Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-09-08

Mr.. Kheel, a New York labol
lawyer, observed that q Civil
Rights Commission report
made public yesterday recon-
mended that Federal registrar:
administer State voting laws
where local officials practice
discrimination.
He urged President Eisen-
hover to issue an executive
order carrying out the COM
missions recommendation and
called on Congress to enact
legislation guaranteeing all the
right to vote.
Mr.. Kheel said that many Of
the same Southern Senators
who oppose civil rights legis-
lation voted for the labor re-
form bill.
9. The most enthusiastic
supporters Of this bill for the
protection Of union members
came from States in the South
where union membership is
practically non-existent," he
said. But I don't observe any
hesitancy on their part to legis-
late for the industrialist and
unionist North. Nor did / hear
them identify themselves as
outsiders whose lack of expert
ence with unions prevented
them from really understand
ing the problems of the indus
trialist North"
1860 Chance Noted
Mr.. Kheel said that while
civil rights legislation appears
to be dead in this session Of
Congress. that it may stand a
much better chance in 1860
a presidential election year. He
called civil rights legislation
"the most critical issue in the
year just ahead"
Another speaker. James E.
Lash. executive vice president
of the American Council to
Improve Our Neighborhoods,
said the Urban League faces
some of its toughest challenges
in the changing metropolitan
areas of the Nation. Among
these special problems, he said,
are:
Negro families, who along
with members of other racial
and cultural minorities, are
frequently tied down in the de-
caying inner portions Of the
city Tor in its rotting outlying
areas by q combination OF
economic and social causes.
Their local incomes. on the
whole, force them to live where
the rentals are cheapest and
the housing the least adequate.
There is the fact Of racial
prejudice, sometimes active and
sometimes passive, which i'm
pels whites to move away from
Negro neighborhoods and to
set up strategems to keep
their new neighborhoods free
Of racially obtrusive elements.
Changed Environment
"There is the fact that in
these poor housing areas in
which Negroes frequently pre-
dominate, there is a lack Of
organization lack that
leaves the group itself exposed
to exploitation and political
manipulation. Many Negroes
among those migrating into our
urban centers are doing so in
response to economic oppor-
tunity. Accompanying this re-
settlement there are conflicts
arising from a changed envir-
onment and special necessities
of urban living which have to
be learned and adjusted to-"
Mr.. Lash said the racial prob
lens in housing ARE not only
a headache for public and pri-
vate housing developers, but a
tragedy for hundreds Of thou
sands and even millions Of
Negro residents in the great
metropolitan areas. These are
the problems which call espe-
cially for the Urban League ap-
proach Of act-finding, discus
sion, organization and unemo-
tional but sustained social &C.
ton"
A league spokesman said
yesterday that it is useless to
blame Negroes because their
race contributes a dispropor-
tionate number of juvenile de-
linquents in large cities.
Lester B. Granger Of New
York, executive director, said
it is also useless for Negroes
to deny that their youngsters
are responsible for an unusually
high number of law violations
in urban centers.
Sees Changes Here
Discussing Washington, he
said that this city is "a brilliant
example" Of what can be done
to improve conditions for the
Negro.
Fifteen years ago I never
stayed in Washington over
night" he said. Il was apt to
be embarrassed If I sought a
hotel room here. And If I
wanted a meal I had to eat in
a colored restaurant or a gov.
eminent building"
This is no longer true today,
he said.
However, he added, Negroes
are still the victims Of many
these are mostly in the lower
paying grades.
And" he said, "the mere fact