Monthly Report of Labor Secretary, May 2, 1947 | Papers of Clarence Mitchell, Jr.

MONTHLY REPORT OF LABOR SECRETARY

May 2, 1947

Discrimination in Government Employment

Over the signature of the Secretary, a letter has been sent to the President calling attention to the discrimination practiced against colored persons in government employment. The President was asked to establish interim machinery for handling such discriminatory practices pending the establishment of an FEPC by Congress. The letter pointed out that a new Executive Order which goes into effect May 1 gives wider latitude in hiring to individual agencies, and, therefore, under the present practices will result in more discrimination in hiring.¹

Testimony on USES Appropriations

The Labor Secretary appeared before a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Appropriations to urge restoration of funds to the Department of Labor for headquarters operations of the USES.² The Committee was presented with NAACP findings which resulted from an inquiry on standards addressed to the governors of states. It was pointed out that many states are using their appropriations for operations of employment services in a manner which promotes discrimination. The Committee was asked to incorporate provisions against discrimination in the appropriation.

Taxicab Service at the Pentagon

Approximately 60 colored drivers who operate taxicabs at the Pentagon were faced with the loss of this source of revenue because the Public Buildings Administration had decided to grant a concession to a single company. There were numerous complaints about the conduct of drivers and other problems. The Public Buildings Administration contended that it could settle these problems only by making some one company responsible since the area is a kind of legal no-man’s land and no one had authority to make arrests for minor offenses. After several weeks of action on this matter, the NAACP established an organization of the drivers which is supposed to maintain discipline among the men. At a conference with the Deputy Commissioner of the Public Buildings Administration and other officials on May 1, it was agreed that the concession would not be granted and the drivers would continue to operate from the area.³

Quarterly Meeting of Labor Committee

The quarterly meeting of the Labor Committee was held on April 21. Discussion centered on problems which will be faced by agricultural workers as farming is increasingly mechanized.⁴ This subject is of considerable interest to southern branches if the reaction at the regional conference in South Carolina is any accurate gauge. There is much information to be gathered in this field and a course of action should be based on such additional data as we assemble.

Speeches

During the month, I spoke before an assembly of students at Lincoln University and I also spoke at the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems in Rochester, New York. With me on the latter program were Reverend William F. Kelly, Director, Social Action Department Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and Mr. James Brownlow of the Metal Trades Department, AFL, Washington, D.C.

MS: NAACP II: A-341, DLC.

[1] See materials related to the request to Walter White from Robert K. Carr, executive secretary of the President’s Committee on Civil Rights, for information regarding: “the responsibility of the federal government for the protection of civil rights; the wisdom of using criminal sanctions as a means of safeguarding rights; the extent to which criminal sanctions should be supplemented by educational activities designed to promote a healthier climate for civil liberty; the adequacy of existing federal legislation; and the need for new legislation.” Carr’s letter to White, 4/4/47, NAACP: A-468, DLC. See also, most immediately, 3/1, 10/31, 11/1, and 12/31/47.

[2] The cuts in operating funds for the USES had been made by the House Appropriations Committee. Mitchell told the Senate committee that the NAACP opposed the cuts because they would force the Department of Labor “to curtail, and in many cases completely eliminate important activities designed to standardize the operations of employment services throughout the country.” He said the NAACP was working with the governors of the states to obtain their approval of certain standards to ensure there was only a “minimum of discrimination against minorities in this agency.” Before the service was returned to the states on November 15, 1946, he said, he wrote thirty-nine governors and asked whether they would approve adoption of his proposed standards as part of the requirement for their receiving federal funds. Twenty-eight of them, he said, responded expressing “varying degrees of cooperation.” But only the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts said they would follow all of the standards he outlined. Ten others did not respond at all, and one simply acknowledged his letter. He therefore concluded that even though the federal government had not adopted the standards he sought, the replies from the governors and follow-up reports from the NAACP’s branches made it clear that there would be “virtually no program of protecting minority groups in many of the states” if federal supervision were withdrawn. 4/17/47, Hearings 892-97. See also, among others, 12/30/46, 9/30/47.

[3] As late as April 2, 1947, the Public Buildings Administration (PBA) had not agreed to Mitchell’s proposal to form an organization among the men to enforce discipline. A month later, however, after further meetings in which the proposal to enforce discipline was strengthened, Mitchell got the administration to agree to the NAACP’s proposal. In a third meeting, it was agreed that the drivers and PBA officials would cooperate in working out mutual problems. All three of Mitchell’s memoranda to the files, 4/2, 5/1, and 5/17/47, are in NAACP WB-176, DLC.

See also related materials in RG 107, Records of the Secretary of War, Office of the Asst. Secretary of War, Civilian Aide to the Secretary of War, Subject File, 1940-1947, NAACP, Box 221, NARA.

[4] See, among others, 6/26 and 7/3/47.