Evening star., 1950-01-29

nave TO sign OOCA CT1e POWell ana
the Roosevelt petitions if they
wished to avoid being charged
with race discrimination.
FEPC. it is clear, is not going
to have easy sailing either in
the House or the Senate. In
dead, it has become a political
football, and the probabilities are
that no such legislation will be
enacted by the 8lst Congress un-
less it should be greatly modified
and made an educational and VOL
untary plan-not compulsory.
Perhaps Representative Marcan-
tonic, American Labor. of New
York hit the nail on the head
when he said all the evidence
tended to show the Truman ad-
ministration preferred to have
FEPC as an issue rather than as
a law.
This seems to be borne out by
the fact that in the Senate, where
the Southern Democrats stand
ready to fllibuster for days and
nights and weeks to prevent
vote on FEPC, the administration
leadership allows the weeks to
flow by without bringing up the
FEPC bill for consideration-or
even attempting to do So 1t
won't be long before other press
ing and important legislation will
demand the attention of the Sem
ate, and what then will become OF
FEPC? Probably just what hap
pened at the first session of the
I81st Congress-nothing.
Seems Blocked
Although there is more opposi.
ton to FEPC than to any other
civil rights bill. it seems clear
there is a considerable majority
in the House, and also in the Sem
ate, who would vote for the bill.
provided it can be brought to q
vote. But today, the measure
seems to be almost as effectually
blocked in the House as it is in
the Senate-unless either Mr..
Roosevelt or Mr.. Powell is able
to get 218 signatures to a dis
charge petition. The bill is tied
up in the Rules Committee. And
under the reform rule, Speaker
Rayburn seems to stand like
rock in its way.
A great deal has been said in
favor of this reform rule, which
has now been in effect IN the
House more than year. Dur.
ing that time it has been invoked
| four times-three times in the
first session of the 81st Congress
and once, last Monday, during the
present session. It was used to
get action on the anti-poll tax
bill, and on the public works
planning bill, and an attempt was
made in the last session to get
the bill providing for United
States participation IN interna-
tional agencies set up through the
United Nations-the same meas
ure Mr.. Kee appeared to be reluc-
tant to bring up when Speaker
Rayburn suggested he would
recognize him for that purpose.
The opponents of the reform
rule-many of whom are violently
opposed to much of the Truman
program entirely outside civil
rights legislation-may make an
other attempt to do away with
the new rule. Representative
Brown of Ohio, Republican men,
ber of the Rules Committee. has
put his finger on the problem.
He said:
1.-THE real issue before us is not
FEPC but rather whether we are
going to open the way for enact
ment of all sorts of wasteful.
socialistic legislation"
And it is q fact that the Rules
Committee has served in the past
a check to prevent a lot OF wild
bills from taking up the time Of
the House. -"
lT
Vote Not Sought
So far as FEPC Is concerned.
the Truman administration could
have had a vote in the House on
FEPC on a dozen different occa-
sions during the last six or seven
months. But the Democratic
leadership of the House did not
seek it. Mr.. Browns own state
ment in this connection is re-
vealing. ....4-
Last summer" he said, Chair
man Lesinski of the Labor Com
mittee filed a request with the
Rules Committee for a rule on
FEPC. He also filed a resolution
under the 21-day rule (the reform
rule). Many times last session I
personally asked Chairman Sab
ath of the Rules Committee
when he was going to hold hear
ing on FEPC. Finally Mr.. Lesinsh
did appear before the Rules Com
mittee and stated he did not want
a hearing at that time, giving as
his excuse that Mr.. Powell. the
chairman of the subcommittee
which handled the bill, was not
available. and promising he would
notify the committee when he
was ready for a hearing. ~
Later we learned that an ar
rangement had been made where
by il gag rule on social security
legislation were voted by the Rules
Committee no civil rights legisla-.
ton would be considered by the
House during the remainder Of
the first session of the 81st Con-.
gress. Within an hour or so after
the gag rule was voted, the Pres