the strategy necessary to
ensure that these two bills, after
getting over this hurdle, will not be
stopped by a Senate filibuster as
has been the case in previous years,
when delay after delay was ma
neuvered by opponents. Result
was that end-of-session filibuster,
with major appropriation legisla-
ton piled up, was successful.
The speed with which the requi-
site 218 signatures are obtained de-
ponds upon the power of the drive
in each Congressional District. The
people of New York can't oblige a
Congressman in Iowa to sign, nor
vice versa. The fight will be made
by the people, Congressional Dis
trict by Congressional District.
Setting up of anti-poll tax COM
mittees in each Congressional Dis
trict, with power of the labor unions
and progressive win-the-war Or
CARNATIONS spearheading, to bring
pressure on each Congressman to
sign the petition, is the order of the
day.
Aim should be to obtain direc-
tives from a major percentage of
individual voters in each District,
to their Congressman, to sign the
discharge petitions on H. R. 7 and
H. R. 81.
In each organization two resolu-
tons should be passed: (D urging
the Congressman or Congressman
representing the membership to
sign the discharge petitions; (2)
sending copy of this resolution to
every member of the organization
urging the member to personally
write his Congressman to this eff
feet, and to get others to do the
same.
We quote below the major por-
ton of a speech on the abolition
of the poll tax, delivered over a
national hook-up, by Congressman
Vito Marcantonio (ALP, N. W,
president of the International Labor
Defense, and sponsor of H. R. z,
the anti-poll tax bill of 1913.
"On January 6 the present Con-
gress went into session. Since then
the American people have wit
messed their best interests defeated
time and time again. Each week
has brought about one or more &C
ton on the part of the House and
the Senate which has been a mega
ton of the things for which Ameri-
cans are fighting and dying. :.
"This tragic condition in the
legislative branch of the govern
ment is not mere accident. It is
the continuance of a policy applied
to every phase of the war effort,
a policy which will mean a scheme
of taxation where the burden will
be placed disproportionately and in
equitably on the shoulder of labor
and small business men. A blind
policy of discrimination and I'M
American practices against loyal
racial and religious groups, Ne
groes, Americans of Italian extrac-
ton, Puerto Ricans, Jews and
Catholics, thereby makes it impos-
sible to tap this tremendous reser-
voir of manpower in the interests
of achieving the unconditional sur
render of our Axis enemies. This
same policy means a daily offensive
in Congress against American
labor.
"Again, I say that this policy and
activity in Congress is no mere &C
cident. One of the main responsible
factors is found in the vicious and
undemocratic poll tax system. The
poll tax is a scheme which has
brought about the disenfranchise-
ment of nearly ten million adult
voters-about six million of whom
are white and approximately four
million are Negro. It has thereby