tion has a membership of 4,176,380. I reside at 846 Putnam Avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee on Anti-Discrimination Legislation of the House of Representatives, as a religious group we believe that the basic principles of democracy as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of the United States of America, are compatible to the teachings of Jesus Christ, Himself, but the failure to practice those principles destroys the unity of the Nation and weakens our position in world leadership. We believe that we have a clear mandate from Christian principles to advocate all measures which seek to accord equal rights and dignity to all citizens of the United States of America. We believe that the fundamental premise upon which the whole theory of American political, social, and economic structure rests, is contained in the words of the Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain inalienable rights; that among them these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. We believe that the right to work and to earn, according to one's skill is a basic human right, and any nation, or group within a nation, which denies any group of citizens that right, violates the principles of democracy, and forces them to the outer fringes of a democratic society. They force them into areas of hunger, disease, ignorance, crime, and death. We believe that the practical expression of justice is in the Golden Rule: "As yet would that men should unto you, do ye even so to them." This is the key to a functioning democracy. Democracy is challenged today one a world scale, by a contrary way of life. Hundreds of millions of people the world over are watching America, with a critical view. They are judging us by our action and attitude, not by our words and our documents. Our failures and our violations of professed principles, seriously affects our voice in world councils. We believe that all socially and economically disinherited minorities have a moral right, and spiritual responsibility to prod our Nation into practical applications of our professed ideals. We believe that peace, to abide, must be built upon the solid foundation of justice and equality, that there can be no abiding peace without justice. The denial of the right to work and earn a decent living is not only contrary to democratic principles but morally wrong. Our plea is for righteousness in all areas of our human relationships. "Righteousness exalts a Nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." As American citizens, we believe that America is a land of hope and promise. As Christians we believe that segregation and discrimination, like a greedy malady, are eating away the vitals of that hope and promise. I am before you, representing 4,000,000 of the largest minority group in America. We have long borne the shackles of economic slavery, and yet, we have remained loyal because we sincerely believe that America can rise to the lofty level of her patriots' dreams. We believe that our patriotism and loyalty deserve freedom now. We believe that national machinery should be set in motion to break our economic shackles now. We believe that our professed democracy should become a functioning reality now. The United States has asserted its national powers on many occasions, to maintain its unity and dignity. We believe our Nation should rise up now and speak and act against the national evil of seg regation and discrimination in the employment of all of its citizens. We know that economic and social oppression lower the general moral of the oppressed, and render them easy victims of un-American philosophies, but, as Christians and Americans, we are unmoved by the advocates of any and all foreign ideologies. We do not believe that any philosophy of government which opposes democracy can find rootage in a truly democratic society. We are sincerely interested in a strong, unified, truly democratic America, a working, growing, producing America, an America utilizing all of its potential material and manpower, without regard for race, creed, or national origin. That is the America of our Constitution. That is the America of our hopes and dreams. That is the America that must be. That is the only America that shall ultimately be. We are now in the greatest crisis of our history. We have demonstrated our military powers in two world conflicts. Our fight now is not physical, but moral. Our test is to determine whether or not we have the moral and spiritual strength to match our military power. That strength will not be shown by our diplomats in the councils of world leaders, but by our attitude and behavior in relation to injustices and inequalities within our own borders. If, by moral and spiritual strength, we break the awful fetters of social and economic slavery, which bind millions of our loyal citizens, we shall be able to move in world councils with irresistible influence. As citizens, we must look to our elected representatives for legislation to activate our ideals. We believe that your very presence here indicates that you have your Nation at heart. We hope that you believe with us, that all forms of segregation and discrimination in employment are undemocratic. We urge you to assert your powers, as elected representatives, to crush the ugly head of racial discrimination. When all forms of segregation and discrimination in America go, and they must, every citizen of this land shall be able to "pledge" without faltering speech, "allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." We are prepared to aid in any program of education in connection with the FEPC through our churches, associations, State conventions, and the national convention itself. I wish to thank you for this time. Mr. POWELL. Thank you. I don't know whether you have any comment that you can add, but the FEPC legislation is also approved by the religious bodies in the South, the Southern Church, the Southern Conference of Methodist Churchmen, who went on record for it; the Fellowship of Southern Churchmen have gone on record for it. Do you have any comment? Do you know of any denominations of white groups in the South that are also in favor of FEPC? Reverend RAY. I don't know any offhand, only that I have read of several. As you have indicated, I know that the Methodist group went on record, and the Presbyterian group went on record. Mr. POWELL. Presbyterian South? Reverend RAY. Yes. I think a majority of not only the church people but others, even the industrial leaders, believe it is right. I believe our trouble is that they haven't probably reached the moral and spiritual maturity to be actually able to do these things. Mr. POWELL. Were you here when the gentleman testified about the Ku Klux Klan? Reverend RAY. I heard the last part of his testimony. Mr. POWELL. I think when we have him back again we will be able to go into it carefully and we will find out that people who are Klanminded rather than Christ-minded are in a very distinct minority in the South. It is my firm opinion that the majority of the people of the South are ready for any type of Christian legislation, and that the FEPC, as has been brought out in the testimony of the National Synagogue Council, the Friends, the Catholic Church, and the National Baptist Convention, is really a form of religious, Judaeo-Christian legislation. Don't you think so? Reverend RAY. I really think so. Mr. POWELL. The committee stands adjourned until 10 o'clock Tuesday morning. (Whereupon, at 12:45 p. m., the committee adjourned to 10 a. m. Tuesday, May 24, 1949.) FEDERAL FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE ACT TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1949 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SPECIAL SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., Hon. Adam C. Powell, Jr. (chairman), presiding. Mr. POWELL. The committee will come to order. Mr. Will Maslow, of the American Jewish Congress. We are meeting before any of the other Members come, so you can get away early, Mr. Maslow. We are happy to welcome you. TESTIMONY OF WILL MASLOW, COUNSEL, AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS Mr. MASLOW. Mr. Chairman, my name is Will Maslow. I am general counsel to the American Jewish Congress. Before that time I was director of field operations of the President's Committee on Fair Employment Practices. I have thus been engaged in an effort to reduce or eliminate the discriminatory employment practices for the last 6 years. I have had considerable experience working both in States where there are State FEPC laws and in States where there are not, and one lesson seems to me driven home by that experience, and that is any effort to enact a Federal bill without enforcement powers would be a counterfeit measure, and it would not be a half-way step, but it would be a step backward. Mr. POWELL. Do you wish to have your statement included in the record now? Mr. MASLOW. I have already given my statement to the reporter. Mr. POWELL. Without objection, it is so ordered. (The statement is as follows:) * ** to help The American Jewish Congress was organized, in part, "* secure and maintain equality of opportunity for Jews everywhere, and to safeguard the civil, political, economic, and religious rights of Jews everywhere." Our movement recognizes fully that equality of opportunity for Jews can be truly secured only in a genuinely democratic society. Accordingly, we seek to fight every manifestation of racism, to promote the civil and political equality of all groups and persons in America, and to support measures designed to safeguard civil liberties and to build a better America. We regard ethnic discrimination, whether directed against Jews, Negroes, Chinese, Mexicans, or any other group, as a single and indivisible problem and as one of the most urgent problems of democratic society. Nothing more gravely threatens American democracy today than the fact of its incompleteness. Democracy to be secure must be complete. An incomplete |