Evening star., 1944-08-06
Negro Workers Foce
An Uphill Struggle
End of War Will Assravate
Present Economic Problems
Bv John H. Cline.


No thoughtful person, white or coll
ored, can contemplate the ugly flare-up
OF racial feeling In Philadelphia last
week without wondering to what extent
1t serves as preview of troubles to come
as the Negro strives to achieve that
equality Of economic opportunity to
which he is entitled and from which
he has so long been barred.
The spark which set on the Phila-
delphia explosion was an exceedingly
small one. In compliance with orders
from the Fair Employment Practices
Committee and the War Manpower
Commission, the Philadelphia Trans
portation Co. undertook to upgrade"
eight Negro employes-that is, to ad-
vance them from less desirable jobs to
the status of car operators. These eight
Negroes represented an infinitesimal
proportion of the company's 5000 em-
ployes, but at the first move to put them
on the cars the white workers left their
jobs and shut down the city's mass
transportation facilities. This resulted
directly In the loss of hundreds of thou
sands of days of work in vital war plants
whose employees were deprived of trans
portation, the serious injury OF several
persons in racial clashes, extensive
property damage, and, finally, the
seizure of the transportation system by
the Army.
Obviously, the harm done to the war
effort in this instance far outweighs any
benefits related to the war which might
be derived from upgrading the eight
Negro workers. And in consequence of
this, two main questions present them
selves: First, to what extent can the
full utilization of manpower, regardless
of race or color, be justified as a war
measure? Second, what are apt to be
the peacetime results, so far as the
Negro is concerned. of treating job dis
elimination primarily as war problem?
There Is no doubt that the FEPC has
had considerable success in breaking
down the barriers Of prejudice which
have stood between Negroes and war
jobs. But for the most part these sue
cesses have been secured in dealing with
amenable to persuasion; whose preju-
dices, If any, were not strong. In other
cases, such as the order directing South
eastern railroads to upgrade Negroes
and the order forbidding discriminatory
practices in certain West Coast ship
yards, the FEPC failed to accomplish
its purpose. The orders were issued, but
in tho fapn nf nnpNSifinn nd
almost certain trouble, there was no
real attempt to enforce them.
In the case of Philadelphia, however,
a serious attempt has been made for
the first time to enforce an FEPC order
regardless of consequences, and on the
record to date the net result has been
substantial injury to the war effort. In
the FEPC view the strike of the white
workers presented a challenge which
had to be met, and forced a showdown
from which there could be no retreat
Without attempting In any way to de-
fend or condone wartime strike which
is indefensible, the fact remains, how
ever that there is large question as TO
whether this view is indicative of sound
yulSu1Ellts VI IL tllC CI " OluCT WdS
designed to bring about more effective
prosecution of the war. and nothing else.
it cannot be said to have accomplished
its purpose.
But the probability is that the FEPC
was also motivated by a worthy desire
to secure for the Negro an equality of
opportunity which he ought to have,
and which has no real relationship to
the prosecution of the war. There has
been belief, perhaps, that the war,
with its demand for full utilization of
all manpower, offers an opportunity to
secure fair treatment for Negroes which
would not exist in time of peace, but
into the policy applied to the Philadel-
phia strike, is dubious.
1t seems self-evident that the Negro
can derive little lasting benefit from an
equality of opportunity which is pred
icated on the existence of a wartime
emergency. What is going to happen
when this emergency need disappears
with the end Of the war? Those Negroes
who have found jobs in war industries,
along with white employees in the same
industries, will be out of work and look
ing for jobs. How will these Negroes
be able to compete on even terms in
a dwindling job market? And what
of the Negroes who have been upgraded
into what are normally peacetime jobs?
Take the case of the eight Negroes in
Philadelphia, for example. Suppose they
can remain as operators until the end
of the war on the theory that their
employment in that capacity is necessary
to the war effort. What are they going
to do when their white predecessors
return from the war to demand their
old jobs back, or when white workers,
discharged from war plants, return to
Philadelphia to compete with them?
\ r.
In these circumstances, the Negro in
all probability will find himself fighting
a losing economic battle. He will sus-
pect, naturally enough, that his Govern
ment believes in equality for him when
his services are needed, but leaves him
to his own devices when the acute need
for him has disappeared. And this will
mean a fresh crop of bitterness for the
country as whole.
These are some of the considerations
which argue against the current effort
to treat the Negro's right to work with
out discrimination as a matter of war
emergency. For 1t is not right which