UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, Washington, D. C

e subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m., in the Co e on the Judiciary committee room, United States Capi or Joseph C. O'Mahoney, chairman, presiding.

sent: Senators O'Mahoney, Connally, Murdock, and Norris. o present: Senators Maybank and Pepper.

ator O'Mahoney. The committee is now in session.

1 those who desire to be heard please indicate to the chair ng up their hands?

ator Maybank, who is here from South Carolina?

ator MAYBANK. Attorney General Daniel, Governor Jeffer Mr. Brown.

BROWN. I probably will not have time, Senator. ator O'MAHONEY. The Attorney General?

ator MAYBANK. The Attorney General and Governor. ator O'MAHONEY. In which order.

ator MAYBANK. The Governor first.

ator O'MAHONEY. Is Georgia represented here? response.)

ator O'MAHONEY. Alabama?

SIMMONS. Assistant Attorney General B. W. Simmons a nor Dixon, who is supposed to be here. He was supposed at 8 o'clock. I presume he will arrive in the course of

ng.

ator O'MAHONEY. Will you give me your name?

SIMMONS: B. W. Simmons.

ALGASE. I would like to be heard. My name is Benjar e, from New York.

ator O'MAHONEY. From where?

ALGASE. New York.

ator O'MAHONEY. Whom do you represent, sir? ALGASE. The National Lawyers Guild.

ator O'MAHONEY. Are not you one of the proponents of re?

ALGASE. Yes; we are not one of the proponents of the me am here to speak in favor of the bill.

ator O'MAHONEY. I see.

ator Maybank, we are ready to proceed if you care to introd okesmen for your State.

ator MAYBANK. Mr. Chairman, I would like to make one sh ent, if I may, because there seem to be so many different ty

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of poll-tax requirements that I would like for the record to show that in the primaries in South Carolina no poll tax is required. In fact, the only requirement is that when registering the enrollee to vote, if he cannot sign his own name the name is signed for him. The books are even sent from house to house in order that everybody may be enrolled in the Democratic Party under our rules, and the Republicans likewise; so, insofar as the poll tax affects the voting in South Carolina, we have never had any trouble in general elections. It is primarily a constitutional question which at this time the people in our State think should not be passed upon without thorough study and thought.

I will ask Governor Jefferies to testify.

Senator O'MAHONEY. Governor, we shall be very glad to hear you. Will you come forward and take a seat at the table?

STATEMENT OF HON. R. M. JEFFERIES, GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Governor JEFFERIES. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen. I am glad to have this opportunity of appearing before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate, a committee composed of some of the ablest attorneys in the Nation, in order that I may, in behalf of my State, speak for the constitutional rights of South Carolina. I am firmly of the opinion that this committee being composed of such capable men will finally determine that the Congress of the United States and the Federal Government should not meddle into the affairs of the States by attempting to regulate the right of suffrage and qualifications therefor, and having full confidence in the ability, courage, and devotion to duty of the members of this committee, I will submit this argument in behalf of my State.

I. THE POLL TAX IN SOUTH CAROLINA IS LEVIED FOR PURPOSES OF REVENUE AND IS NOT USED TO DISFRANCHISE ANYONE

I have not been able to understand how intelligent people can believe that the poll tax in South Carolina is a device to disfranchise Negroes and underprivileged peoples. The poll tax now has no relation whatsoever to the preventing of the exercise of the right of suffrage as I will attempt to show in this discussion.

It will be interesting to observe how the poll tax is levied and collected in South Carolina. The tax is a constitutional one. I quote from article II, section 6, of the Constitution of South Carolina of 1895, the constitution now in effect, the quoted portion being a part of the article dealing with education in the State, as follows:

There shall be assessed on all taxable polls in the State between the age of twenty-one and sixty years (excepting Confederate soldiers above the age of fifty years), an annual tax of $1 on each poll, the proceeds of which tax shall be expended for school purposes in the several school districts in which it is collected.

In accordance with the constitutional provision the State legislature also enacted the poll tax into the general statutory law of the State, the present statutes having been in effect even longer than the constitutional provision quoted. Section 2565 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina for 1932, volume II, reads as follows:

There shall be assessed on all taxable polls in this State an annual tax of $1 on each poll, the proceeds of which tax shall be applied solely to educational purposes.