St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-06-28

the OnueT OSCIc- LAS AAGn
tary Of War.
At that time Secretary of
War Robert P. Patterson
was the Under Secretary, and Mr..
Petersen was his executive assist
ant. Mr.. Petersen actually handled
those cases, and invariably he in
sisted upon the adjustment recon-
mended by the civilian aide.
There were times when echelons
below the office of the Secretary Of
War were unwilling to support the
position of the civilian aide. For
instance, in the matter Of reference
to race or religion in job applica-
ton forms of War Department
contractors.
In complaints involving the
Douglas Aircraft Corporation, the
Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company,
and the Gulf Shipbuilding Corpora
ton, the FEPC held that THE
practice Of an employer Of requir-
ing applicants to state their race
or religion, or both, on application
forms, or otherwise, does not vio-
late the provisions Of the Execu-
tive order but is factor which may
be considered by the Committee in
arriving at determination that the
employer is discriminating against
applicants for employment because
Of race, creed, color, or national
origin"
The office of the civilian aide took
the position that questions in job
applications requiring disclosure Of
race or religion could serve only
one purpose - to discriminate
against job applicants because of
their race or religion.
After the FEPC had written its
Interpretation of references to race
or religion in job applications, and
circulated it in a printed report,
the technical services of the Army
were not inclined to insist upon
the deletion Of such references from
job applications. In a case where
the contractor was rather adamant
against removing the Objectionable
reference, and cited the report of
the FEPC to support his position,
the matter was referred to the
Under Secretary. Mr.. Petersen
ordered the deletion.
But in one matter it appears that
Mr.. Petersen is not being well
counseled. The matter concerns the
History of the Branch Office Of
the Judge Advocate Generals Of
fee in the European Theater Of
Operations" a study of crimes
committed by American soldiers in
the European theater with a sum-
mary of cases involving capital
offenses.
After the press sought copies of
the two-volume study, the Judge
Advocate Generals office classified
the documents, making them con-
fidential and restricting their cir
culation.
Mr.. Petersen says the documents
were classified in accordance with
well-established War Department
policy.
81 am informed that they were
not classified in the beginning
through an inadvertence and that
no copies have been released for
publication" he said. 1.-THE official
historical data of World War II,
of which these documents are a
part, are now being collected, eval-
uated and prepared for eventual
release to the public. Pending such
release, of course, much of the
material will be classified"
Mr.. Petersen added that, in ad-
dition, the documents contain case
studies of individuals by name, and
it is the policy of the War De-
partment to afford the families Of
defendants in courts martial pro-
ceedings a degree Of protection by
not publicizing such records.
1t appears that classification of
material contained in the study is
contrary to the American tradi-
ton. In courts of this country
criminal prosecutions are open to
the public, and Army courts
martial are no star-chamber pro-
ceedings.
By classifying the documents the
War Department arouses suspicion
as to the fairness and impartiality
Of military justice in view of the
fact that Of 70 soldiers executed
in the European theater 55 were
colored and only Is white. The
only way that such suspicion can
be abated is by the War Depart
ment making public the informa-
ton which it now suppresses.
Moreover, in the light of the des-
ignation by the Secretary of War
Of a group of members Of the
American Bar Association, to
which colored lawyers may not be-
long, to inquire into Army court
martial procedure, there is all the
more reason why the department
should make public the documents
in order that members of the Ma
tional Lawyers Guild, the National
Bar Association and the Negro
press may evaluate for themselves
military justice as it was carried
out in the European theater.
Most of the crimes committed by
colored soldiers were committed by
men in grades 4 and 5 under the
Army General Classification test.
II the data were made public, the
blame for the comparatively high
rate Of crime among colored SOL
diers would be placed where it
chiefly, properly belongs-upon a
lack Of educational opportunity for
colored youths in southern states
and action might be taken to cor
rect this deficiency which lessened
the effectiveness Of the United
Ctotas Arnnv in both World Wars