ECEMBER 2, 1963.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed

Mr. McCULLOCH, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the following additional views.

[To accompany H.R. 7152]

Additional ViewS ON H.R. 7152 OF HON. WILLIAM M. MCCULLOCH, HON. JOHN V. LINDSAY, HON. WILLIAM T. CAHILL, HON. GARNER E. SHRIVER, HON. CLARK MACGREGOR, HON. CHARLES McC. MATHIAS, HON. JAMES E. BROMWELL

GENERAL STATEMENT

No legislation of greater significance to the Nation has come before his Congress in our lifetime than the civil rights bill which the Judiciary Committee now presents to the Members of the House.

The 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States eclares:

No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the United States, nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (sec. 1).

The Congress shall have the power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article (sec. 5).

Almost a century has elapsed since its ratification, yet not since Reconstruction has Congress enacted legislation fully implementing the article. A key purpose of the bill, then, is to secure to all Americans the equal protection of the laws of the United States and of the several States.

The majority report sets forth the purpose, history, and content of the legislation. It spells out the provisions and delineates their scope and application. We subscribe in substance to that report.

There is, however, a need for fuller documentation of the reasons for the bill. The urgency of the measure makes it imperative that

31-073 O-64

h have led to this legislation is an unnecessary distillation of the

-t.

these additional views we will point to the need for this civil s bill. In so doing we are mindful that there are many areas of onal concern entirely outside the scope of this legislation. ne bill is a comprehensive measure, but it cannot, nor should we ct it to, be panacea for all our ills. It will not end racial oil. No legislation could do this. Nor can legislation relax he tensions of our troubled times or wipe clean the blot of racial imination from out national conscience.

at this bill can and will commit our Nation to the elimination of y of the worst manifestations of racial prejudice. This is of mount importance and is long overdue. The practice of American ocracy must conform to the spirit which motivated the Founding ers of this Nation-the ideals of freedom, equality, justice, and rtunity. The entire Nation must meet this challenge, and it do it now.

TITLE I-VOTING

ore than a hundred years have elapsed since the Negro has been I from the bonds of slavery. Yet, to this day, the Negro continues ear the burdens of a race under the traces of servitude. In loyment, education, public service, amusement, housing, and enship, the Negro has faced the barrier or racial inequality. ther titles of this legislation, we have sought to fashion workable sto correct this inequity. But perhaps no right is more essential tizenship than the right to vote.

he secret ballot is the touchstone of representative government. hout it, no other benefit or achievement can be considered secure. is not to imply that the grant of the franchise will automatically lize job or other opportunities. But, the ability of the Negro otain material benefits and social and political advancement will be retarded in those communities where he is dispossessed of the

to vote.

In examinin Negroes who inequities is gla cally low; jobs grounds, and of for the Negroes public accomm by police offici! not brutal. We do not r directly at the that elected off Strengthened n benefit Negro a In 1957 and since the Recor was to guarante the 1957 act au tive suits to en permitted the a after a pattern After 5 years been sufficient t Part of this fa While recognizi Department, su tional Negroes 5,000 in Tennes added in Florid period, about 3. Louisiana, while disenfranchising then, except for marginal Negro The entire bla The cost of liti permits recalcit

over 250 counties in the United States, less than 15 percent of voting-age Negroes are registered to vote. What is more shameful e fact that. in certain counties while the white population is eded by the number of white inhabitants who are registered, coes are either totally or all but totally denied the right to vote. figures below from sample areas illustrate this problem:

NOTE.-Since a number of other counties could illustrate the problem with equal force, the counties lected have been designated by letters of the alphabet. Source: U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; 1963 report.

In examining the economic, political, and social attainments of Negroes who live in voterless counties, the picture of present-day nequities is glaringly apparent. Educational achievement is pathetically low; jobs are allocated in discriminatory fashion; libraries, playgrounds, and other places of amusement are segregated or nonexistent or the Negroes; access to good restaurants, hotels, and other places of public accommodations are denied to Negroes; treatment of Negroes by police officials and other public servants is frequently hostile, if not brutal.

We do not maintain that these unsatisfactory conditions are laid directly at the door of vote denial. We do say that experience reveals that elected officials strive to aid and protect those who elect them. Strengthened measures to enfranchise the voterless Negro stand to benefit Negro and white together.

In 1957 and 1960 Congress enacted the first civil rights legislation since the Reconstruction era. The primary thrust of this legislation was to guarantee and enforce voting rights. The principal feature of the 1957 act authorized the Federal Government to bring civil injunctive suits to end discrimination in voting practices. The 1960 act permitted the appointing of Federal referees to speed up registration after a pattern or practice of discrimination had been found by a court. After 5 years of experience, it is clear that these statutes have not been sufficient to end wholesale voter discrimination in many areas. Part of this failure must be placed upon the Department of Justice. While recognizing that some 40 lawsuits have been instituted by the Department, success has been extremely limited. Some 13,000 additional Negroes have been placed on the rolls in Alabama and about 5,000 in Tennessee. But barely 2,000 in combined total have been added in Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina; and during the same period, about 3,500 Negroes were eliminated from the voting rolls in Louisiana, while Mississippi and South Carolina each succeeded in disenfranchising 500 more Negroes than were registered. In 5 years, then, except for Tennessee, we are presented with the same picture of marginal Negro registration which we faced in 1957.

The entire blame cannot be placed on the Department of Justice. The cost of litigation is high. The nature of the judicial process permits recalcitrant State and county officials to promote delay