National Affairs: Answer Yes or No

A name and a face were all most voters had to choose from; in some states, however, voters last week also got a chance to answer yes or no on the specific kind of government they wanted. Some of their decisions:

¶ South Carolina voted overwhelmingly to abolish (as a prerequisite to voting) its ancient poll tax of $1 a year. *

¶ Georgia turned down Governor Herman Talmadge’s power-grabbing proposal to count general election returns, as Georgia primary votes are counted, on the basis of county units instead of popular vote.

¶ Arizona refused to ban segregation of Negroes in its public schools.

¶ The city of Portland, Ore., which won the 1950 Community Human Relations Award for easing religious and racial tensions, voted down an ordinance which would have made it illegal to refuse service to non-whites in stores, hotels and restaurants.

Wherever he got the chance, the voter swung at home-grown subversives. Maryland approved the Ober law, once ruled unconstitutional by a state circuit court. It requires a loyalty oath from state employees and candidates, sets up a maximum penalty of $20,000 fine and 20 years in prison for attempting or advocating overthrow of the U.S.—or of the Free State of Maryland. Michigan approved a sweeping definition of subversion, authorized its legislature to take up anti-commie laws from there.

The World War II veterans’ bonus was irresistible. Montana, Oregon and West Virginia voted themselves onto the list of 18 states which already have authorized such jackpots. Veterans in Oklahoma spearheaded a decisive vote in another direction—against a referendum urging world federalism.

California turned down a scheme to bring some $300 million into the state welfare fund from controlled gambling. Montana vetoed legalized slot machines. Massachusetts defeated a state lottery to finance old age pensions at $75 a month (although it adopted the $75 pensions).

But Prohibition got just as cold a shoulder. Arizona defeated a local option proposal; Oregon declined to ban the sale of “promotively advertised” liquor; South Dakota ruled it was all right to serve food and liquor in the same establishment; and Arkansas walloped a measure setting up statewide Prohibition, and making possession of more than a quart of liquor a crime.

* Remaining poll-tax states: Alabama ($1 50 a year) Arkansas ($1), Mississippi ($2), Tennessee ($1), Texas ($1.50), Virginia ($1.50)