Finally, although I was not here throughout his opening statement, from what I heard, I thank the chairman for I have the impression that the hearings here will include witnesses that will enable us to have a full record on which we can make a judgment both as to the necessity for this legislation, the constitutionality of it, its appropriateness, and probable effectiveness.

I thank the chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Long?

STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD V. LONG

Senator LONG. Mr. Chairman, I am deeply interested in the pending bill H.R. 421. Congress must take some immediate action relative to violence and destruction that is taking place in our Nation's cities. The President has directed his Committee to report by next summer. The Rules Committee yesterday agreed that the Government Operations Committee should investigate the riots and file an interim report by October 2. But what about the rest of the summer? Unless the current trend is brought to a halt, there is considerable tragedy left in this summer.

We must not legislate in haste or from emotion, but it must be made absolutely clear that Congress will not tolerate lawlessness. If the constitutional weakness of the present bill can be eliminated it may be an appropriate vehicle to make clear congressional determination that law and order will prevail.

However, we must not enact a measure today which will come back to haunt us in more normal times. Thus I look forward, Mr. Chairman, to the testimony we will hear with the hope that it will help us to reach a sound decision.

However, regardless of what conclusion we reach, we will be only fooling ourselves if we believe legislation such as H.R. 421 will solve the basic problems which face our Nation. Jobs, education, and decent housing, these are the things that will strengthen our society and insure future peace in our streets and neighborhoods.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Kennedy?

STATEMENT BY SENATOR EDWARD M. KENNEDY

Senator KENNEDY. Mr. Chairman, we have before us a bill that passed the House of Representatives at the height of our summer of discontent. The purpose of this piece of legislation as represented to the public is somehow to control the riots that have racked our cities and prevent future outbreaks of criminal disorder in cities that have so far been unaffected by civil disorders.

We also have with us today some of the finest law-enforcement officials in the country to give their views on this legislation and I look forward to hearing their testimony and their suggestions.

It is unbelievable but true that riots in America have become the first order of this great Nation's business. It is unbelievable but true that one of the greatest nations of the world has found itself almost unable to cope with the criminal activities of a few and to guarantee the protection and security that all of our citizens, black and white, demand of their society.

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It is also unbelievable but true that in these days of social madness, the response of the Congress of the United States in terms of legislation to protect our cities is a bill whose only promise is that one who incites a riot will be apprehended if he crosses a State line, regardless of the fact that State laws exist for this purpose and regardless of the fact that by the time this bill is operative, the riot is underway or grinding down to a halt after countless deaths and property loss. This is our response, and unfortunately this response is being communicated to the people of this country as an antiriot measure.

There is very little hope that this maintenance of law and order at levels demanded by a reasonable society will result from this bill. Law and order must be our first order of business at this hour.

Thus, even if this bill turns out to be constitutionally permissible, slightly helpful, perhaps just harmless in law enforcement terms, its defeat may be warranted because of its very harmlessness. It may constitute a fraud on the American people. It may represent an appearance of action where there has in fact been only reaction. It may lull the Congress and the public into a sense of complacency about having done something about riots, when in fact we have done nothing; and it may distract our attention and delude our concentration on the urgent and important measures dealing with the ultimate root causes of lawlessness, poverty and ignorance, disease, lack of skills, unemployment, and discrimination.

There is ample interest in this bill before us. But why isn't there more interest in shutting off the flow of guns to the criminal element and the malcontent? Why isn't there an outcry at the same time of severe tradegy to strengthen the hands of our law enforcement officials by taking the tools of destruction from the hands of the rioter?

A strong gun bill should be the first step in any antiriot legislation. The Safe Streets and the Crime Control Act which will infuse new resources and stimulate new progress in State and local enforcement merits high priority.

Mr. Chairman, it seems to me that our responsibility and our responsibility in these hearings go beyond the consideration of this bill and stretch out to as full an investigation as possible of what kind of legislation the Judiciary Committee will give our Nation's law enforcement officials to combat violence in our cities and assure protection to the vast majority of Americans.

The President has established a Commission to investigate civil disorders. It appears that the Senate Special Investigating Subcommittee will parallel the work of that Commission. But our committee is the only one that has legislation before it concerning riots. It appears that the choice must be made.

Should we broaden the scope of our inquiry so that we may vote on legislation with full information? Should we wait until the work of other committees is finished and remedies are prescribed that could be produced by this committee? Or should we simply vote out a bill that is inadequate and will clearly raise false expectations in the American community?

I feel very strongly, Mr. Chairman, that because we have legislation before us, we must act as best we can in an attempt to determine as fully as possible the causes and the effects of riots, and the steps

that can be taken by law enforcement officials as their contribution to the renewal of peace in America.

Therefore I suggest that in addition to the excellent witnesses that we have before us today, we also seek counsel from first the mayors of cities that have experienced disorders as well as the mayors of those that have so far been fortunate in avoiding violence.

Second, the leading law enforcement officers of States that have had violence or expecting violence.

Third, those professional experts and officials who have studied violence in the cities.

Fourth, representatives of our Nation's churches, especially those who have been notable for their work among the disadvantaged and the criminal.

Fifth, labor leaders and business leaders who have given of their time and their institutions and corporations to bring the benefits of the American economy to all, and to spread racial understanding and peace from the world of work to the world of the streets.

Six, the various Federal officials who have the enforcement responsibilities under any new laws we might create or whose existing authority might provide both long- as well as short-term relief.

Finally, we should hear from the people of the ghetto themselves; those that can tell us, among them who resorts to violence, why they resort to violence and how the law enforcement agencies of the Federal and State and local governments best work with those of the ghettos who wish to escape their plight by means of equal opportunity and education and social advancement rather than through the firebomb and the rock.

Mr. Chairman, these are general suggestions as to the kind of witnesses we will need if we are to do a responsible job of carrying out our function. I will be glad to make more specific recommendations to the committee staff and I hope the other members will suggest other witnesses. We have a deadly serious task ahead of us.

If we do nothing more than flail our arms and shout loudly clutching at the nearest piece of legislation on the stormy seas around us then we will probably be wasting our time. If we proceed carefully and judiciously and on the merits this committee will make a significant contribution to one of the most difficult areas of American life today. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Burdick.

Senator BURDICK. Mr. Chairman, I have no statement at this time. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Tydings.

STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOSEPH D. TYDINGS

Senator TYDINGS. Mr. Chairman, I have a few comments.

I have no prepared statement. As to specific legislation, I approach the hearing with an open mind. However, I would concur with my colleagues in the statement that I do not think the American people can draw any fair inference that this legislation is going to stop riots or be an answer or a cure to the frightful situation which is becoming increasingly apparent in our cities.

I would like to associate myself with the remarks of the distinguished Senator from Michigan, Senator Hart. I think, notwithstanding, as he put it, the emotional wounds opened in these frightful civil

disorders, the inciters were individual people, and I do not think that we can let ourselves lose sight of the fact that there is not a specific group or class or race as such that should receive the blame. It is a small minority involved.

However, since we do have this legislation before us, Mr. Chairman, and since this committee does have other legislation pending before it, I think that Senator Kennedy's point was well made that we might as well do a complete job as long as we are at it.

We are fortunate in having before us the chief of police of Cambridge, Md., Mr. Bryce Kinnamon, who is a dedicated law enforcement officer. But if we are going to do a thorough job, in addition to him we should have as witnesses before this committee the adjutant general of the State of Maryland, George Gelsten, who has had to deal with riots and civil disorders not only in Cambridge but in other areas of Maryland, who served as police commissioner for the city of Baltimore last summer when it was a target city in CORE activities, and yet where there was no riot. We should call before us the mayor of the city of Baltimore, Theodore McKeldin, who perhaps has as keen a knowledge or insight into the problems of discontent in the heart of the city as any mayor in the United States.

I think we should call before this committee Governor Hughes of New Jersey, whose testimony yesterday before one of your subcommittees was remarkably clear and penetrating on the problems of the riots in Newark and on some of the things that can be done, and I think that we should call the head of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, and the type of witnesses which Senator Kennedy has suggested to you.

Without them I think we are just going through the motions. I think we have an opportunity to report legislation from this Judiciary Committee that can do a good deal more than H.R. 421. I think that if we lose the opportunity we are not discharging our responsibilities to the American people.

The CHAIRMAN. The mayors and officials, of course, are going to be called just as quickly as we can get to them.

Senator Dodd.

Senator DODD. I have no statement, Mr. Chairman. I am prepared to hear these witnesses.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Dirksen?

STATEMENT BY SENATOR EVERETT MCKINLEY DIRKSEN

Senator DIRKSEN. Mr. Chairman, I think it ought to be made clear that the committee is not confined to H.R. 421 that is before us. The sky is the limit. We can write anything into this bill we want. The important thing is that the committee face up to the challenge that is before it. In that connection, Mr. Chairman, I wonder whether the mayor of Detroit has been invited to come before the committee? I had occasion to examine what he said on meeting the press last Sunday, and I think it is rather imperative that he be called. That is all I have to

say.

The CHAIRMAN. The mayor of Detroit was called and declined. He was sent this telegram on the 31st:

Press dispatches quote you as saying unless Congress acts realistically to combat riots, the country faces situations worse than Detroit. The Judiciary Committee opens hearings next Wednesday on House-passed Bill H.R. 421. Respectfully request you advise by telegram collect for committee's record whether your comment accurate as quoted and if so whether you feel Congress has failed to act or has acted unrealistically. The committee is earnestly seeking answers. You have indicated you have some. Consider it most important you give committee benefit of your advice and urge you reconsider your refusal of our telephone request that you appear and testify at hearing. Please consider invitation open. And if you find you feel you can advise me by wire collect.

Regards,

Senator Hart?

JAMES O. EASTLAND.

Senator HART. Mr. Chairman, the mayor of Detroit, I am glad to learn, was invited. I have been in communication with the office of the mayor, and learned that he appreciates the invitation and as soon as certain matters which seem to have a little more immediacy than testimony before this committee are resolved in Detroit he will be here. That puts it a little more gracefully than I am tempted to. But I think the message will come through.

At this moment, at this hour in the council chamber of the common council of the city of Detroit, the mayor is meeting with the common council of Detroit on a matter we label reconstruction and rehabilitation, and that is where I want the mayor to be too. He wants to be, just as soon as this matter that he discussed on TV on Sunday, this matter of priorities, is resolved so far as his duties go in Detroit.

I hope the impression has not been conveyed, and if it is let me correct it, that there is any reluctance on the part of Jerome P. Cavanagh to give this committee his impression both as to the occasion that produced the riots, but more importantly what he as a leading municipal official in this country thinks the Congress could do about it.

But since we are going to be taking testimony for some days at least, I think we would all agree, certainly anybody that has been a mayor whose town has burned, that the best thing for him to do at this moment is to be in Detroit. He is not reluctant to come before this committee. Indeed, he is anxious to come. I just want to make it clear that no one should imply that Jerry Cavanagh is ducking this committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course we were not saying that. The time for his appearance was not fixed. The point to the whole thing was that he said, "Unless Congress acts realistically to combat riots the country faces situations worse than Detroit." I think it is very necessary, and I am glad he will come, I think it is very necessary that we get his views on what Congress can do.

Senator DIRKSEN. Mr. Chairman, I do not care when he comes just so he comes. That is all that is important.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hruska.

Senator HRUSKA. I have no statement at this time, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Fong.

STATEMENT BY SENATOR HIRAM L. FONG

Senator FONG. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although I come from a State where multiracial people live peacefully, harmoniously, and happily, I am just as concerned as you and my colleagues are with