The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-03-09
House Dixiegops
Put Through
Weak FEPC Bill

"VQN D - ~ DIts
| Washington (LPA) - A tightly
knit coalition of Republicans and
southern Democrats put through
the House a toothless Fair En-.
lployment Practice Bill, after con
tinuous session lasting from Feb
22 to Feb. 23. The measure now
goes to the Senate, which has OF
its calendar a real FEPC bill How.
ever, it faces a Dixiegop filibuster
which cannot be broken as easily
as it was on the House side, where
there were dozens of time-consum-
ing roll calls and teller votes and
quorum checks in the 1871 hours
the House was held in continuous
session.
The House-approved bill was
sponsored by Rep. Samuel McCon-
nell OR, Pal, and is intended, like
the Administration bill, to ban dis
elimination in employment because
of race, creed, or color. Discrimin-
alton because Of sex would also be
forbidden in the Mcconnell bill as
amended.
However, that's just about as far
as the Mcconnell bill would go.
The five-member FEP Commission
would not be able to go into the
courts to enforce its no-discrimina-
ton orders. Appointed by the Pres
ident, the Commission would have
the power to make studies, draw up
plans and reports, and could inves-
tigate and attempt to mediate COM
plants brought before it. However,
it would be powerless if an en-
ployer, for instance, refused to stop
a discriminatory practice.
When the final 24O to 1T vote
came shortly afternoon on Feb. %,
after the House had quit to give
members a couple of hours sleep
and the pro-FEPC forces had held
strategy conferences, the oppon-
ents of the Mcconnell amendment
were sharply split. Most of the lib
eral Democrats voted to approve
the Mcconnell bill so that some
measure would come before the
Senate. They hope to test the Re-
publican-sponsored rule for closing
off Senate filibuster, which they
anticipate will be exposed as a
sham. Rep. Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Jr. Cd, N.Y. and Andrew j. Bic
miller Cd, Wis., are leaders of
this group, along with Chairman
John Lesinski Cd, Mich.) of the
Labor Committee which handled
the FEPC bill. Rep. Adam Clayton
Powell Cd, N. " and Vito Mar
cantonio (ALP, N.Y. voted against
the final bill, and issued a sharply
worded attack calling the McCon-
nell bill zone the most reactionary
Republican will be glad to vote
for" 1t will, Powell and several
colleague said, "allow the Senate
to invoke phony cloture and thus
not test the Wherry Or, Nebr.)
rule"
Leaders of the National Civil
Rights Conference, which brought
1000 delegates to Washington to
press for FEPC action several
weeks earlier, were in the House
galleries during the whole debate.
They indicated afterward they
thought the greatest value of the
Mcconnell bill would lie in the fact
that it puts the matter before the
Senate, which is more likely-if
filibuster can be killed-to turn out
good FEPC bill.
Roy wilkins, secretary of the
National Association for the Ad-
vancement of Colored People and
chairman of the national civil
rights mobilization, described the
Mcconnell bill as inadequate and
unsatisfactory" He said that an
acceptable FEPC bill must have
sanctions. He declared, however,
that the Senate now had an oppor-
tunity for action it would not have
if the House had passed no bill at
all.
President Truman, at his press
conference Feb. %, said he hadn't
seen the bill passed by the House,
but that his position on FEPC had
been made clear in the past. Asked
if he believed it was possible to
prohibit discrimination in employ
ment and still permit man to op-
crate his business, the President
replied firmly that he had always
thought so.
Sen. Scott Lucas Cd, Ill.), maj
ority leader, has indicated he'll
bring the Administration FEPC bill
before the Senate mid March, an
action which is bound to set off a |
Minority leader Kenneth
Wherry Or, Nebr.) has said he'll
favor closing off debate under the
rule he pushed through the Senate
a year ago, which requires a two
thirds vote of the membership of
the Senate to end debate. Wherry
and Sen. Robert A. Taft Or, Ohio) |
have made it clear they'll enthus-
iastically support the Mcconnell
bill. Said Wherry a few hours after