over-all approach has been successful and that these improvements have been accomplished in an orderly way, with no hard feelings on anyone's part.

Now, there is just one other point that I want to make. We are coming to a period where people talk more and more about the change-over from war production to peacetime production. I need not tell you gentlemen, who are in constant touch with public opinion, that millions of Americans are badly worried about what would happen to our whole economic structure if the war were to come to a sudden end, say next week. Of course, I see no reason to expect such a sudden end as that, but it is increasingly clear that the end is coming sooner than we had expected some months ago, and it may come before we are fully prepared for it.

What kind of jobs are there going to be available for our millions of soldiers who have given the best part of their life to fight for America? What is going to happen to our millions of war workers, many of whom have large families of children dependent upon them for support? Are we going to be able to accomplish the coming reshuffling of jobs in a peaceful way, and in a way which will not cause grave injury to the population of the United States?

It is just at this time of readjustment that the problems of discrimination become most important in fact, in a city like New York, it becomes the most important of all problems having to do with the change-over from war production to post-war peacetime economy. The problem of discrimination becomes twice as bad in a time of changing or contracting employment opportunities. It is hard enough for a Negro to get a job in an airplane shop any time; but it is going to be doubly hard for him to keep such a job in times of rapidly changing employment. The same trouble confronts the Jew, the Italian, the Spanish-American, all minority groups. The problem will be made yet more difficult in this country because of the residue of racistic propaganda which will remain after the war, and to which Hitler has subjected us constantly for the last 10 years.

Americans would be more than human if some residue of the antiSemitic, anti-Negro, anti-Catholic propaganda which Goebbels and his minions have scattered among us did not stick on to plague us, even after we have destroyed the enemy on the field of battle. I want to emphasize this point because, as some of you know, my particular job since the beginning of the war has been to keep track of and expose this kind of propaganda, through the Anti-Nazi League, which is one of the affiliated organizations comprising the Metropolitan Council. So we must prepare, in connection with our post-war planning, not only for a tremendous reshuffling of jobs but we have got also to prepare to make that reshuffling come out properly, in spite of these dangerous factors of employment discrimination and in spite of the fact that Nazi propaganda will have made those factors seem even bigger than they might otherwise have been. This is a fact which we must consider in connection with setting up a permanent F. E. P. C. If there are any among us who are tempted to say, "Oh, well, let Nature take its course," I believe that even those persons will have to consider, when they stop to think that if job opportunities are not provided, irrespective of race or religion, to our present soldiers and

war workers, America is simply going to end up with another Nationwide relief problem on her hands, and American industries are going to be tempted to start again that terrible spiral of wage cutting and price cutting which leads straight down into depression.

That we are not creating imaginary dangers here may be seen from experience with employment and relief trends during the last decade. My real profession, Mr. Chairman, has been as a teacher of economics and related subjects, so I am going to put into the record here, just as I close, a couple of figures which were prepared under my immediate direction and as to the accuracy of which I can testify. We will take as an example the case of the colored man and look at the situation in my home State of Massachusetts-the birthplace of the abolitionist movement-where the colored man probably has a better break than in most any other part of the country, and if we consider his problems of employment during the last 10 years I think we can get a good picture of what will be his problems at the end of the war. I took the colored man as an example case because I can get figures in that case. The census does not divide employment and unemployment among persons of Italian descent or Spanish descent, and the like, but you can get figures on the matter of the Negroes, because the color factor makes it easy to keep records.

Now, in Massachusetts there was a census of unemployment as of January 1, 1934, and as of that date 50 percent, plus a fraction, 50 percent of the Negro population of the State, the normally working Negro population, was either totally or partly unemployed. On the same date only 34 percent of the remainder of the population, the white population, was unemployed or partly unemployed. That is, a Negro had about 1%, something more than 11⁄2 times as great a chance of being out of work and on relief at the beginning of the depression in Massachusetts, one of the best States, as was the case with the white man in the same State.

Senator AIKEN. Are those percentages that you gave of ablebodied Negroes?

Mr. SHELDON. Yes; speaking only of persons normally employed. Senator AIKEN. That are employable?

Mr. SHELDON. Yes; not counting the physically defective, and so on. Senator AIKEN. Our committee has had testimony presented to it showing the very high percentage of tuberculosis, which might attribute to unemployment among colored people.

Mr. SHELDON. Yes; that all enters into the situation. I was just about to give another figure which was intended to separate out those very factors. Toward the end of the depression, in May of 1941, a check was made as to the number of persons certified for relief in Massachusetts as eligible for W. P. A. A check was made as to the racial break-down of that body of persons.

Senator AIKEN. What year?

Mr. SHELDON. In May 1941. You see, we were coming into the defense production period. At that time the ratio of Negroes eligible for relief employment in proportion to their total in the State was almost exactly twice as great as the corresponding ratio for white persons. In other words, not only had the relief load at the bottom of the depression indicated that the Negro had a much greater problem in finding employment than was the case with the white man, but in May 1941, when people were pretty well back on to work and we were

thinking of liquidating the W. P. A., it appeared, from cold statistics, that the Negro faced proportionately almost twice as great a problem in finding a job as that faced by the white man. The ratio faced by the white man was only 50 percent that of the Negro.

Now, the reason I have burdened the record with these figures was just this: If we are going to shift people from armies and war plants back to peacetime industry without destroying our American way of life, we have got to bear in mind these special problems which everyone of our minority groups does face in connection with such a shift, and we have got to provide apparatus to see to it that all Americans get an even break. Congress should, therefore, pass a permanent F. E. P. C. measure right now to perpetuate the good precedent which has been established by the wartime F. E. P. Č.

The passing of this kind of law is just as important as signing a peace treaty. We have not won the war as long as there is a residue of Hitlerism, conscious or unconscious, operating in the minds of the men who run the employment offices of American industry. We might as well face the fact now that although Hitler is clearly losing the war, and losing it badly, he has, nevertheless, won a certain phase of it, to the extent that he has succeeded in leaving many of the worst doctrines of Mein Kampf scattered about the minds of millions of thoughtless Americans. Democracy in this country will not be safe until we have adopted the necessary devices to get rid of this last loathsome evidence of Nazism, and a permanent F. E. P. C. is one of the very first medicines to be prescribed for this purpose. Senator CHAVEZ. Thank you, Doctor. You made a very fine

statement.

Mr. SHELDON. Thank you very much.
Senator CHAVEZ. Mrs. Waters.

STATEMENT OF MRS. AGNES WATERS, MOTHERS OF AMERICA, WASHINGTON, D. C.

Mrs. WATERS. My name is Mrs. Agnes Waters and my address is 3267 N Street NW., Georgetown, Washington, D. C. I am the unofficial legislative representative of millions of American mothers over this Nation who protest against this bill.

Senator CHAVEZ. Why do you say "unofficial"?

Mrs. WATERS. Well, I am without portfolio; we are not an organized group. Our women believe that the only organization they want is the Congress of the United States.

Senator CHAVEZ. Please be seated.

Mrs. WATERS. Yes, sir.

Senator CHAVEZ. You think you represent 5,000,000 mothers? Mrs. WATERS. Yes, I certainly do, more than that, about 80 percent of the American people.

Senator CHAVEZ. Of course, that is unofficial, also.

Mrs. WATERS. No, I think that is official, through several polls that have been made. I represent millions of mothers who are against this un-American bill to give special privileges to special Negroes and Jews who are Communists. We are against this bill to set up Communists and give them power to wreck our Nation with executive and congressional orders issued by foreigners in Moscow while our boys are fighting and dying all over the earth to make the world safe for democracy.

We are against Red revolution on our soil and against foreign entanglements. I have fought every step to war, and I think the Senator is well aware of the fact that for many years I have appeared before these committees opposing every step to war and opposing every sort of ism that would wreck this Republic.

Senator CHAVEZ. Is that your state of mind at the moment?

Mrs. WATERS. Yes, sir. Let me remind the Senator that Russia has a secret pact with Japan, and we don't know what is in that pact. Senator CHAVEZ. Is that unofficial?

Mrs. WATERS. Well, now, I think you have given a very fine hearing, a very fine American hearing to the proponents of this bill, you have listened to their testimony, and I think I am entitled to the

same treatment.

Senator CHAVEZ. It is the purpose of the committee to give you just as fine a hearing.

Mrs. WATERS. I do not believe, Mr. Chairman, that you should be unfair to me or to heckle me at this meeting. You know I appear here in an unofficial capacity, and I have said so.

Senator CHAVEZ. Mrs. Waters, let us us understand ourselves. Neither the committee nor the chairman want to be unfair to any witness.

Mrs. WATERS. Thank you.

Senator CHAVEZ. Irrespective of their views. We respect their views even when we do not agree with them.

Mrs. WATERS. Will you kindly let me proceed?

Senator CHAVEZ. Yes.

Mrs. WATERS. The witnesses for the bill have had hours and days to prepare their case and I hope I have at least a fair hearing and a reasonable amount of time to present the case for the defense, for the American people who are in the majority.

Senator CHAVEZ. The witness will be given ample time.

Mrs. WATERS. Thank you. I am against the enemies of America, Nazis or Communists, both within and without our gates.

I object to this bill on the ground that it sets up and legalizes a Red government in Washington. Let me stress that. I object to the bill upon the ground that it would set up in Washington Red Moscow government, and that is my main objection to this bill.

I object to it because it is a threat against our national security; that it would violate our constitutional rights and destroy the liberty of both American employer and employee, wrecking American labor interests, American business and industry, American enterprise, individual liberty and initiative, and forcing a Red revolution here in the United States of America.

Now this is a very serious matter. I hope I shall be allowed to present my case, the case against this bill, in a fair, calm, American manner. Before I start my remarks today against this terrible bill, I should like to be assured that the Chair will maintain order and that I may proceed without interruption from the mob here, because I realize that I am appearing here alone and facing a room full of enemies, except for the presence of God and the spiritual presence of more than 80 percent of the American people who are upholding my hands here today and giving me strength to battle alone against unnumbered focs who pack this committee room, and who for hours

and days have presented with many witnesses the case for the bill. I am only asking a reasonable time of at least 1 hour for the presentation of my defense.

I have consistently fought these bills for over 10 years, and I have only just begun to fight, Mr. Chairman. Let me notify this committee I have only begun to fight.

Senator CHAVEZ. I compliment the lady.

Mrs. WATERS. I hope that the Congress will not be deceived by the fact that no one else except myself has chosen to appear here today against this bill, for millions of Americans the breadth and width of this fair land are opposed to it. The fact is that millions of Americans are busy fighting the war and millions more working in defense plants and other essential work, so that they could not come here today to defend themselves. I only pray God I shall be able to present the case successfully. The American people also figure that they elected their Representatives to Congress to act here for them and to defend America against just such vile onslaughts from special interests or so-called minority groups seeking to overthrow this Government while our boys are away, with bills of this character, and they have been doing that for the last 10 years.

Now, I am not alone here, sir. I should like to read some excerpts from the speeches of some able Americans who are Members of this Congress and who are opposed to this bill. They bear me out, they substantiate the facts that I am presenting here today. The statements I am making are borne out by the fact that they were presented to the Congress of the United States by reputable, eminent Americans whose honor is back of every word they say. I am presenting to this committee for due consideration the speech of the Honorable John E. Rankin, of Mississippi, made on the floor of the House Friday, May 26, 1944.

Senator CHAVEZ. If I may say so, young lady, in order for you to do justice to your statement, if you can give us the gist of the speech, we will insert the whole speech in the record.

Mrs. WATERS. Yes, I will give you excerpts of it. I will not read the whole speech of any one of the Members. About half an hour will be consumed in excerpts from Senators' and Congressmen's speeches against this very bill.

Senator CHAVEZ. You may proceed.

Mrs. WATERS. And they were made many months ago, too, before this bill came up.

In May 1944, Mr. Rankin addressed the House and he said:

Mr. Chairman, this is one of the most serious questions that ever confronted Congress. It is one that goes to the very roots of our form of government, our way of life.

This so-called Fair Employment Practice Committee, with headquarters at 1006 U Street, which is in the Negro section of Washington, and which was set up without authority of law, is one of the most dangerous communistic agencies ever created to annoy and harass the white people of this country. It has assumed the powers of a dictatorship by attempting to compel the white people of this Nation to employ people of other races, and to promote them to positions of trust and responsibility, whether they are wanted or not.

It has attempted to force the railroads of the country to place Negroes in positions of conductors and engineers. It is attempting to force business establishments to employ Negro clerks, and even managers, and place them beside, and even over, the white men and white women they have always employed.