No Time for Talk

Unpatriotic is the mildest adjective possible for the pro-poll-tax Senators' use of the cherished right to filibuster. The tactics that made filmland's Senator Jimmie Stewart a hero in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" put real-life Senator Bilbo and his fourteen-odd accomplices in far more villainous roles. As vital Axis propaganda material they hold the center of the world stage. It is up to the American people to hiss them off.

In refusing to permit Senate discussion of the much-publicized Pepper-Geyer anti-poll tax bill, the filibusterers do more than slight the democratic processes they were elected to direct. The foul blow they strike at Senate prestige joins that body's earlier self-inflicted black eyes to push it into the very depths of public esteem. More important, vital war measures must bow before their legislative sabotage; and now when every minute counts this sabotage is scheduled to last a month.

In the meantime, the undeniable injustice of the taxes which discriminate to keep millions from voting goes on serving as fuel for the already overheated elements of discontent and Axis propaganda fire. Bilbo, Senator from Mississippi, where less than ten per cent of the citizens vote, was elected on a platform dedicated to ". . . raising more hell than Huey Long." He is keeping his word--and the fire he is raising has all America in a hot spot. "The Man," as the Senator fondly refers to himself, typifies the pro-poll tax bloc. Saturday, their filibuster technique led them into hiding from the Senate to prevent a necessary quorum. That this absurd burlesque of American government was soon righted with a warrant for their arrest in no way diminishes the Axis delight and Allied dismay it must have inspired. The United States, home of democracy, fighting a war in which democracy struggles to survive, can't function because of a small minority group.