St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-07-07

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The committee recommended
the enactment of a Federal Fair
Employment Practice Act pro-
hibiting all forms of discrimina-
ton in private employment based
on race, color, creed or national
origin.
Bills to achieve this end have
been introduced in the Seventy
eighth, the Seventy-ninth, the
Eightieth, and the Eighty-first
Congresses. Hearings were held
in the Senate in the Seventy
eighth, the Seventy-ninth and the
Eightieth Congresses.
Last year, identical bills were
introduced in the Senate and in
the House.
Hearings were held in the
House. Testifying in opposition
to the bill were five Members of
the House and one private indivi-
dual. Testifying in favor of the
bill were IS Representatives, 3
Senators, and the Secretary Of
Labor; various State commits
sioners of local FEPCs, and for
mer staff members of the war
time Federal FEPC; the Catholic
Church, Federal Council of Chur-
ches of Christ in America, Ma
tional Fraternal Council of Negro
churches, American Friends Ser
vice Committee, Methodist
Church, and the Synagogue Coun-
Gil of America; American Civil
Liberties Union; CLIO and AFL;
NAACP and Urban League; Am
orleans for Democratic Action;
and Students for Democratic
Action; Improved BPOE of the
World; American Jewish Com
mittee; American Jewish Con-
gress; American Veterans COM
mittee; Jewish War Veterans;
National Council of Jewish Wo-
men; Jewish Labor Committee;
Japanese American CitiZe n s
League; National Community Re-
lations Advisory Committee.
During the course of the Today
hearing, a subcommittee of the
House of Representatives heard
some IS witnesses and compiled
$50 pages of printed testimony.
Numbered among the organiza-
tons testifying are the Federal
Council of Churches of Christ in
America, composed of rs leading
Protestant denominations with q
membership of 25,000,000; the
United Council Of Churchwomen,
composed of some SO Protestant
denominations representing TO-
900, 900 women; the Council of
Negro Churches in America, rep
resenting over 5000, 900 members,
the Catholic Interracial Councils,
and the Synagogue Council of
America, comprising the Ortho-
doX, Conservative, and Reformed
branches of Judaism.
The two great American labor
bodies, the American Federation
of Labor and the Congress Of In
dustrial Organizations, represent
ing approximately $4,000, 900
American wage earners united in
support of FEPC in recognition
of the fact that the denial of
equal job opportunities to any
group of workers threatens the
hard-won standards of all
workers. Altogether, the witness
SEES for these and the many other
civic, veterans, racial and
ethnic organization who appeared
before the committee, are reliably
estimated latter discounting the
overlapping of the various organi-
zations) to represent upward of
100000 of our citizens.
The need for FEPC legislation
is clear and unmistakable. The
pattern of discrimination in
America is threatening the fab
ric of our democratic life. The
pattern of economic discrimina-
ton in America Is a threat to the
welfare Of our society. S.172S has
for its purpose the establishment
of economic opportunity.
The need for FEPC legislation
is urgent. Discriminatory en-
ployment practice throughout the
United States is widespread. To-
day. with unemployment a con-
slant threat, the fear of discrim-
inatory discharges weighs heav-
lily upon all who have ever known
the Illustration and bitterness of
job discrimination. I refer to 26,-
000,0 Catholics, $4,000, 900 Ne
groes, 100000 Jews, 5000, 900
Americans of Mexican or Spanish
origin, 100000 foreign-born,
and $4,000, 900 children of foreign
born. This insecurity and fear on
the part of Americans who have
contributed to the welfare and
the defense of our country is
well-grounded.
Recent statistics compiled by
the Bureau of Census reveals that
whereas unemployment among
whites increased 1894 per cent
between July 1945 and April
1949, there was an increase of
$50 percent in unemployment
among nonwhites during the
same period. The Census Bureau
concluded that because of the
tendency to lay off Negroes be-
fore whites, and because of the
relative lack of skill required in
jobs usually assigned to them,
Negroes will suffer an increasing
ly higher percentage of unem-
ployment in any recession that
may overtake US.
In my own city of Minneapolis,
a self survey conducted by the
mayors commission on human re-
lations found that Jews, Negroes,
Representations, and other
minority group members were
widely Disseminated against by
employers. OF 523 Minneapolis
firms from which reports were
tabulated, So percent hired no
Jews, Negroes or Japanese-Am-
orleans; 81 percent hired one or
more Jews, Negroes and Tor jap