Monthly Report of Labor Secretary, December 1, 1948

MONTHLY REPORT OF LABOR SECRETARY

December 1, 1948

 

State FEPC in Pennsylvania

At the request of the Pittsburgh Branch, the Labor Secretary spent ten days in western Pennsylvania organizing local support for a State Fair Employment Practice law.1 Expenses for this work are borne by the state branches and it is expected that additional work will be done beginning December 6th. The Labor Secretary is handling organization in eight western counties.

Federal FEPC Order

On behalf of the NAACP, and supported by the CIO and AVC, the Labor Secretary submitted to the President’s Fair Employment Board for Federal workers, a series of recommendations on how the Executive Order should be administered. A copy of this statement has already been submitted, but generally speaking, it contained suggestions that segregation be considered discrimination, that quota systems be abolished, and that positive action be taken to eliminate discrimination even without complaints.2

Mr. Guy Moffatt, Chairman of the Fair Employment Board, has asked that the NAACP, and the cooperating organizations, appear before the Board in January to discuss the recommendations.

On the matter of the Federal Fair Employment Board, it should be noted that the Collector of the Internal Revenue in Alabama was dismissed by the Department of the Treasury when he said that he would not follow the requirements of the Executive Order.3 On the positive side, also, we have received from Memphis, Tennessee a number of letters indicating that for the first time in many years colored men are being employed as clerks in the post office because of the NAACP activity.

Mr. V. C. Burke, who is the First Assistant Postmaster General, and also the Fair Employment Officer for the Post Office Department, said the following in a letter dated November 17th, addressed to the Labor Secretary: “The Acting Postmaster has advised that out of a total of fifty-one appointments made since July 1, 1948, twenty-five have been colored persons. This Bureau has recently received a recommendation for the probational appointment as substitute clerk of Edward R. Horne, one of the persons in your letter.”4

The winning of the Memphis effort is important because both Postmaster McKeller, a brother of Senator McKeller, and Boss Crump of Memphis were vigorously opposed to hiring colored clerks in the post office.5

Survey of Employment

In preparation for the campaign for a Federal Fair Employment Law we have asked branches in fifty-one cities throughout the country to furnish reports on employment conditions affecting colored persons. So far, we have had replies from more than one-half of them indicating that they are at work on preparing the material.

State Labor Legislation

The proposed anti-labor legislation in New Mexico, which was submitted to the voters in the November 2 election, was defeated two to one according to advice we have received from our branch in Albuquerque. This legislation was mentioned in the November report. The Association played an important part in bringing about the defeat of this measure.

Speaking Engagements

During the past month the Labor Secretary spoke in Brooklyn, New York and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Brooklyn meeting was called by the National Alliance of Postal Employees. The Pittsburgh meeting was the Annual Meeting of the Pittsburgh Branch.

MS: NAACP II: A-341, DLC.

[1] For Mitchell’s detailed report on his tour, which began on November 19, see his 12/1/48 memorandum to Jeanne Scott, president of the Pennsylvania State Conference of NAACP Branches, in NAACP II: A-250, DLC. See, especially, 3/4 and 4/1/49 for related developments.


[2] The statement to Guy Moffett recommended that the board: (1) review the policies of each federal agency, understanding that “the mere volume of employment is no indication that there is no [racial discrimination]”; (2) advise all federal agencies “that segregation in employment or facilities provided for employees is ‘odious to a free people’ and contrary to Federal policy”; (3) establish procedures for the processing of complaints “on a uniform basis”; (4) include the District of Columbia government in its coverage; and (5) use the services of the many persons with broad experience in promoting fair employment practices in private industries and labor organizations. Mitchell’s letter, 11/12/48, MP. In a September 21, 1948, meeting with Frances Perkins, of the CSC, Mitchell had also urged that the committee “initiate action even without complaints rather than simply hear complaints.” Mitchell memorandum to the files, 9/21/48, MP.

At the same time, while focusing his efforts on the executive branch, Mitchell was moving increasingly into the legislative sphere. In a memorandum to Walter White on November 11, 1948, he suggested that, among other things, special consideration should be given to whether the NAACP would push for “adequate safeguards against segregation” in the federal aid-to-education program. Mitchell memorandum to White, 11/11/48, NAACP II: A-203, DLC. See also his 12/1/48 memorandum to Roy Wilkins offering “Suggestions on Meeting with President Truman,” NAACP II: A-203, DLC.


[3] This was Mortimer Jordan. See 12/20/48 report.


[4] See also 12/20/48, where Mitchell reported on the Senate’s investigation of discrimination in the federal post office.


[5] An archetypal southern demagogue, Crump reacted to Truman’s ten-point civil rights message by stating: “In his scheming, cold-blooded effort to outdo Henry Wallace and Governor Dewey of New York for the Negro vote, he has endeavored to reduce the South to a country of crawling cowards.” See Gloster, “Southern Revolt,” 137.