Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-06-11

s.a<tt1f4& S#$% llIilt NhNh
- our country
kEss@azza IND SsSzAA-J faces tn e
Edward Duck greatest crisis
in its history. And what might be
the noble cause which inspires
such a declaration of intention!
Why, haven't you heard!
There are seven southern states
in which ten million American
citizens are deprived of their
right to select their democratic
ally" elected public officials such
as the Honorable Senator Bilbo,
the defender Of the common man.
They tell me he has found it
is quite easy to get himself
elected as his own successor in
past years by minority, which
should not surprise anyone, this
being the purpose of the polltax
for which he will crate most elo-
quently between chapters of
"Anthony Adverse" and Live
Alone and Like it," among other
items of interest to his constitu-
ents.
BOOK LEARNIN'
In case you think this book
reading business is joke, ask
those Congressman who were
not absentees last year whether
or not they enjoyed hearing
Gone With the Wind" during
the filibuster which occurred
when the subject Of poll-tax
abolition was brought to the
floor. This really happened, and
not just in a Bob Hope comedy,
either!
Perhaps you read where a
sailor, Evan Owen Jones, dropped
into the Capitol to watch democ-
racy "click," and was escorted
from the gallery after speaking
on behalf of those who were
fighting the war against fascism
and the continuation of persecu-
ton in other countries.
This twenty-one year old Navy
boy wasn't a radical. He merely
did what other people have not
the nerve nor imagination to do.
He spoke his piece and spoke it
well. We don't even bother to
vote when we have the right to
do so, yet this young man used
valuable shoreleave time in ex-
pressing himself to those who
have it within their power to
correct the evils whiwe bemoan
almost every day of your life.
Voting costs US nothing in
Ohio. And we might say that un-
less more of us vote in the fu-
ture, voting will likewise net us
a fat zero, speaking Of returns.
ABSENTEES
Frankly, I'm afraid to take a
trip to Columbus or Washington,
to tell the truth. I'm afraid that
I'll look up some Of our good
representatives and find them
conspicuous by their absence,
then later discover them playing
gin-rummy in a hotel room, or
maybe just playing.
The awful truth is this: Talk
to anyone who has even been to
either Of our Capitols and they
will tell you that when an inn
portant issue is up for a vote,
oftentimes the vast majority of
the Legislators will be pstrolling
the corridors, or reading news
papers outside the room where
the official business is done.
Perhaps there's a reason. Per-
haps the gentleman from Ohio
knows that his district is OPP
posed to a certain measure and
he dare not vote in the affnma-
tive, lest he incur the righteous
or unrighteous wrath of the
populace, his political guinea
pigs. Therefore, i'm the vernacular
Of the AL Capone kingdom, he
takes it on the Arthur" or in
other words absents himself,
thereby keeping his record clean
to all appearances.
DAMNED EITHER WAY
Or if he's a good mathemati-
clan as well as a shrewd politi-
clan, he sums it up this way: If
he votes against the measure in
question it won't hurt its charces
Of passage because all those
from the other districts will
combine sufficient votes to in
sure its passage.
Do you get the idea? This is
not TO insinuate that all our rep
resentatives are like this, but