Observer_1945-07-31

Volume 4- No.2 PORTLAND, OREGON,. JULY 31, 1945 10 Cents a Copy FEPC Approved for Another Year; AppropriatiOn Cut in Half: 'Only Five Field Offices to Remain Open; Staff of 51 to be Retained Observations Surprising though it may seem, informed Negroes in the East, Middlewest and West know that despite all of the propagandizing and subtle persuasion to halt the flow of Negroes to the West Coast, that this migration will gairi momentum immediately after the war rather than slow up. Predic– tions are that Portland will have a population of more than 25,000 Negroes in less than fi vr years after the war is over. • By putting its stamp of approval! not indefinitely dodge the vital on continuation of the wartime public issue which lies behind this FEPC, Congress has demonstrated i shoddy compromise. It now has that it is in tune with the times. i before. it legislation to establish a Finally given an opportunity to I Fair Employment Practice Com– vote on FEPC, Congress clearly Jmission on a statutory basis. That indicated its support of the prin- I legislation has been ducked and ciple of equality in employment op-~ dodged far too long. It should be portunity. confronted and resolved-in ope!l There is no doubt that the very debate and with an open record fact that the Congress was given vote, so that the American people an opportunity to vote on FEPC can know where their legislators at all is a signal victory for pub- stand.--W ashington Post, 7/14/45. lie opinion. The comiJination of The process by which the mem– those who had been working for bers of Congress have compromised the P_er~anent FEPC, augmented I their differences over the Fair by mtllwns who were shocked by Employment Pracice Committee is the undemocratic tactics of the op- not calculated to win public ad– position, was potent O{!ough to miration for the working of the break what at one time appeared to N ationa! Legislature. In ~11 prob– be a hopeless deadlock. I ability a clear-cut test of congress- The final compromisL, however, 1 ional sentiment would reveal ~ub­ IS far from satisfactory. FEPC stantial majurity support for the will not be able to function effec- full appropriation sought by the tively unless the permanent bill is temporary FEPC, and also for the enacted soon! Winning the appro- I perm~nent agency which has been pri~tio~ ~s. only a partial victory.1 1 proposed. Therefore, .the strategy It mtensd1es the urgency of get- ot the opponents has ocen to pre– ting the required 218 signatures to I vent any vote, or failing that, to the petition in the House of Rep-J force a vote on the sole is~ue of a rcsentatives! ~harply reduced appropri"tion for With only half the funds it had the temporary Committee. These last year, plus the handicap of t~ funds to be used for purposes of clause which says it must terminate . I liquidation. In other words, the opposition, by resorting to a "\<a– riety of procedural devices, has tried to impose what is in dfect a government- by- minority rule.– Washington Evening Star, 7 j13j 45. The appropriation victory will turn into a defeat unless we look upon it as merely a breathing spell to keep FEi>C alive while we re– double our efforts to bring the Permanent bill to the floor by petition. We have the great ad– vantage of a country aroused as it never was before, and activated to save the wartime FEPC. Our job now is to maintain that interest and direct it to the Permanent Bill. We have unseated the So•Jth– erners once. We can do it again! Following a brief nr uwe of the highlights of th<l appropriation fight, we shall sugge_st specific steps toward winning the Perman– ent Bill fight. San Francisco, July 26 The Committee on Fair Em– ployment Practice will close five of the fifteen Field Offices late in August, and reduce its present staff of 117 to 51 persons, accord– ing to Malcolm Ross, chairman. This action is necess,itated, Mr. Ross stated, by tl1e recent reduc– tion of the agency's budget from the $507,600 expended last year to the $250,000 appropriation for the current fiscal year. Regional Director Harry L. Kingman stated that the reduction would leave only two men on the West Coast. He said that he was r~commending the retention of Ed– ward Rutledge in San Francisco and Robert E. Brown, Jr., in Los Angeles. Kingman stated that he planned to retam only an uncwn– pensated advisory relationship to the agency. * * * Professor Ralph Beals, anthro– pology department head at U. C. L. A., last week testified against racial segregation being affected in four California public school districts against Mexican students. Advocates of this program claimed that language difficulties retarded advancement of Mexican students when they were in classes with stu– dents whose native tongue is Eng– lish. * * The Committee will continue Three Negro \Vacs were sev- operation of 10 Field Offices in erely beaten in Eli--,abethtown, Ky., war production areas "·here min-1 ?,eca~se th~y , "·a_lked into the ority groups problems are likely 1 white sectwn ot a bus station. P r I ' · '1 bl · to be most acute Junng the re- ° Cl llLll w 10 ' 1 t.a ack.- mainder of the war Mr. Ross an-J jacked them claimed "the} did not ' I f h" nounced, These offices are located get out ast enoug · nounced. Thrse offices are located * * * in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D. C., Detroit, At– lanta, Chicago, St. Louis, San An– tonio, San Francisco and Los An– geles. The five offices to be closed are located in Cleveland, Cincin– nati, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and New Orleans. Navy ships damaged m the Pa– cific theater and now docked at the Todd-Johnson shipyards m rew Orleans, cannot return to combat until the 3,500 white work– ers who walked out because Ne– groes were being given skilled jobs go back to work. when these funds nm out, until I R the Permanent Bill is .enacted ace FEPC may expect most violators Tension Study to be Held, to thumb their noses at it. T ·wo of :he leading .newspape~s August 13th at Vanport City· of the natiOn have Jut the na1l ' squarely on the head. Following I , , :~:FE~:~P::~::;,:~:;::~~~;~,[Thomas, Streat to Appear as Guests ities at the very time when its ef- 'Il1e Oregon Council of Church this program send representatives 1916 and 1918, respectively for Spalding, superintendent of Port– fective operations is most needed to I Women's Social Industrial Inter- to this conference whether or not a better race relations. The local land Public Schools, to be our prevent job discrimination in the racial Committee has announced local Council of Church Women branches of these have consistently guest .peaker at noon, to present reconversiOn period. Congress can-1 that a one-day conference is to be has been organized. We are de- protested each advance of the seg- the need for inter-cultural program I held Monday, August 13th, to sirous of a Council in every com- regation pattern that seemingly is I in all our schools. Other than that, "C stud) · and discuss the spread uf munity. This may be one means of being superimposed upon us. the day is ours for expression and ~ @ ~ ~ 1 1 serious tensions in race relations promoting its organization. "Also, we are asking two other planning. S ~ ~ rn ~ that are developll1g in certain local "The number in attendance is guests, Mr. George L. Thomas, "\iV e are plannin~ that most of ;: S > ""~ I communities. The scene of the con-~not limited. We are sorry some of secretary of the newly created In- the morning session be given to Z- ~ £ ~ f~rence will b_e Recreation Center our members and gotcJ friends will terracial Commission of the Port- ten minute reports from represen- :@ ~ ~: :1'\o. 1 on 4th ,tnd Broadacres from be on vacation at ~is tme. We land Council of Churches; one tativ~s of each community and ~ g ~ !;>:~ 10 :30 a. m. to + p. m. I hope for about SO women. \iV e function of which is the correla- denominations. z Spokesmen for this organization J)lan to have as our f!uests 1 ·epre- tion of the various interracial pro- "I " t seems apparent that, since stated in recent correspondence cir- sentatives of the National Associa. grams. the Civil Rights Bill recei\·ed but culated to give notice of the con- tion for the Advancement of Col- " Mrs. Thelma Johnson Streat, six ,·otes in the 19+5 session of the ference that: "We hope that all communi tie> that are suffering from serious rac– l ial tension or wish to cooperate in ored People, Women's Interna- artist, a home-town girl who has State Legislature, the conditions tiona! League, and tlk Fello·wship returned famous to advance a pro- in this state under which 'Non- of Reconciliation, three organiza- gram of visual child education. Aryans', especially Negroes, arc tions that have worked since 1909, "\Ve hope for Mr. \Villard (Continued on Page 6)