Evening star., 1937-03-26
ANT|-LYNCH BILLS
HEARINGS TO OPEN
So Measures Are Facing
Committee-FIoor Seeks
Gavagan Draft.
BY WILL p, KENNEDY,

Open public hearings by the full
House Judiciary Committee on some
SO anti-lynching bills (many O. them
identicaD sponsored by 81 members
Of the House are to start next We'd
nesday at 10 am.
In the meantime there is drive to
get a sufficient number of signatures
on petition to discharge the COM
mittee from further consideration Of
the Gavagan bill and to bring 1t up
for action in the House.
Although, obedient to a ruling by the
late Speaker Longworth that the
number Of signers to such q petition
may not be disclosed, secrecy is being
maintained by House clerks regarding
the number Of signatures It was con-
fidently asserted when the House ad-
joured yesterday until Monday that
there are already more than 200
signatures and that by Monday night
there will be the required 2l8 sigma
lures necessary for discharge. There
is similar petition for discharge on
behalf Of the Fish bill, which up to the
time of adjournment had GO sigma
lures
Hope for Quick Action.
So those who are supporting the
Gavagan bill are hopeful that it may
come up for direct action in the House
before the hearings are started in the
Judiciary Committee.
Representative Mitchell. Democrat,
of Illinois, the only colored member
of Congress, has been most insistent
ence late yesterday with Chairman
Summers and others interested in this
legislation regarding the witnesses to
be invited to testify or to send in
statements.
1--WE are getting some OF the most
representative people Of the country,
both colored and white" said Mr..
Mitchell. I'VE are inviting the law
enforcing officials Of a number OF
States. Attorneys general have been
asked to send representative where
they themselves are unable to appear.
This will be the most representative
hearing ever held on the subject"
Bill Passed in 1921 Died.
In the Sixty-seventh Congress Rep
resentative L. C. Dyer, Republican of
Illinois. introduced an anti-lynching
bill on the opening day, ,,pril II, 1921,
which was passed by the House on
January 26, 1922, by a vote of 236 to
1l9. 1t was debated in the Senate on
November 27 and 20 and died there.
The principal pressure for this leg
islation comes from the National Asso-
citation for Advancement OF the Col
ored People.
Would Make County Liable.
The Fish bill is generally believed
| to be the most drastic. makes lynch
ing a Federal offense with the county
made liable for heavy fine, even
where members of mob from an
other county transport the victim
through that unoffending county.
Representative Mitchell, who has
probably the simplest and shortest
bill, and who is pressing his own bill
for consideration and discussion by
witnesses at the hearing, argues that
the Gavagan bill, which is being
pushed for direct action in the House
under the discharge" petition could
not be enforced He criticizes par
ticularly two sections:
"A failure for more than 80 days
after the commission of such an
offense to apprehend or indict the
persons guilty thereof, or a failure
diligently to prosecute such persons,
shall be sufficient to constitute prima
facie evidence of the failure, neglect,
or refusal"
THE county in which he is seized
and the county in which he is put
to death shall be jointly and severally
liable to pay the forfeiture herein
provided"
The Mitchell and Gavagan bills
have the same title: ITO assure to
persons within the jurisdiction Of
every State the equal protection Of
the laws, and to punish the crime Of
lynching."
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