the strength of America rests on its ability to extend equal opportunities to every citizen. Organized labor has proved that it is the most powerful force in the struggle to preserve the basic rights and privileges which American democracy guarantees. Labor's long and successful struggle to improve the economic standards of millions of wage earners, to secure for them some measure of security and humane consideration, is ample evidence of the soundness and practicality of its objectives. We have achieved progress, but the ultimate goal has not been reached. The C. I. O. has proven to thousands of workers that the democratic process of work in the labor movement makes no distinction of race, religion, color, or national origin. We feel that America can ill afford to fail to utilize all the human skills and productive resources of every American worker in the post-war period.

We contended, and do contend for the post-war period, that if America refuses to rid herself completely of the blind prejudices that deny people who are "different" a fair deal, we undermine the strength of our country and threaten the hard-won gains achieved during the last few years. How America acquits herself under pressure of postwar tension may well be the yardstick by which is determined the prosperity and stability of the rest of the world.

The present F. E. P. C. is a war agency. When the war is over, it will be out of existence. This agency has been of untold value to the war effort. A brief glance at the record will show that the present F. E. P. C. has closed more than 2,200 cases during the last year with 879-approximately 40 percent-resulting in satisfactory adjustments, eliminating the discriminatory practices involved. It is also significant that more than 98 percent of the cases closed were settled by negotiations and mutual cooperation among representatives of unions, management and field examiners from the F. E. P. C. Nearly all of these cases involved vital war production. Commendations have been received by the committee from the War Department Mexican Government, for its work with Mexican Americans of the Southwest.

The Philadelphia Transit case demonstrates to us that with the coming of peace and all its attendant problems, America will be very much in need of a permanent commission with statutory enforcement powers to aid the transition from wartime economy to peacetime economy. Our experience in the Philadelphia Transit walk-out demonstrates this need very clearly. The Philadelphia Transit Co., like many other companies in that tight labor market area, is experiencing an acute manpower shortage. Well over a year ago, the F. E. P. C., after hearings, directed that car and bus operating positions on the lines be opened up to Negro employees in order to relieve the manpower shortage. This order was evaded and ignored for over a year, thereby weakening the influence and power of the Federal Government. The situation had deteriorated to a point that when the order was put into effect, we witnessed one of the most disgraceful episodes of American history. If the F. E. P. C. had possessed statutory enforcement powers a year ago, the same final results could have been achieved without the blot on American history and the incalculable aid this incident gave to Fascist forces throughout the world.

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There will be tremendous difficulties in the reconversion to peacetime production, transfer of workers from one industry to another, from one section of the country to another, in the placement of jobs of 10,000,000 determined servicemen. We must avoid the confusion and strife that would result from discharging workers in wholesale lots for no better reason than that they are black, brown, Catholic, or Jewish. In addition to being a violation of all standards of decency, this would be economically stupid. When we put millions of minority workers and their families on relief, we have to pay for it in another coin. We pay for it in poor health standards-remember, slums and rickets are no respectors of race. We pay for it in a depressed economy where the purchasing power of millions is drastically lowered.

A permanent F. E. P. C. cannot alone stave off a depression, but it can insure in the post-war period of job transfers that minority workers will get the same treatment as any other workers; that a man's seniority and ability are the yardstick whether he holds a job or gets. another and not the fact that his skin is dark, his father came from the old country, or he worships God in a Catholic church or Jewish synagogue.

We in the C. I. O. have been forced to meet this problem four square. President Philip Murray, in his report to the sixth constitutional convention in Philadelphia last November, said:

From the time of the establishment of the first Committee on Fair Employment Practices, the Congress of Industrial Organizations has given strong support to the work of eliminating discrimination. It was instrumental in obtaining the issuance of Executive Order 8802 (which was the first Executive order on this matter). It pressed for vigorous and consistent enforcement without fear or favor. It has urged full and prompt investigations of hearings in all situations where discriminatory practices have taken place.

President Murray urged and the convention resolved that the present F. E. P. C. should be continued and that there be set up by Congress "a permanent statutory agency empowered to prevent discrimination of the kinds being dealt with by the committee."

Senator CHAVEZ. Thank you very much.

Senator AIKEN. I gather from your testimony, Mr. Weaver, that you think no time should be lost in expediting action on this bill.

Mr. WEAVER. I do. I am director of the national C. I. O. committee to abolish racial discrimination, which deals with these matters on somewhat the same basis as the F. E. P. C., and at present we are experiencing cut-backs with all the attendant evils and racial tensions which we believe will be with us after the war.

Senator AIKEN. I believe if the bill is to be enacted into law that it should be enacted into law before the time comes when it will be necessary. It does seem to me that we should report this to the full committee, Mr. Chairman, and get action on it as quickly as we can. Senator CHAVEZ. That is the opinion of the chairman of the committee. Of course, I do not want the committee to be accused of not giving opportunity to anyone who might want to appear before the committee. We have not as yet received any requests from anyone who might be opposed.

I wish the members of the press would make a notation of that. Senator AIKEN. You may recall that during the debate on the George bill it was assumed there would be 2,000,000 people drawing unem ployment compensation by the end of this year. I checked

with the Social Security Board and there were only 79,000 the middle of this summer. That indicates that the assumption is correct that there may be 2,000,000 people laid off between now and January, in which event these acts to alleviate the stress should be ready to be put into operation.

Personally, Mr. Chairman, I think we should spend a great deal more time on devising ways and means to prevent unemployment, although I agree thoroughly that it is necessary to have these different acts ready to put into operation if in spite of us unemployment does

come.

So I for one hope that we may get prompt action by the committee and by Congress.

Senator CHAVEZ. That is the hope of the Chair.
Thank you very much.

STATEMENT OF KERMIT EBY, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Mr. EBY. My name is Kermit Eby, assistant director of research and education of the C. I. O.

The bill before this committee, S. 2048, has the wholehearted support of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, because it would create a permanent Fair Employment Practice Commission in place. of the temporary war-time Fair Employment Practice Committee, and would make the guaranty of the right to work without discrimination because of race, creed, color, national origin, or ancestry a declared policy of our Government.

During the war the Fair Employment Practice Committee has served a valuable function in assuring the full utilization of the Nation's skills and manpower for the prosecution of the war effort. As we move into the period of transition from war to peace, the full utilization of all the Nation's resources will be necessary if our country is to remain peaceful and prosperous.

In the transition period the question of full employment will be the determining factor in problems of discrimination. In the absence of full employment, discrimination will tend to become a serious problem, because members of minority groups are the first to be laid off, last to be rehired; first to be downgraded and last to be upgraded.

This process, if unchecked, would deprive many people of economic rights, achieved for the first time in many cases, because the Nation needed their services for war.

It would, by downgrading to unskilled and menial jobs, deprive the Nation of the full use of the skills of its people.

Only through achieving full employment can the problem of discrimination in the right to a job be solved. In a period of job scarcity, all kinds of discriminations tend to be exercised, and not only minority groups but the whole Nation suffers in the resulting lowering of standards and the pitting of one group in the Nation against another.

The Congress of Industrial Organizations has, from the beginning, realized that discrimination against any one group of workers Lains not only those directly discriminated against but all works. it las, therefore, again and again enunciated its policy of the quality of ail workers, regardless of race, creed, or color.

But full employment alone cannot solve the problem of discriminations in the right to a job. Even during the war when all our Nation's resources had to be expended, every skill utilized, it was necessary to have the Government, through the Fair Employment Practice Committee, insist that all workers, regardless of race, creed, or color, be allowed to share in the war effort to the extent of their skills and ability. Even in labor-shortage areas, employers had to be persuaded that a worker's race, nationality, or religion were no criteria of his ability to perform a certain job.

If, during the war, it was necessary to have the Government assure fair employment practices to its people, it will be all the more necessary to have that assurance continued in the post-war period-particularly in the period when we are shifting from military to civilian production with all the strains that such a shift will impose on our

economy.

It is, therefore, not only for the protection of minorities, although common decency and ordinary American democracy should make us rebel at the thought of denying the right to work to anyone because his race, religion, or national origin differs from that of the majority of Americans but for the protection of all the people of this country, that we urge a declaration of national policy on the right to work without discrimination because of race, color, creed, or national origin and the creation of a Fair Employment Practices Commission to implement that policy. Under the proposed bill the detailed procedure through which those charged with unfair employment practices may present their case is based upon a great deal of experience. This procedure has been tried and tested under the National Labor Relations Act. It is up to the courts to determine whether a restraining order shall issue against an unfair employment practice complained of by the Commission. The aggrieved party has ample opportunity to appeal to the courts on his own behalf.

It is well for us to remember that any coercive powers under this bill rest in the courts and not in the Commission. The committee has demonstrated how far it is possible to go with methods of persuasion and conciliation in securing compliance.

The committee has not, and under this bill the Commission would not, interfere in employment practices except on the basis of complaints and, of course, does not place workers in jobs. Discrimination problems outside the field of employment are not within its jurisdiction. We stress these matters in order to emphasize the strict construction placed upon the function of the Commission.

The C. I. O., as is well known, bases its arguments for this legislation upon the premise that all workers in this country must be aided in their efforts to secure a job at decent wages. This is the cornerstone of our American society, in all its aspects, and not merely of our American economy.

Senator CHAVEZ. Thank you very much, Mr. Eby.

The committee will now stand adjoiurned until Wednesday next in the same room.

(Whereupon, at 4 p. m., the committee recessed until Wednesday, September 6, 1944.)

FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES ACT

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1944

UNITED STATES SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to adjournment, in room 357, Senate Office Building, Senator Dennis Chavez (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senators Chavez and Aiken.

Before pro

Senator CHAVEZ. The committee will come to order. ceeding with the hearing of testimony on Senate bill 2048, I want to read into the record a letter received by me from the Most Reverend Robert E. Lucey, D. D., Archibishop of San Antonio Catholic Church. This letter is dated August 30, 1944, and is addressed to the Honorable Dennis Chavez, chairman, Subcommittee on Education and Labor, United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

DEAR SENATOR CHAVEZ: Thank you very much for your letter of August 22. I wish very much that I might make a substantial contribution to the passage of S. 2048 but unfortunately I have just returned from a 5 weeks' trip to Mexico and I am buried under a frightful load of work. However, I am enclosing herewith a brief statement of my views on this problem and I hope that it will arrive in time to do some good.

Thanking you for your kindness in this matter and with best wishes, I remain, Very sincerely yours,

This is the statement:

Most Rev. ROBERT E. LUCEY, D. D.,
Archbishop of San Antonio.

STATEMENT OF ARCHBISHOP ROBERT E. LUCEY, SAN ANTONIO, TEX.

The Fair Employment Practice Committee, whose life now hangs on the thin thread of an Executive order, should be given full statutory recognition with power to enforce its decisions. In no other way can a substantial measure of economic justice be procured for men and women of color. The white problem in our country cannot be solved in any reasonable time without the aid of civil law. Many so-called white men hate and despise their fellow Americans whose skin is dark. It is not the men of color who ignore our Constitution, reject our Declaration of Independence, and perpetrate acts of racial bigotry. It is not the Mexican or the Negro who would deprive his fellow citizens of God-given natural rights. Only the alleged white man does that.

Men of color are pouring out their good red blood on many battlefields today to defend the lives and property of those very racial bigots who hate and persecute them. Men of color have a right to pity their white brothers who thus debase themselves. The Fair Employment Practice Committee should be made a permanent institution of our country to stand forever as a symbol of human liberty and good government.

ROBERT E. LUCEY, Archbishop of San Antonio. 81