THE FEPC in trouble
Chamberlain, John
THE FEPC in trouble By John Chamberlain MALCOLM ROSS, new head of the FEPC (Fair Employment Practices Committee) is on a hot spot Under President Roosevelt's Executive Order No. 8802, his...
...persuade the Brotherhood of Firemen and Enginemen to cease discriminatory practices, why doesn't he take his case to the labor movement as a whole...
...Malcolm' Ross has tk* newer ef pabRcity to drew upon...
...And we shall become the image of the racists whom wo are out to defeat...
...An&n labor union, being a free association, has the legal right to limit its membership...
...But this does not mean that one should fold one's handa and let Hitlerite prejudice take its courae...
...Accordingly, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen have made very unbrotherly agreements with the southeastern carriers to nail down the better firing and stoking jobs for members of the white race...
...The successful attempt to legislate* jobs for Negroes would in effect establish a numeru* clautu...
...Pressure from labor and the northern Negroes means pressure on Roosevelt, who knowa where the votes come from ia crucial slates...
...Only education, moral pressure, constant shaming by the invocation of public opinion, ran do the necessary job of surgery...
...11/1U I can the FEPC do about this...
...it implies that one's rights sre limited by percentages, which is repugnant to the principles of both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence...
...But legally, a court could argue that an employer has the right to hire whomsoever he chooses...
...By the terms of a 1941 contract, only "promotable," i. e., white, men can be employed on locomotives with mechanical stokers or Diesel engines...
...If the railroad brotherhoods cannot be coerced in law, it ia quits possible that they ran be shamed into observing humane standards of ronduet...
...The creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee has vastly improved the conditions of hiring in Detroit and other northern communities simply by putting the moral force of a govern ment rcmiest behind a public opinion that might ether-wise be random or spasmodic...
...If he castas...
...And preseare sa the President might re-salt in an elective personal appeal to Southern Democrats, who can't wholly desire to see their party commit bars kiri neat November...
...Defining racial employment practices by legislation is a two-edged sword...
...The Negroes have been jim-Crowed back to the old hand-stoked locomotives on the jerkwater runs...
...If nothing can be done, then -the war against Hitler will misfire at home...
...Negro—men from handling the better railroad jobs...
...Somehow the cancer of racial bias has got to he cut out of the American body politic...
...The legal twilight zone in which Mr...
...It can't be legis-Isted out, for men's hearts aren't changed by adminfs-trstive orders that are non-enforceable in law...
...8802, his organization has the authority to hold hearings and to point out an employer's and a labor onion's duty "to eliminate discrimination in regard to hire, tenure, terms or conditions of employment, or union membership because of race, creed, color or national origin...
...But Jews have been kept out of great universities by the tacit application of the numerut clautu...
...But recently an automatic stoker and the use of the Diesel engine have combined to make firing a cleaner, far more pleasant introduction to the career of railroading...
...If a court is to be the judge, it would reduce job hiring to s question of personalism thst wouM be anti-NCgre in any community where the white judges are anti-Negro anyway...
...The proponents of giving the FEPC legal teeth would argue, ef course, that they are only interested in creating opportunity and scope for sheer ability...
...For all practical purposes, if a Negro is refused a job it may result in deprivation of liberty or even life...
...Or why not openly invite a Negro mareh-on-Waahingtoa of the sort proposed by A. Philip Randolph of the Pullman portera...
...Lacking the power to summon the police, the FEPC can be ignoied south of the Mason-Dixon line and even north of it...
...Can't the U. S. labor movement be interested in a campaign for real brotherhood, even among the so-called brotherhoods of the railroad workers...
...TTHK question of the FEPC versus the southeastern * railroads and the brotherhoods becomes a vicious circle no matter which end one starta from...
...Can't something be done Is bring moral pressure to bear on the southern railway workers...
...But Executive Order No...
...Under the United States Constitution, no one can be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law...
...8802 may or may not be construed in law to imply sanctions, the use of the police power and the courts to make the elimination of discrimination a reality...
...I do not know...
...if that is the correct Latin for the practice of guaranteeing so much work or so much space to so many people of a given race, color or sect- No doubt Negroeswould be glad to get good jobs on any terms...
...In the South, when locomotive firing and stoking were hot, dirty, back-breaking jobs, the railroad firemen were Negroes and nobody cared...
...But as the law stands, what can Roosevelt do to back up his own committee...
...But who is to be the judge of ability...
...Since it is extremely unlikely that a southern court would ever back up the claims ef the FEPC, hew is Malcolm Ross to proceed with his case...
...After all, they are part of a national labor movement...
...It has already certified its charges of bias to the President...
...Ross and his colleagues operate protects southeastern railroads and unions in their contractual agreement to keep "non-promotable"—i...
Vol. 27 • January 1944 • No. 4
