Evening star., 1950-03-28
Clio Reported Buying
Negro Votes 10 Keep
Pepper in Senate
Goal in Primary Race
May 2 Soid to Be
Bulunce of Power
By David Layrence

By David Laurence
TAMPA, Fla, Mar. 28.-If any
body has any illusions about what
the so-called "civil rights" issue
means in the South, he should
look at what's happening in
Florida in this battle between
Senator Pepper and Representa-
tive Smathers for the Democratic
nomination for Senator.
The winner in the Democratic
primary is assured of victory in
the autumn election. In fact,
many Republicans are registering
and intend to vote for Representa-
tive Smathers in the Democratic
primaries because they don't like
the fact that the CIO is bringing
a lot of money into the State and
buying the votes of Negroes in
support of Senator Pepper, who
favors the proposal for a Federal
Fair Employment Practices Com
mission.
The civil rights" issue here
boils down to an effort on the
part of big national unions to
control who shall go to the United
States Senate in behalf of Florida.
Want Balance of Power.
The CIO has turned to the
Negroes to develop a bloc with
the balance of power. There is no
poll tax in Florida, and Negroes
have been voting for a decade or
more. There are about $4,000
Negroes of voting age, accord
ing to the 1945 census. If all were
registered, it would mean a num-
ber equal to more than half the
total vote cast in the hotly con-
tested primary for Governor two
years ago. In that campaign,
$3.50 Negroes registered, or
about "a per cent. This leaves
rs per cent as a potential for the
present drive.
With 81 assessments collected
from workers In Northern States
called voluntary" but actually
obtained through intimidating
processes-big campaign chests
are accumulated by the CIO for
use in State like Florida. The
Tampa Tribune, which is one of
the best morning newspapers in
the South and has been crusading
against all forms of rackets here
abouts. has described the CIO &C
tivities in detail. In an article
the other day, the Tribune quotes
a CIO leader as saying "the ma
tional organization figures it is
more important to keep Senator
Pepper in the Senate than to get
rid of Senator Taft"
So Offers Rejected.
The Tribune adds:
Reports from some large Negro
centers say registrants are being
offered So for their vote, 81 when
they register and turn over their
registration cards, with the PROM
ise of another 81 when they go to
the polls May 2 and get their
cards to vote. Other reports tell
of a promised lottery, with num-
bers on registration certificates
(used in some counties) as tickets
to the drawing.
Free movies, ice cream, soft
drinks and other treats for Negro
registrants are being offered else
where. A controlled large Negro
registration could be used not only
in statewide elections but also in
local races"
The Tribune also publishes the
CIO score sheet being used by
paid organizers who make no
secret of their activities. 1t gives
for each of the 81 counties of the
State the total eligibles, the num-
ber registered in 1948 and the
goals for 1850. Presumably the
organizers will be rewarded on
the basis Of quotas reached, as in
any other drive.
Doubling Registrations.
From the Orlando Sentinel
comes reports of what's happen
ing throughout Central Florida in
the registering Of Negroes. The
Sentinel shows that in some coun-
ties Negro registrants in the last
few days have been outnumbering
whites. and that in other counties
the Negro registration is already
double what it was in other years.
I'm all my 18 years in this Of
f1ce." reports Mrs. Pearl Yancey,
voting supervisor in Orlando for
Orange County. II have never
seen anything like the parade of
Negroes here to register in the
last two weeks"
What this means, of course, is
that the big labor unions have
gone into politics intensively as a
means of getting control of Sem
ators and Representatives SO as
to be able to force the labor leg
islation they want. They will at
the same time be able to put the
power of national unions behind
the effort to manipulate the Ne
gro vote for any political purpose.
Small wonder that Democratic
Senators from the South are
fighting vehemently against
schemes which will seek to regu-
late employment practices, thus
enabling big unions to say which
Negroes shall be hired-a most
powerful tool for political use.
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