St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1950-03-03

practice bill, which jammed the
tossed about by Communist propa-
ganda in a world whose population
is half dark skinned.
The House passed. 240 to 1T,
and sent to the Senate an FEPC
bill stripped of enforcement pro-
visions. President Truman had de-
manded a mandatory ban on racial
discrimination In employment.
Thus the House adopted a tooth.
less bill to set up a commission
with power only to investigate,
educate and recommend. and re-
jected the administration pro-
gram.
Action on the bill came in two
stages. A 15-hour session ended
at 500 a. m. Feb. 20. In which
southern and-FEPC forces were
unable to prevent a vote alto
gether. but were. nevertheless,
able to combine with enough Re-
publicans to give them what
amounted to essential victory.
Substitute Voted
Then the House picked up again
at noon, and this time adopted a
substitute proposal by Repre-
sentative Samuel X. Mcconnell,
Jr., (R) Of Pennsylvania. The
House first rejected a move to
send the watered-down bill back
to committee. The vote here was
lit to 240. Southern Democrats
led the unsuccessful fight to send
the Mcconnell bill back to COM
mittee after first having gotten
1t adopted.
Politics was involved In the de-
cisive vote. The GOP-Dixiecrat
coalition, welded to "gradualism"
numbered lit Democrats and 104
Republicans, The administration
forces, committed TO Mandatory
enforcement" numbered 1928 DEM
ocrats, 40 Republicans. and Rep
resentative Vito Marcantonio
(ALP) of New York.
However, when the Mcconnell
bill comes TO a direct vote In its
own right on final passage, It is
uncertain whether the southern
bloc will vote for 1t. Republican
advocates Of gradualism may find
themselves with no measure at
all.
Floor Debate
In floor debate on the intensely
difficult subject, advocates Of the
FEPC bill declared that Congress
has passed no civil rights bill
since 1875, just 10 years after the
war which was assumed for a time
to have settled the issue.
Opponents of the FEPC meas
ure argue that the administration
measure would foment rather
than eliminate racial strife by at
tempting to change long-estab-
hshed social patterns Of discrim-
nation and segregation by force
of law.
Both 1913 party platforms ad-
vocated congressional action. The
Democratic plank said:
I'VE call upon Congress TO sup
port our President in guarantee
ing these basic and fundamental
American principles. q. the right
to equal opportunity of employ
ment.
The Republican plank declared:
This right Of equal opportunity
to work. should never be
lIilISu. .bCSauSS VI HaSSb ~
ligion, color .... We favor the
enactment 800. of such federal
legislation as may be necessary to
maintain this right. -"
Besides entering domestic poll
tics, the matter has a deeper
meaning in the duel between Rus
STA and the United State for the
moral support of the world. The
issue has been raised by Soviet
propaganda in the Far East and
India.
Anti discrimination legislation
would strengthen the hand of the
United States in foreign affairs
by fulfilling implied obligations Of
the United Nations Charter. The
UN Declaration of Human Rights
adopted by the UN General As
sembly in Paris, Dec. 10. 1913. AS
serts in Article % that ~ every
one without discriminatory has
the right to work, to free choice
of employment, to just and favor
ahla conditions NJ work and IN