Evening star., 1946-09-02

courtroom. The men seemed older
than GIs for the most part. but q
show of hands indicated half of
them were World War II veterans.
The CT movement was first going
to carry the State and then the
Nation, Mr.. Butler said. Judge r.
F. Jerman, a lawyer who had been
fighting the machine for years, fol-
lowed. The Judge" is a courtesy
title from some past experience.
Tapping away with a fiddler's left
foot as he made his points, he soon
had the crowd laughing or applaud
ing as he wished
This po' country boy" said Judge
Jerman (tap, tap, returned from
serving in the armed forces of his
country and offered himself to the
electorate ftap, tap. And what
happened (tap, tap? He was mur-
dered with money and whisky"
Judge Jerman then pulled from
his pocket roll of the affidavits
inevitable in Southern primary
post t-mortem and read from them
Some swore that money and whisky
had been distributed by opposition
workers. Others that ballots had
been carried a mile and half from
polling places to enable women to
vote.
Woman Tells Story.
Rosalie Chronister, an affiiant,
swore that she had met one Of the
machine men who asked her if she
was going to vote and that she
said she did not know; she never
had. She said he gave her a poll
tax receipt and 81 for herself and
told her to vote for DR.. w. H. Stall
ings, dentist who was Mr. Buffers
opponent. The final statement
sworn to by Mrs. Chronister was
that if she had voted and not been
given the 81 her vote would have
gone to John Paul Butler.
Jim Buttram was enthusiastical-
ly applauded when he attacked
Crump. He deplored violence, but
added, LET the politicians know
what you are going to do-then do
it," His experience as a speaker
began in the Athens campaign. Two
words unfailingly brought equally
enthusiastic response-"American'
and Christian"
After the meeting, the visiting
delegates met with their Crockett
County hosts in the American Le-
gion hut. 1t was found that nine
Of the States 95 counties were rep.
resented. A committee of nine was
chosen, one for each county. Mr..
Butler was not one of them. Jim
Buttram accepted the chairman
ship as temporary measure.
Movement May Spread.
The movement may sweep every
thing before it. It's strength depends
on whether the CT feeling of COM
radeship of common experience
will last through the next few years
and whether the idea of doing
something about democracy" will
continue. 1t didn't after World War
I, but as many have remarked
nothing about this war seems to be
the same"
Or 1t may come to nothing. Eco
nomic influences may pull the GIs
apart. Throw the rascals out is not
a standard that can hold its follow
ers together indefinitely. For in
stance, in Polk County, which bor-
ders McMinn, 100 GIs met and
passed a resolution calling for the
custer of Birch Biggs, the Demo-
cratic leader. The Athens GIs ap-
proved of that. But they did not
know what to do about the problem
presented by the next resolution of
the Polk County CT meeting.
Polk County has a copper mine
and it has been organized by the
CIO. The next resolution said the
GIs would continue to support Rep
resentative Estes Kefauver, a liberal
Democrat, if he would improve his
labor record. 1t was apparently a
CIO meeting of GIs. The Athens
GIs who are anti-labor didn't know
what to do about that. I heard
again and again, 1--WE don't want
to join up with those fellows"
GI enthusiasm may waste itself on
interests nearer its average age
level. A GI protest meeting was held