There is no question but that the solution to this very vexing problem of discrimination in employment cannot be solved completely, but a start can be made by enacting fair employment practices legislation in this area here and now.

I would also like to indicate to the chairman that we would request permission, if we so desired, to submit comments on the bills. We have not had an opportunity to study the particular bills. They were just given to me prior to my departure for Washington.

Senator CLARK. I wish you would, because I do not think anybody is completely satisfied with any one of them and our procedure will be to prepare a committee print which will probably contain provisions of all three of these bills and perhaps additional provisions also, and your comments would be very helpful.

Senator Burdick?

Senator BURDICK. I am sorry that I arrived a little late but I will assure the witness that I will read his statement very carefully. Mr. SHEINKMAN. Thank you, Senator.

Senator BURDICK. I am grateful for his support.

Senator CLARK. Thank you very much, Mr. Sheinkman, we are glad to have had you with us.

Our final witnesses are representatives of the American Friends Service Committee, Noyes Collinson, director of the employment merit program, Atlanta, Ga., and Jean Fairfax, director of the employment merit program of North Carolina.

Your prepared statement is before me; I will ask to have it printed in full in the record at this point.

We are getting along a little faster than I thought we would, so you have an hour if you need it.

(The prepared statement of Mr. Collinson follows:)

PREPARED STATEMENT OF NOYES COLLINSON, DIRECTOR, MERIT EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE, ATLANTA, GA.

Mr. Chairman, my name is Noyes Collinson. I am the director of the American Friends service committee's employment on merit program in Atlanta, Ga. I am accompanied by Miss Jean Fairfax, AFSC's national representative for southern programs, and by Richard W. Taylor, of the Friends committee on national legislation. I am testifying on behalf of the American Friends service committee and the Friends committee on national legislation. In this testimony these two organizations speak for themselves and for like-minded Friends. No single body can speak officially for the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) Since 1946 AFSC has been promoting equal employment opportunity through staffed programs in northern and southern communities. Our current work in this field includes a statewide program in North Carolina and metropolitar area programs in Houston, Tex., and Atlanta, Ga. Our work reflects the central belief that there is that of God in every man. If all men are children of ore common Father, then all are entitled to equality of opportunity to develop their God-given potentials without regard to manmade distinctions based on race. color, or creed.

As Gov. Terry Sanford of North Carolina said early this year: "Despit great progress the Negro's opportunity to obtain a good job has not bera achieved in most places across the country. Reluctance to accept the Ne in employment is the greatest single block to his continued progress and t the full use of the human potential of the Nation and its States. *** The has come for American citizens to give up this reluctance, to quit unfair de crimination, and to give the Negro a full chance to earn a decent living 5his family and to contribute to higher standards for himself and for men."

The lack of equal job opportunity has produced grave economic imbalances in this country. In Atlanta, for example, where 22.8 percent of the population is Negro, the median income for a Negro family is $3,033 in contrast to the median white family income of $6.498. This creates a wide disparity in living standards which is often unfairly interpreted as an indication of the Negro's inherent inferiority. The more prosperous white community resents the tax burden imposed upon it by this disparity, while the Negro's lower taxable income and purchasing power create serious antagonisms in both communities. Although my community, Atlanta, has six Negro institutions of higher education, only 5 out of every 100 professional positions and only 2 out of every 100 managerial and sales jobs are held by Negro males. On the other hand 89 out of every 100 private male household jobs (domestics, yardmen, etc.) are filled by Negroes. The lack of adequate job opportunities other than for laborers and domestics in the Atlanta area has had many consequences among which are the out-migration of talented persons to other parts of the country and the underemployment of educated Negroes in Atlanta. An important sociological observation should be made here. The lack of opportunity for Negro males has often meant that the Negro female is the steadier and more substantial wage earner in the family which then tends to become a quasimatriarchy in the midst of a culture where the dominant group family is more of a patriarchy. All too frequently the Negro father, working at menial or casual labor, often sporadically, does not constitute the strong "father-image" which is esteemed in the white community. Discipline is not necessarily absent in the lower income group Negro family but the fact that the father is often not able to be the major provider and in that sense the head of the household has important implications. Undoubtedly, this situation contributes to juvenile delinquency.

I am sure that all of you are aware of the high priority which the expanding of job opportunities is now being given by Negro citizens. Negroes have always been aware of the interrelationship between their economic situation and their status in the community. However, there is a new element in this old concern. There is anxiety and apprehension about the implications for Negroes of certain trends in the American economy. Generally speaking this can be expressed as a fear that the increasingly affluent American society will have a wider gap between the rich and the poor and that a disproportionately large number of the poor will be minority group members.

The advantages of the new technology are obvious. New industries and new processes are creating many new job opportunities which offer the possibility for improved standards of living. This is very clear to those of us who are living in the South during this period of rapid industrialization. However, the Negro often feels that he is ignored as plans are projected for the industrial and general economic development of his community. He sees handsome, modern plants being built but he knows that so long as discriminatlon continues, he will benefit very little from their presence. For example, my colleagues in Houston, Tex, have shared with me a study of the manpower needs through 1966 for the Houston-Gulf Coast area which was published by the Texas Employment Commission in cooperation with eight chambers of commerce. This report anticipates that 100.000 new jobs will be created by 1966 in this area. In spite of the fact that a critical shortage of trained, qualified manpower is expected, we do not know of any comprehensive effort on the part of the business leadership to overcome the barriers to full participation by Negroes in the closing of this manpower gap in Houston.

Other AFSC staff members are close to several situations where automation or mechanization are factors in racial unrest because of the elimination of jobs performed by unskilled Negroes without the provision of relocation, training or other services to assist in their readjustment. It is very hard for the Negro in this situation not to feel that the source of his livelihood, no matter how modest, has been withdrawn because of discrimination, especially when he has no opportunity to qualify for or to participate in the new economic ›pportunities which have been created by technological progress.

Since discrimination as a barrier to equal employment opportunity is maniested in a variety of ways, any serious effort to promote this democratic goal inst be comprehensive. An effective program should attempt to deal specifically ith discrimination as it affects hiring, upgrading, recruitment, apprenticeship nd other training programs and employee organizations. There must be a

recognition also of the impact on the Negro of the totality of segregation and of the corroding effect on personality of life in the ghetto.

I am pleased to testify that there is an important role for the private agency in this field and that the AFSC can record some significant accomplishments in our program efforts during the past 17 years. AFSC staff members visit employers to encourage them to adopt a clear policy of nondiscrimination in hiring and upgrading, work with them in many ways on the implementation of this policy, provide assistance in locating qualified candidates and make specific suggestions about ways in which businessmen can give leadership in the community to help overcome obstacles to equal employment opportunity. In my assignment in Atlanta I have been privileged in the last 18 months to visit policymaking and policy-implementing executives representing approximately 150 business and industrial concerns and governmental agencies. Many of the firms visited by AFSC staff have Government contracts or are signatory to Plans for Progress, but a large number, such as retail establishments, are not presently covered by any governmental program to eliminate discrimination.

AFSC staff members work with educators on matters relating to training opportunities, vocational guidance, etc. We visit political leaders and elected officials to urge them to see the implications for their communities of discrimination and to encourage them to establish policies and practices of merit hiring in municipal and State jobs. We work with labor unions to encourage them to implement locally their national platforms of nondiscrimination where such exist. We devote a considerable amount of time to our work with the minority community to interpret the changing employment situation, to motivate youth toward higher and more realistic vocational goals. to create conditions which will produce qualified and well-motivated applicants. Important as our work is, we know that private, voluntary efforts in this field are not adequate to meet the complexity and the urgency of problems involved in employment discrimination. Courageous and imaginative efforts by the Federal Government are needed to promote the full participation in the economic life of our country by members of minority groups. Legislation to abolish discrimination and to launch a positive program for equal employment opportunity will make a constructive contribution toward this objective. Our experience would lead us to favor Federal legislation to promote equal employment opportunity for the following reasons:

1. This is a national problem requiring a nationwide solution. Furthermore, we have a very mobile population. Persons should not be limited in their free dom to move in search of greater economic opportunity.

2. Broad coverage which is possible in a Federal approach to a national problem is fairer. There are employers in the South as well as in the North that employ on merit because they believe it is right or because they are required to do so by the Executive Order 10925. Sometimes these employers feel that they are at a disadvantage in their community because they must bear the burden for social progress which other firms in the community without Government contracts are not obliged to support. While impressive gains have been made in the last 2 years through the efforts of the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, it must be kept in mind that many firms are not covered, that many feel they do not need to comply unless a specific contract is in force at the time and follow-up has been limited because the Committee's staff has been small A Federal law requiring nondiscrimination would include firms not now covered by the Executive order.

3. Attention is frequently directed nowadays to the lack of qualified minority applicants for the nontraditional job openings which have recently been made available. There is a bitter irony in this situation. It is as though one were to say. "In this drawer you will find a substantial sum of money which you may have if you can unlock the drawer, but I know you can't unlock it be cause you do not have the key to fit the lock." The equal opportunity job is the drawer and adequate training is the key. This is a real problem but we must not permit it to be used as a smokescreen which will prevent us from making meaningful forward steps now. The lack of qualified Negroes is often a direct result of the fact that Negroes have little incentive to aspire. The narrow scope of available job opportunities has denied to the Negro child the model which could serve as an inspiration to stay in school, to achieve his maximum potential and to present himself as a qualified job applicant. The motivation to achieve is very closely tied into a sense of personal worth and a feeling of being accepted and needed by the community. Laws, leadership

by public officials, and the actions of public bodies can provide the symbols of acceptance to the minority group youth. AFSC staff members in North Carolina, for example, have spoken of the impact on Negro youth, their parents and their school counselors of the Governor's forthright statements concerning the State's need for trained workers regardless of race and affirming the policy of nondiscrimination in the industrial training centers of North Carolina. At this time when the implications of present economic trends are being interpreted by many Negroes as signs that they are not considered as valued participants in the economy, a national law to promote equal employment opportunity could be a major incentive to the Negro community to play its role in the creation of manpower adequate to the needs of the Nation.

4. Federal legislation to promote equal employment opportunity would contribute to desegregation efforts in other areas of our community life. Because of the interrelatedness of discrimination in jobs. housing, and schools, it has been our experience that major gains in one area have an impact on the others. Greater purchasing power will enable Negroes to afford more adequate housing and to provide better educational opportunities for their children. Furthermore, the requirement of nondiscrimination in training opportunities which are related to companies covered by the order would help to establish the principle and the practice of integrated education and training. This law could provide a powerful encouragement to close the gap between Negroes and whites in education. According to the 1960 census for Metropolitan Atlanta, the median school year completed by the white citizens is 12.0 compared with 7.6 for Negro citizens. Even if the median years for both had been 12.0, the Negro's educational level would not be the equivalent of his white contemporaries because separate education over the years has demonstratively not been equal.

It has been our experience, too, that firms and agencies with nondiscriminatory hiring practices sometimes play a helpful role in securing open occupancy housing in the community because of their concern for their own employees. Although housing is not the direct concern of this legislation, it should be noted that there are many ways in which the promoting of equal job opportunity will contribute toward equal housing opportunities.

It is our recommendation that legislation to promote equal employment opportunity should be as inclusive as possible in its coverage, should have strong enforcement features and should provide for an affirmative and educational program.

We favor inclusiveness.-Legislation should include as many employers as possible. The decisive role of management and the many ways by which employers comply genuinely, comply only partially through token placements or evade compliance need to be recognized. However, the obstacles which face the conscientious employer must also be acknowledged. Other bodies in the community erect effective barriers to equal employment opportunity. Legislation can bring corrective action and encourage positive compliance. The natitonal leadership of the American labor movement recognizes that unions and their activities should be covered. The exclusion of Negroes from union membership, segregated locals, dual seniority lines, discrimination in apprenticeship programs, etc. should be prevented.

The segregated employment agency is often a major barrier to equal employment opportunity. I have spent many months trying to find employment agencies to which I could direct employers in the Atlanta area who are willing to employ qualified Negroes. The State employment services have an uneven record across the Nation. The Georgia State Employment Services continues to accept and fill discriminatory job orders and also decides on its own initiative which jobs shall be classified as "white" or "colored". My colleagues, however, report progress toward nondiscrimination in the State employment services with which they work in North Carolina and Houston

Training facilities need to be covered. The manpower report on Houston to which I referred earlier estimates that over 9,000 positions for secretaries and stenographers will be available by 1966 to cover new openings and replacements. Yet AFSC staff members state that there is at present no adequate facility in Houston which is open to Negro girls interested in this field. Although over 20,000 new skilled jobs will be created in Houston by 1966, a recent study released by the Houston Association for Better Schools points out the discrimination in the vocational industrial education courses. Many courses are not available at all to Negro students.

We favor an effective compliance program, firmly and impartially administered. As practitioners of convincement and persuasion, we see a clear role for law. Persuasion and voluntary efforts are not enough. Our experience has shown us that voluntary governmental efforts to secure fair employment have met with only limited success. A comprehensive law to promote equal employment opportunity which has strong enforcement feasures will not only caution and restrain those who would deny minority group members their rights, but also and more importantly will lend support to those who want to do the right thing but are afraid.

We favor provision for a strong affirmative program.-Legislation should include the concept of technical assistance in order that its objectives can be implemented at the community level. Employers, community leaders, and others will need help in understanding and carrying out their broad responsibilities under this legislation. An adequately staffed office with field workers for staff visits, conferences and workshops will be needed.

The full integration of minority group members into the economic life of this country is one of the major challenges which we face. The achievement of this goal which we feel is not only morally right but necessary for the health of the Nation, needs the combined resources of Government and of many private agencies Essential to the success of this effort is the affirmation of equality of economic opportunity as national policy and a vigorous program to implement it. The Congress of the United States has the power and the opportunity to take this action now. We strongly urge you to do so.

STATEMENT OF NOYES COLLINSON, DIRECTOR, EMPLOYMENT MERIT PROGRAM, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE, AND MISS JEAN FAIRFAX, NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SOUTHERN PROGRAMS, AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE

Mr. COLLINSON. Mr. Chairman, as announced, I represent the American Friends Service Committee and Miss Fairfax also represents the American Friends Service Committee. I would like the record to show, however, as I have stated in my prepared testimony, that what I say here is said only for these two organizations and for like-minded Friends. No single body can speak officially for the religious Society of Friends or Quakers.

Senator CLARK. As I am well aware.

Mr. COLLINSON. Since coming to Washington yesterday afternoon I have been thinking back on what I might say this morning in view of the fact that you have our prepared testimony and I have come up with the following notes, subject to any interrogation.

The combined experiences of the two organizations for which I speak, plus my own gained in Atlanta and prior to that in Massachusetts and California where I participated as a volunteer in efforts to secure fair employment practice legislation in those States leads me to observe that discrimination against minorities is not sectional or regional, but nationwide in extent. From this it follows that nothing short of Federal legislation can correct discriminatory praetices and restore the health of our national economy, of which we have heard this morning.

I firmly hope that our testimony may be supportive of legislative measures such as are encompassed in Senate bills 773, 1211, and in

1937.

I shall speak briefly to certain salient provisions which from my experience in Atlanta alone, during the better part of the last 2 years, I deem to be essential to fair employment practice legislation.