Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1946-06-14
Big xxx Expansion
Seep if 1a|madge
Becomes Governor
+ Third OF a Series.)
By Froncis P. DouqIos

: '"ATLANTA, June 14.-If Eugene
'.Talmadge wins the Democratic
primary next month. thus be-
coming Governor of Georgia
.Atlantans look for a great ex-
:pansion in the Ku Klux Khan.
Oddly enough, this belief Is held
despite the fact former Gov. Tai
.rredge is conceded not to be a
member of the Khan, and it is like
wise conceded the Khan has not
enough members to be important
an the balloting.
Mr.. Talmadge has been swapping
his red galluses and campaigning
on a platform of white supremacy
Just at the time the colored people
Of Georgia are voting for the first
time in Statewide primary.
The Atlanta Journal reported
that Mr.. Talmadge said the other
day in a campaign speech: We
want the white primary restored,
and we don't care how rough we
have to get to have it restored. u. +.
The Jim Grow law must be en-
forced" He was also quoted as
saying of the colored people:
I want to see them treated fairly
and I want them to have justice
in the courts. But I want to deal
with the Niger this way: He
must come to my back door, take
OFF his hat, and say, Yes. sir"
Or DR.. Samuel Green, Grand Dragon
OF the Khan in Georgia, said in the
course CT an interview that If Mr.
Talmadge is elected he will wipe
off the law books the election laws
pertaining to primaries, and then
the whites can conduct their own
primaries and the Negroes theirs
if they want it.
The practical objection raised by
Georgia people to this is that such
a course also would wipe out the
county unit system, which most
of them want to hold on to. The
county unit system is something like
the national electoral college system.
A small county will have at least
two unit votes and, on the other
hand. Fulton County (Atlanta) has
only six.
The system prevents rural areas
from being dominated by the cities.
DR.. Green maintains the county
unit system could be retained
although the rest of the primary
laws were repealed.
Opponents of the Khan and of Mr..
Talmade point to sequence of
events they believe important Two
months or more ago there came a
report from inside the Khan that
the Exalted Cyclops theadD of one
of the Klaverns posts said that if
Mr.. Talmadge were elected he would
have man appointed in every
county to help the sheriff. The in
ference was that the man appointed
would be Kansman or one sympa-
thetic to the Khan
Only recently Mr.. Talmadge an
nounced that if elected he would
assign a man from the State Bureau
of Investigation to each county to
help the sheriff, or put the sheriff
on the State payroll.
Other Candidates Named.
The other candidates in the race.
which is hot one and growing
hotter, are E. D. Rivers, also a for
mer Governor, and James v. Car
michael. In Georgia a Governor can
not Immediately succeed himself.
Gov. Ellis Arnall is supporting Mr..
Carmichael and expresses himself
as confident he will be elected.
Some of Mr.. Carmichael's support
ers are not so confident And they
were MADE less so a week ago Mon
day when the Supreme Courts Jim
Grow decision was announced. One
observer said some who had declared
they would vote for Mr.. Carmichael
were angered at the Jim Crow de-
cision and were talking about voting
for Mr.. Talmadge as a protest.
Strangely enough, one man who
agrees with the Supreme Court de-
cision is Dr. Hiram Wesley Evans.
the former Imperial Wizard of the
Khan. but not now identified with
it, He said in conversation with
the writer that if we are to have
4Ao bAOhioA II a4lo POl lollO1l SySlCUl
we can't be stopping trains at every
State line and making people
change their seats.
Klan's Vote Uncertain.
If Mr.. Talmadge is not elected,
Informed people here do not believe
the Khan will be important except
as potential threat. One observer
looked on the Khan as rather
natural solidifcation of forces re-
acting to the repeal of the poll tax
in some Southern States and the
prospect of repeal in others.
Another substantial Albanian re-
marked, The Klan's a joke And
then, thoughtfully. he added, but it
may turn out to be a tragedy"
DR.. Evans who should be an ex-
pert on Khan affairs, was asked
where the Khan was going. He re-
piled:
1T amt going nowhere"
Later he said:
There's turmoil in this country.
I don't know where it's going to
come out. But the Khan amt going
nowhere. That is, unless you blow
on the embers by talking about it."
The Khan itself USUALLY succeeds