Communications-Continued Erie County Board of Supervisors, 255 Elliott Street, Buffalo, N.Y.. Jewish Community Council, 300 Germania Avenue, Schenectady, N.Y. Meehl, Dr. Paul E., 1544 East River Terrace, Minneapolis, Minn. Presbytery of Detroit United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., 1105 Page 1284 1111 1285 1286 1288 1289 1290 1291 1292 1292 1293 Riley, Joseph P., president, South Carolina State Chamber of Commerce, Columbia, S.C... 1099 Starr, C. C., Rural Delivery No. 2, Quakertown, Bucks County, Pa. 1293 APPENDIXES I. The Constitutionality of the Public Accommodations Provisions of III. State Statutes Prohibiting Discrimination in Places of Public Accom- IV. The Validity of State Statutes Prohibiting Discrimination on Account of Race or Color in Places of Public Accommodation, prepared by the Library of Congress--- V. An Episodic Account of Economic Effects of Segregation and Resist- VI. Excerpt from the Congressional Record of May 25, 1961. 1295 1304 1315 1381 1383 1387 1421 CIVIL RIGHTS-PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS TUESDAY, JULY 23, 1963 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, The committee reconvened at 9:15 a.m. in room 318 (caucus room), Old Senate Office Building, Hon. A. S. Mike Monroney presiding. Senator MONRONEY. The Committee on Commerce will resume its hearings on the bill S. 1732, to eliminate discrimination in public accommodations affecting interstate commerce. We have as our principal witness today the Acting Secretary of Commerce, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. We would appreciate having your statement at this time. Senator COTTON. Mr. Chairman. Senator MONRONEY. The Senator from New Hampshire. Senator COTTON. If the Secretary would forgive me: I have one question I would like to raise with the acting chairman before we proceed with the hearing. It is most unfortunate that our chairman is ill. We all hope that his recovery will be rapid and complete. We find ourselves, this committee, at this particular time, facing the problem of dealing both with the civil rights legislation and the President's railroad bill, both of which are about as important and vital issues as have faced Congress in a long time. However, in the case of the railroad legislation, there is also the fact that the Congress faces a time deadline of a week, which probably is impossible to do and probably undesirable because certainly Congress should give this problem as careful scrutiny as the President has, and the President has had 6 months and Congress couldn't do it in a week. But for the convenience and for the information of the members of the committee, I'm wondering if it has been determined what the policy of this committee is going to be in the handling of these two issues. I understand we will meet this afternoon on the railroad bill. Are we going to recess the hearings on civil rights and devote the full time, as we are allowed outside the Senate session, to the railroad bill? Or are we going to divide up our time between the two and carry one on each shoulder? What is going to be the policy of the committee? Could the acting chairman give us some information on that point? Senator MONRONEY. I will say to the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire that in the illness and absence of the chairman of the committee, Senator Magnuson, Senator Pastore is acting chairman of the committee and is unavoidably detained this morning. I think, when the committee meets this afternoon at 2 as scheduled on the railroad bill, that Senator Pastore will undoubtedly take up with the members of the committee their desire to expedite the President's request for hearings on the railroad bill. We will have to determine what we can do about completing the hearings that we have been engaged in for the past several weeks on the civil rights bill. Until we have our meeting and the committee can get together to hear what Senator Pastore's plans are, I am unprepared to give the Senator the advice that he seeks on what our policy should be. In the past this committee has handled many important duties and assignments, and often with two or three important cases pending before it, while not of the same urgency as these two matters presently before us. The chairman has always been most considerate in ascertaining the wishes and desires of the membership of the committee in order to accommodate the work of the committee to their schedule. Senator COTTON. The chairman always has been most considerate, and so has the distinguished Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Pastore, and so has the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma, Mr. Monroney. I want it distinctly understood that I am not complaining, nor am I trying to in any way make the progress more difficult. However, I doubt if ever in the history of this or perhaps of any other committee of the Senate, certainly in peacetime, has one committee been burdened with two such pressing, urgent, controversial, and delicate problems. I would hope that the acting chairman would indicate to Senator Pastore and to those on the majority side of the committee who control, naturally, and should control its deliberations, that we should have, as soon as possible, and sometime today, an executive session of the Committee on Commerce to determine just how we are going to proceed to field, if I may use that expression, to handle and to meet these two problems that face us. As far as I am concerned, I want to cooperate in every way. I'm willing to be present at evening sessions, to do anything that is necessary. But I think we should all sit down in executive session and work this matter out. I do assume, from what the distinguished acting chairman has told me, that it is still a little bit questionable what a member can say to his constituents and others who are seeking to appear before the committee until this is thoroughly determined. Am I correct in that? Senator MONRONEY. I would say that is absolutely correct, and we don't know how many witnesses we will be able to accommodate. Undoubtedly the numbers who have applied to testify on the civil rights bill are so numerous and will probably keep us so busy for the next 2 weeks that we would not likely be able to schedule more witnesses in that case. We do not know who wishes to be heard in the railroad case. Therefore that is still subject to the determination of the full committee or of the chairman, if the committee wishes to give him that discretion. Senator COTTON. Will the acting chairman transmit the suggestion and the hope that we can have an executive session some time during the day? Senator MONRONEY. I think it is a very good idea. I'm certain that the acting chairman, Senator Pastore, will be, as he always is, quite willing to follow the wishes of the minority. I think most of the majority would agree with the distinguished Senator from New Hampshire that we do need to make some plans on how we are going to handle these two big packages of legislation. Senator COTTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your courtesy. You may proceed. Senator COTTON. I apologize to the Secretary for the delay. Senator MONRONEY. Mr. Secretary, you may proceed with your statement. STATEMENT OF HON. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, JR., UNDER SECRETARY OF COMMERCE, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Mr. ROOSEVELT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. First, Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that I have had the devoted assistance in the preparation of this testimony of my associates, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Affairs, Dr. Richard Holton; the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Affairs, Dr. Andrew Brimmer, on my left, and the Assistant General Counsel, Mr. Dean Lewis. With the chairman's permission, if at anytime during the questioning I am unsure as to the exact answer, I trust that it will be in order for me to turn and ask for their advice. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate this opportunity to appear before your committee in support of S. 1732, the public accommodations bill. The main theme of my statement is the adverse effect of racial discrimination in public accommodations on interstate commerce, and the evidence we present leaves no doubt in our minds on this point. But let me say at the outset that we in the Department of Commerce support this legislation primarily because we believe that discriminatory practices are inconsistent with our democratic ideals and cannot continue to be tolerated in a democratic society. We believe, as the President has said, that we have a moral obligation to pursue this end. In my personal view I think all of us must understand and recognize the changing mood of the American Negro community. We must recognize that their impatience and unrest spring from real and longstanding grievances. The denial of their rights to use public accommodations is only one of many accounts which require settlement now. The corrosive experience of Negroes with discrimination over many years-in voting, employment, education, housing as well as public accommodations-has placed a cumulative burden on the individual Negro citizen far greater than that placed on interstate. commerce. I think we have the moral responsibility to remove that burden immediately. I am certain that all of us in the Federal Government from the President on down clearly see the necessity for pressing ahead with this task as rapidly as possible. With particular respect to the legislation at hand, we believe it is fundamental that all citizens should have equal access to places of public accommodation, including hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, amusement and recreational facilities and other businesses offering to the general public goods and services which are a |