Senator HOLLAND. Beyond the technical requirements of constitutionality, I believe it is much better to submit the question to the "jury of the States" by means of a proposed constitutional amendment. This recognized the rights and responsibilities of the States instead of overriding State prerogatives by means of a Federal statutory enactment.

For the foregoing reasons, Mr. Chairman, I urge this subcommittee to recommend the proposed anti-poll-tax amendment for a favorable report. Although the poll tax question has been maximized far beyond its actual effect, the problem has been so widely discussed and has been so generally regarded as the imposition of an undemocratic handicap on minority groups in our Nation that it would be good public policy in my opinion, and in the interest of sounder democratic government to speedily move, through this proposed amendment, to bring a complete end to the imposition of the poll tax requirement as a condition to participation in Federal elections.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for permitting me to testify in favor of this proposed amendment.

Senator KEFAUVER. The committee is very grateful to you, Senator Holland, for this presentation and for the references you have given to the arguments as to why any property or poll tax requirement is not in the best interest of our country.

Senator HOLLAND. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I am exceedingly anxious that we bring this amendment up and submit it because I think that, just as the amendment affecting the District of Columbia was so speedily approved in recent action by the State legislatures, that we would find similar speedy approval by the State legislatures

of this amendment.

I do not claim, Mr. Chairman, nor do I think, that the adoption of this amendment would automatically solve all problems in the fields of which we are thinking, but I think it would remove the most longstanding troublemaking provisions which have confronted us throughout the years. And I have consistently, and I do now, support the idea that all citizens of the United States who are not disqualified by some reason of conviction of crime or by some mental condition, or by some reasonable requirement of residence or age, should have the right and be encouraged to participate in the selection of a President, Vice President, and their representatives in Federal Government-the Senators and Representatives. And I think we should so restate the position of our country in its fundamental law, the Constitution, as to guarantee that right so far as this statement will do so.

Senator KEFAUVER. Senator Holland, in the hearing of August 1959, at page 47, there is a statement which I think should be included in the record at this point of the platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties of the past with reference to poll tax as a prerequisite for voting.

Senator HOLLAND. Mr. Chairman, I will be very happy to have that included, and I hope that we may ask the clerk of the committee to include similar provisions out of the later party platforms, if such there are. I am not sure whether this specific subject was dealt with, but I think it was always dealt with either in more general terms or in specific terms, and I ask that those quotations be likewise inserted. Senator KEFAUVER. Very well, we will include those also. (The document referred to is as follows:)

PARTY PLATFORMS

The Republican Party had the abolition of the poll tax as a platform plank in 1944, 1948, and 1952, as follows:

In 1944:

"The payment of any poll tax should not be a condition of voting in Federal elections, and we favor immediate submission of a constitutional amendment for its abolition."

I am glad to know that they apparently felt that voting in Federal elections was the only thing that should be covered by the amendment.

In 1948:

"We favor the abolition of the poll tax as a requisite to voting."

In 1952:

"We will prove our good faith by *** Federal action toward the elimination of the poll tax as a prerequisite for voting."

There is no specific reference to the poll tax by name in the Democratic platforms of 1948 and 1952, but it is obviously referred to in the Democratic platform of 1948 in the following language:

"We call upon the Congress to support our President in guaranteeing these basic and fundamental American principles: (1) the right of full and equal political participation;

In other words, Mr. Chairman, the platform of your political party and mine, in 1948 stated as the first fundamental principle to which our party was pledged by the platform to protect first the right to full and equal political participation. Also in the 1952 Democratic platform we find an approval of the removal of the poll tax in the following language:

we favor Federal legislation effectively to secure these rights to everyone: * * * (3) the right to full and equal participation in the Nation's political life, free from arbitrary restraints."

Democratic platform of 1960: "We will support whatever action is necessary to eliminate literacy tests and the payment of poll taxes as requirements for voting."

Senator HOLLAND. I thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Senator KEFAUVER. Senator Holland, may we ask you two or three questions?

As I remember, in some of the five States where the poll tax remains as a requirement, there is not only the payment of the poll tax, but it is accumulative, that is, you must have paid it over a period of a certain number of years. Do you recall offhand how that matter now stands?

Senator HOLLAND. The Library of Congress American Law Division tells me that Alabama law requires that all back poll taxes to 1901 be paid; that Mississippi requires payment for the 2 preceding

years; and that Virginia requires payment for the 3 preceding years. The Library was unable to advise me on Arkansas and Texas. However, the offices of Senators McClellan and Yarborough tell me that there is no cumulative requirement in their respective States; that it is sufficient to pay current poll taxes without paying back poll taxes.

Senator KEFAUVER. You have spoken of the increased participation by the voters of Florida and other States in presidential and Federal elections when the poll tax has been removed. I remember that when Kentucky eliminated its poll tax Tennessee still had a poll tax requirement, and although our populations were the same there were twice as many who voted, percentagewise, in Kentucky at that time as in my State of Tennessee. Since the poll tax has been eliminated the States have been almost the same in percentage.

Senator HOLLAND. Mr. Chairman, in the debate last year, page 1369 of the Congressional Record of January 28, 1960, I placed in the record tables from the report of the Civil Rights Commission showing the increased registration of the Negro population in our State. And I have referred to the fact and to those tables in my statement today.

Senator KEFAUVER. Would you like to have the table you have just referred to placed in the record again?

Senator HOLLAND. I think that would be a good idea, Mr. Chairman. And I think that also the tables on page 1370, which show the Florida registration statistics from the Civil Rights Commission report, might well be included in the record at this place. Senator KEFAUVER. Without objection, that will be done. Senator HOLLAND. Because it shows additional facts on that. (The tables referred to follow :)

Population figures are from Bureau of Census, 1950.

Registration figures are from secretary of state of Florida, published regularly.

Population shifts, in migration, changes in age of population, or failure to strike the names of deceased or departed registrants have resulted in percentage calculations in excess of 100 registered in some counties. In such cases 100 percent is shown.

Population figures are from U.S. census, 1950.

Registration figures are from Florida secretary of state, published regularly.