Then There Were Seven

Until last week eight Southern states forced all voters to pay a poll tax--thus keeping a tight check on Negro voters. Then Georgia made it seven.*

But Georgia would never have thrown off this feudal custom had it not been for its young (37) and energetic Governor Ellis Gibbs Arnall. Having spent two years ridding his state of the influences left by gallus-snapping Gene Talmadge, Governor Arnall jumped into the poll-tax battle with both feet.

When the stubborn House of Representatives balked at passing a bill which would merely have eliminated the poll tax for servicemen, Governor Arnall rushed to the chamber, dramatically told the House that, if it did not abolish the tax entirely, he would do so by executive decree. Thus scourged into line, the House and the Senate passed the repealer.

Even so, Georgia still has a long way to go before its voting franchise is open to all. The real elections in Georgia are the Democratic primaries. By party decree, these are still predominantly "lily-white."

* Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.

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