Minneapolis spokesman. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1943-01-29
BY James A. Wechsler, in
The Nation
Washington, January Is

The Administrations effort to
combat racial discrimination in war
employment has reached a sudden,
explosive crisis. The blOw-up is
the direct result of Manpower Com
missioner Paul v. McNutt's order
indefinitely pOstpOning" the Fair
Employment Practices Committees
exposure of the anti-NegrO cOali-
ton on the railroads.&c. coalition
of rail management and ''lily-white''
unions to drive Negroes from pres
ent jobs and bar them from future
ones. Public hearings at which the
full story was to be told were sched-
uled to begin on January Is. Prep
arations had been announced as far
back as last October; the move had
been widely heralded in the Negro
press and by Negro labor leaders,
A. Philip Randolph describing it as
a Showdown test" of the FEPCs
power to put Jim Crow out of bust
ness. On January IL McNutt for
mally called off the show. He prom
ised that "Other ways" would be
found to secure maximum utiliZa-
ton" of labor ON the railroads. He
didn't say how. One committee
m mber commented privately,
''They've been trying the other
ways since the Civil War;"
McNutt's action has obviously
paved the way for the FEPC's col
lapse-either through the abrupt
resignation Of its members or the
slow deterioration of its prestige
among minority groups. But the
story behind the ban provokes much
bigger questions than the fate OF
the committee, which might con-
ceivably be replaced by another
agency. In the minds of informed
officials here the breakdown on the
FEPC has stirred unacceptable sus-
picion that the 'CNegro issue" is to
be pigeonholed-as il 1t could be
for any length of time. Belief that
McNutt's order is part of deliber-
ate retreat by the Administration
has been publicly voiced by Negro
leaders. This view is being COM
municated to the Negro people.
Walter White, head Of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, has openly charged
that Marvin Mcintyre, Southern
err and White House secretary, is
''maling the Administrators de-
cisions" on the handling Of the fight
against discrimination; and that the
decision is to stop fighting.
There are mmistakable signs
that suppression Of the railroad
hearings Ia not an isolated admin
istrative bIunder committed by Nc
Mutt. / know that MeNutt has pri-
yateIy told other officials he was
acting at the direction Of the
White House, and was ready tC
"take the rap" for his chief. 1t is
obviously unlikely, moreover, that
the ManpOwer Commissioner would
have made so controversial a de-
cisiOn without consulting anyone
except members of the Indiana
Alumni Association.
The consequences of his actor
will be vast-perhaps more seri.
GUS than some Administration off.
Gals want to believe. McNutt's in
PREVENTION in the railroad case
threatens to overshadow the au'
thentic progress made under the
Roosevelt Administration TOWARD
giving the Negro - and other
minorities-a better break at the
employment offices. It will give the
Axis radio plenty to say about oul
democratic pretensions. It directly
affects war production, where full
employment of Negroes is desper.
ately needed. And it is a cruel
slap in the faces Of Negro Ameri'
cans, whose devotion to the demo.
cratic cause has been so severely
tried already.
The full impact of McNutt's &c,
ton can be seen only in terms Of
the FEPC's background and tbs
circumstances under which 1t has
operated. On June Is, 1S41, Presi'
dent Roosevelt issued his celebrated
Executive Order 1902 declaring II
to be official United States policy
ito encourage full participation In
the national-defense program by al
citizens Of the United States, re
CARELESS Of race, color, creed, Of
national origin" The order directeG
that all contracts between the gov
eminent and private firms SHOULD
body an anti-discriminatiOr
pledge. The Fair Employment
Practices Committee was set up Il
act as an enforcement agency. Thu
committee included representative.
of the public-Mark Ethridge, 1
Southern publisher, was its frs
chairman-of the A. F. Of L. anC
the C. /. O., Of Negroes, and Of in