asking that the Senate exercise discipline by providing for the closing of debate by simple majority rule. We support Senate resolutions to that end. We take this action as a liberal religious fellowship because we believe that democratic procedures should be strengthened to serve the peoples' needs. To permit unlimited and often irrelevant debate in the name of freedom of speech is to deny the majority an opportunity to bring an issue to a full and fair vote. Action now to provide for majority vote to terminate debate will go far toward restoring faith in democratic methods and government by law. It should also pave the way for passage of legislation to correct the present civil-rights abuses referred to specifically in the attached resolution of the American Ethical Union. Sincerely yours, L. D. MACINTYRE, President. RESOLUTION No. IV, ADOPTED BY ASSEMBLY MAY 20, 1949 HUMAN RIGHTS Whereas the American Ethical Union, at the annual assembly held in Brooklyn, N. Y., on May 20, 1949, adopted a resolution endorsing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and Whereas this resolution stated that the American Ethical Union do whatever is in its power to publicize the declaration and to assure, whenever possible, that the rights contained therein are observed in this country; and Whereas this resolution also stated that where such rights do not exist or are not enforced in the United States that public attention be drawn to such lack or violation, and that the American Ethical Union study and recommend remedial measures or proper enforcement of rights where such rights are not fully safeguarded; be it therefore Resolved, That the American Ethical Union at this assembly endorse a specific program of civil rights and lend its full support to the enactment of effective legislation to provide a Fair Employment Practice Commission Act, Federal protection against lynching, elimination of Jim Crow practices in interstate commerce and in the armed services, establishment of equal rights and opportunities in the District of Columbia, elimination of racial distinctions in immigration and naturalization, establishment of a permanent Presidential Commission on Civil Rights, a congressional Committee on Civil Rights, and the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, elimination of discrimination in education and health, elimination of the poll tax, and the realization of such other civil rights as are necessary to bring about a more effective democracy in our country; and be it further Resolved, That the American Ethical Union considers the fulfillment of civil rights for all of our people a moral and ethical obligation and a test of the meaning of democracy in the eyes of the world. NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE CONFERENCE, Hon. HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL ACTION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations, The United States Senate, Washington 25, D. C. DEAR MR. HUMPHREY: We are happy to be of assistance to you in your work with the Subcommittee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations. Following is a short report on the history of the social action department as it pertains to the economic life of minority groups. The work of the social action department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference in regard to members of minority groups has been confined to the general field of economic life. Our method of operation has included the issuing of reports; the arrangement of conferences; speeches; articles; cooperating with Catholic and non-Catholic groups honestly working for similar aims; and helping to establish regional and local groups that could better effect our purposes. One of the general groups with which we worked was the original group which called on President Roosevelt to establish a fair employment practice committee during World War II in order to ease underemployment and unfair dis criminatory hiring and upgrading practices. The Right Reverend Monsignor John A. Ryan, then director of our department, served on the committee and also on the executive committee of the national council for a permanent F. E. P. C. He testified in favor of the Senate bill 2048, a bill to prohibit discrimination in employment, on August 21, 1944. Two other members of the department served with Dr. Ryan on the executive committee of the National council for a permanent F. E. P. C. and one is still cooperating with the group. Among the groups which have grown out of the work of the social action department are the Catholic conference on industrial problems, the Catholic committee of the South, the Bishops' committee for the Spanish speaking and the Catholic committee for the Spanish speaking, along with purely local groups. All of these have advocated or favorably discussed nondiscrimination in employ. ment through Federal and State legislation as well as voluntary methods and, particularly, where voluntary methods have either failed or have not been tried. Attached for your further convenience are copies of Dr. Ryan's testimony on S. 2048, "Catholics and the F. E. P. C. Case," "F. E. P. C., a Catholic View," and excerpts from the 1945 and 1946 Seminars on Negro Problems in the Field of Social Action, and a Declaration of Human Rights" Sincerely yours, Rev. RAYMOND A. MCGOWAN, Director. EXCERPTS FROM THE 1945 SEMINAR ON NEGRO PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL ACTION After examining the Federal Fair Employment Practice Committee and the newly established State fair-employment practice committees in New York and other States, the group joined in favoring a permanent Federal Fair Employment Practice Committee and State fair-employment practice committees on the model of the New York law. It recognized that much of the work of such committees would have to be one of concilation but one also possessing sanctions. And it urges such committees to rely upon civic and private groups to assist in the popular education so necessary in the elimination of the discriminations in employment which have resulted in wholesale injustice. Failing such legal protections, the group advocated that private employers voluntarily accept the standards which the law would impose. EXCERPTS FROM THE 1946 SEMINAR ON NEGRO PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL ACTION COMMITTEE I-ECONOMIC LIFE This committee bases its report on the solid foundation of God's moral law, which is the same law for all men, regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin. The Negro is a child of God, made in His own image and likeness, and made a brother to all other men, as all men are made brother to one another, through the Son of God made man, Jesus Christ. Equal to all men in the eyes of God, the Negro is endowed with the same human rights enjoyed by others and subject to the same moral obligations. The economic and social injustice, still the daily lot of the vast majority of American Negroes must be attributed largely to what Pope Pius XII refers to as "forgetfulness of that law of human solidarity which is dictated by our common origin and by the equality of rational nature in all men, no matter to what people they belong, and by the redeeming sacrifice offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the cross to His Heavenly Father on behalf of sinful mankind." (1) A first step towards justice for the Negro in industry, as indeed it is for his fellow white worker, is the recognition of his God-given right to organize into unions of his own choosing for the protection of his economic rights and for the advancement of his economic welfare. White or Negro, his right to organize is given to him by God Himself and must therefore be respected by all men. Its exercise should also be protected by the Government. (2) Accordingly those unions are to be condemned which exclude the Negro from membership by whatever device or under whatever subterfuge, as also are those which discriminate against their Negro members by confining them to second-class membership in so-called auxiliary locals. These and similar discriminatory practices in certain unions are a violation of justice and charity and ought to be remedied immediately. The committee condemns the practice of those employers who discriminate against the Negro in hiring, upgrading, or firing and of those who interfere with the exercise of his right to organize. (3) The committee urges the Negro worker to assume a greater responsibility for his own economic welfare by joining a trade union of his choosing and by taking an active part in its administration. In no other way can the Negro worker (or the white worker) hope to acquire a wage which will measure up to the requirements of social justice. Every worker is entitled, as a matter of justice, to a family living wage—a wage which will be sufficient to provide decent comfort for himself and his family. Needless to say, the vast majority of Negro workers are not being paid a family living wage today. Many thousands of them are receiving a bare subsistence. income, especially in rural areas. It needs to be added that in working through his union for a family living wage, the Negro is working only for the minimum of justice. Increasingly he and his fellow workers, in cooperation with organized employers and with the Government, ought to aim at that level of wages which will contribute most to stable and full employment. Frequently this will mean the raising of wages considerably above the minimum of the family living wage. To the extent that economic justice cannot be achieved through organization alone, the State has not only the right but the inescapable duty to intervene. Pope Leo XIII has left us the classical summary of traditional Catholic teaching on the ethics of governmental intervention in economic life. His words are directly pertinent to the tragic condition of the American Negro. "If, therefore," the Pontiff says, “any injury has been done to or threatens either the common good or the interests of individual groups, which injury cannot in any other way be repaired or prevented, it is necessary for public authority to intervene." In the light of moral teaching, therefore, the committee vigorously advocates the establishment of a permanent Federal FEPC with statutory authority and sanctions. It would be the duty of this agency of Government to stamp out racial and religious discrimination in hiring, upgrading, and firing on the part of all Federal agencies and on the part of employers engaged in interstate commerce and of unions organized in their industries. The committee supports with equal vigor the establishment of an FEPC in each of the States to eliminate discrimination not only by State agencies but by employers engaged in intrastate commerce, and by unions with which they have contractual relations. The FEPC, however necessary and desirable, cannot effect economic justice for the Negro unless other steps are taken by organized economic groups in cooperation with the Government or, wherever necessary, by the Government alone. All social and economic legislation ought to be enforced and administered to the end that discrimination against any individual or group on the grounds of race, creed, color, or national origin will be abolished. EXCERPTS FROM NCWC DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS The dignity of man, created in the image of God, obligates him to live in accordance with law imposed by God. Consequently, he is endowed as an individual and as a member of society with rights which are inalienable. Among these rights are: The right of access to the means of livelihood, by migration when necessary. The right to work and choose one's occupation. The right to personal ownership, use, and disposal of property subject to the rights of others and to limitations in the interest of the general welfare. The right to a living wage. The right to collective bargaining. THE DOMESTIC RIGHTS OF STATES Among these rights are: The right to demand of its citizens respect for the rights of minorities. Senator HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, CITY OF GARY, FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE COMMISSION, Chairman, Subcommittee on Labor and Labor-Management Relations, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR HUMPHREY: The Gary Fair Employment Practice Commission commends you and your subcommittee for a courageous fight for a national FEPC. Since we were not able to send a representative to testify at one of your hearings we hope that the summaries of our experiences as members of the Gary commission found in the enclosed reports and materials will be of value.1 Very truly yours, ELI MANDICH, Chairman, Gary Fair Employment Practice Commission. YOUNG WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION OF DETROIT, Senator HUBERT HUMPHREY, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR HUMPHREY: Because the YWCA has always believed that every individual is entitled to employment on the basis of ability alone, it has constantly urged the Federal Government to adopt fair-employment practice legislation. Unfortunately, the notice of the hearings held by the Senate Labor Subcommittee on S. 551 and S. 1732 was received too late for the metropolitan board of the Detroit YWCA to again urge adoption of FEPC while your committee was in session. We do belive that such legislation is not only right, just, and needed but is imperative in this day when the whole world judges us and democracy not by what we say but by what we do. Judging by what has happened to FEPC and all civil-rights legislation in the past, it is pretty evident that unless the Senate cloture rule is changed so that it is possible to bring controversial measures to a vote, no civil-rights legislation has a chance in the Senate. Yours truly, CHARLOTTE H. ORMOND Mrs. John K. Ormond Chairman, Metropolitan Public Affairs Committee. AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION, Hon. HUBERT H. HUMPHREY, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR HUMPHREY: In reply to your letter of March 28 requesting the American Civil Liberties Union to submit a statement for inclusion in the record of the hearings now being conducted by the Subcommittee on Labor and Labor Management Relations on S. 551 and S. 1732, I enclose two copies of our statement. The union appreciates the opportunity to express its point of view on this issue which is of such vital concern. Sincerely yours, ALAN REITMAN, Assistant Director. MEMORANDUM BY THE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION ON S. 551 AND S. 1732 TO PROMOTE FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES Congress has an obligation to insure that all citizens should have equal rights in employment in interstate commerce. This principle should apply to employers and associations of workers alike so that the protection of Federal law may be extended to the right to work on the basis of men's ability regardless of race and religion. The principle has been tested by the wartime Federal agency (FEPC) and by the experience of four States (New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Jersey). The operation of the State statutes has won over to the side of fair employment practice some of its most vigorous opponents. Fears of coercive measures against employers have been shown to be unfounded. Such measures have not been necessary to secure compliance. General recognition of the justice of fair practice is in the spirit of the times. Even the fears of coercion in the South are unfounded in the light of methods used both by the Federal Government in wartime and by the States. 1 The reports are in the subcommittee's files. The chief objection to such a bill is apparently that an employer's relationship with his employees is a private matter not subject to regulation by the State in hiring or promotion. But Congress has already legislated in regard to private employment in many ways. It has regulated collective bargaining and the closed shop. It has barred employment in private industry under certain conditions to Communists and Fascists. It has assumed under the interstate commerce clause wide powers over employing policies. The bills would not compel any employer to hire any particular person. They would ban only the practice of racial or religious discrimination—by employers and labor unions alike. The charge that the bills are an interference with States' rights is answered first, by the fact that the Supreme Court can be trusted to protect these States' rights guaranteed by the Constitution, and secondly by the fact that States' right are protected by the bills' omission of employers not engaged in interstate commerce or in operations not affecting interstate commerce. Further, in one of the proposed bills, S. 1732, section 7 (A) provides that the Commission may agree with any State or local FEPC to cede to it all jurisdiction over the cases before it, unless local law is inconsistent with Federal law. Thus, if a State desires to deal with discrimination, it may. The charge that the compulsory features of the bills are unfair is without merit. The Commission must investigate charges of discrimination, and if it finds probable cause it must then follow the methods of conference, conciliation, and persuasion. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that in the four States in which FEPC has already been in operation for a substantial length of time, there has never been an instance in which these informal methods have failed to remedy the complaint. Compulsion is necessary behind any law. If informal methods do not work, what form would compulsion take? A full hearing must be held before the Commission, in which the employer has the fullest opportunity. If the Commission deems the employer guilty of discrimination, it issues a cease-and-desist order, which may be enforced only upon petition to the courts, and the courts under certain conditions may order that additional evidence be taken. After such full and fair procedure, an employer's freedom to hire, but not to discriminate, could not be in the least impaired. If it is argued that it is difficult to determine discrimination, the ansswer is that all courts and administrative agencies must and do determine more difficult factual questions. The very difficulty of proving discrimination would insure that no one will be unjustly held guilty by the Commission or by the courts. The interest of the ACLU as a national agency of 30 years' record in supporting for everybody the principles of the Bill of Rights, is in the extension of those rights to the industry. It is not enough to urge equality before the law in political rights regardless of race and religion; the principle is as valid for our democracy as applied to a man's right to equality in employment. Federal law alone can fix fair standards for the Nation. Federal law alone will serve notice to the world that our democracy means in fact what we profess in principle. We recognize full well the difficulty, if not the impossibility, of securing passage of this legislation under the present cloture rules of the Senate. We have elsewhere urged that a more democratic rule on cloture be established (see hearings before the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration on S. Res. 41 et al., October 1951, pp. 64-68) and we here urge it once more. Hon. HUBERT HUMPHREY, ALLEGHENY COUNTY COUNCIL ON CIVIL RIGHTS, Chairman, Subcommittee on FEPC, Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR SENATOR HUMPHREY: On behalf of the joint committee for fair-employment practices (composed of representatives of the Allegheny County Committee on Fair Employment and the Allegheny County Council on Civil Rights), we respectfully urge your favorable interest in the pending FEPC bills, S. 551 and S. 1732. We believe the elimination of discriminatory employment practices would be a distinct benefit to the whole country. It would remove one of the most serious causes of tension in the large industrial centers of this Nation, and it would |