St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-06-14

in the night against the dlscrlm-
inatory practices of the United
States Employment Service.
1t appears that in 1914 the
NAACP protested to Paul V. Nc
Mutt, governor of the Philippines,
who was then chairman of the War
Manpower Commission and had
supervision of the USES, against
the segregation of workers on the
basis Of race in the District of CO.
. lumbia Employment Center.
In reply, McNutt referred to the
secret agreement allegedly made in
1871 or 1912 between members of
the House Appropriation Com
mittee and heads of the d. c. En-
ployment Center and stated that If
the Employment Center operated
on other than a segregated basis no
appropriation would be made for
its further operation.
There is nothing in the record to
show that the NAACP took issue
with McNutt, although Executive
Order 1902, in effect at the time,
prohibited race or religious dis
elimination in employment in gov
eminent and war industries. Nor
is there anything to show that from
September 2, 1914, the date of Nc
Nuts letter, to May 20, last, the
NAACP took any action to stop
the discriminatory practices of the
USES which have become nation
wide.
Meanwhile, in last November,
Representative Adam C. Powell,
Democrat, of New York, asked Sec
rotary of Labor Lewis B. Schwel-
lenbach, under whose supervision
the USES now comes, to investi-
gate the charge made by George
W. Crockett, Of Detroit, who at the
time was executive director of the
United Automobile Workers (CIO),
that the Michigan office of USES
was accepting and servicing hiring
orders requisitioning white males"
only.
In March, upon the complaint of
the United Federal Workers of
America, now the United Public
Workers of America (CIO), the
Civil Service Commission investi-
gated charges that the local USES
office was maintaining separate
files for white and colored workers,
segregating job applicants accord
ing to race, and referring workers
to Jobs on the basis of race prefer
ence of employers.
The Commission found not only
that these charges were true but
that the local USES office was re-
ferring job applicants to federal
agencies here on the basis of race.
In April, William F. King, of
633 X Street Southeast, was hit
over the head with a blackjack by
a guard at the local USES office
because he refused to get into a
Jim Crow line for job applicants;
he was arrested, charged with dis
orderly conduct and fined S. by
Municipal Court Judge Thomas D.
Quinn.
Representative Ellis E. Patter-
son, Democrat, of California,
charged that the USES office in
Los Angeles had in one of its in
formation windows a sign, For
White Applicants Only"
The Southern Patriot, published
by the Southern Conference for
Human Welfare, reported that AT
the USES, in Birmingham, which
has no Negroes on it's staff, a Ne
gro veteran with two masters de-
grees, who had taught aviation
mechanics and meteorolOgy, was
offered a job as a janitor."
Mrs. Agnes E. Meyer, wife of
the publisher of the Washington
Post, wrote about the Memphis Of
fee as follows:
lone brave Negro wanted to be
quoted as saying, The Negroes of
Memphis to a man-and a woman
hate John J. GuinoZZo, head of
the Negro USES, because he has
racial attitudes that unfit him for
his post.
1.-The Negroes center their hate
on Mr.. GuinoZzo because like Mr..
Crump he rules with an iron hand.
He has been known to have Ne
groes tossed into the street for not
removing their hats the moment
they enter the door. In spite of
hisN services to the unskilled, he is
the Symbol of the Negroes spiritual,
moral and political isolation, his
Illustration and his utter defense
lessness.
They want a new head for the
USES and a complete Negro staff
of experienced workers. Yet such
a staff would be up against the
same problem-that the Crump ma
chine is determined to keep the
Negro in his place"
At the USES office in Admission,
Alabama, colored job applicants are
rudely informed that if they wish
to be referred to jobs they must
enter through the back door.
The NNPA News Service has ex-
plored all of these complaints. 1t
has continually brought them to the
attention of Labor Department and
USES officials. 1t was continually
asked to lay off the story because
USES appropriations might be
jeopardized. But it kept publiciZ-
ing the unpleasant facts.
Finally reused from his lethargy,
Leslie Perry, legislative represen-
tative of the NAACP, sent a tele-
gram on May % to reactionary
Representative Butler B. Hare,
Democrat, of South Carolina, chair
man of the House appropriations
subcommittee handling the Labor
Department-Federal Security ap-
preparation bill, urging him and the
committee to direct the head of
USES to take immediate steps to
abolish Jim Crow practices in the
local USES office.
All of the complaints against
USES are administration matters
which Secretary Schwellenbach can
correct. Hare has no authority to
direct the USES to do anything.
In asking Hare to issue orders to
the USES, Perry is simply shifting
responsibility from Secretary
Schwellenbach and Bob Goodwin,
head of the USES, to the House
appropriations committee, which
USES officials want done.