tion whereby they could continue their comradeship of Army days and because they thought that they could promote Americanism, principles, and patriotic activities through organization of such a veteran's group.

Senator ELLENDER. But you had such organizations both in the North and in the South of those who fought during the Civil War, did you not?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. No, sir; there was no Jewish veterans' organization.

Senator ELLENDER. I know that, but I mean as Americans, not as Jews, but as Americans, an American association.

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. Yes, sir; there were.

Senator ELLENDER. Well, what prompted you now to continue such an organization?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. We feel that by associating together a number of Jewish veterans who are veterans of the Jewish faith, that if the Catholic war veterans or other religious groups

Senator ELLENDER. But you do not have them separate that way. You do not have them because they are Catholics?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. Yes, sir; there is a Catholic veterans' organization which is a very large organization.

Senator ELLENDER. Where is that?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. Practically in every State.

Senator ELLENDER. Do you have Protestants?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. There have been several smaller Protestant organizations that have started and there are still a number of them extant.

Senator ELLENDER. Do you not think such an organization accentuates your difficulties?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. I do not know, sir, what you mean by difficulties. Senator ELLENDER. You are complaining now of being discriminated against and all of that and here you set yourselves out as a group up here-all Americans. Is it that you were refused membership in other organizations that prompted you to organize?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. On the contrary, practically all of our members are members of one of the large veterans' organizations.

Senator ELLENDER. And you have this as a separate organization? Mr. SCHOTTLAND. Yes, sir; we have it because we feel there are certain specific things in which we might be interested as Jewish vet

erans.

Senator ELLENDER. What, for instance?

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. We might be interested in the promotion of special Americanism activities in the synagogues, in our Jewish community organizations; we would be interested in such problems as discrimination against Jews in various aspects of employment, and other aspects of our general life. We would be interested in specific brotherhood programs in which we would participate as Jews and as veterans. We would be interested in representing the Jewish community celebrations and activities-those Jews who fought in the armed forces. Senator DONNELL. Proceed, Mr. Schottland.

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. This bill which you gentlemen are now considering has significance beyond the borders of our country. During the war, I was in intimate contact with Allied liaison officers of 14 different nationalities attached to our headquarters.

Senator DONNELL. Colonel, may I interrupt you to say that the bell indicates it is 15 minutes before the Senate convenes. Promptly at 12 o'clock we shall be in recess until the Senate shall have granted us permission to resume. We anticipate such permission will be granted.

But that does not mean we will not complete your testimony if we have not completed it by that time.

Mr. SCHOTTLAND. During the war, I was in intimate contact with Allied liaison officers of 14 nationalities attached to our headquarters who frequently asked their American colleagues why we discriminated against Negroes, Mexicans, Jews, and other racial or religious groups in so many aspects of our economic life. Nor was it pleasant to listen, as I did one day in France, to the Nazi radio exploit our discriminatory practices and exhort our Negro truck drivers to sabotage our fast supply program along the Red Ball highways. To these Nazi pleas, all Americans turned a deaf ear, but many had hearts full of hope that never again would our enemies find such a vulnerable spot in our democratic armor.

We have an opportunity, here, gentlemen, to tell the world that we are putting into practice in our own country those democratic ideals which we are attempting to have other countries follow in the present world struggle to preserve that civilization in which we all believe.

The Jewish War Veterans of the United States is firm in the belief that this Congress can provide the world with a conclusive and unassailable demonstration of the national faith in these democratic principles through passage of an FEPC Act which will stand as the most telling and effective refutation to the propaganda of all who would impugn our way of life.

As a veterans' organization, we see such legislation as worthy and legitimate payment of a promissory note to millions of our own veterans who took up arms in a conviction that the terrible equality of war would one day be matched by equal opportunities in peace.

Gentlemen, the privilege-yes, the responsibility of eliminating many of the evils of discrimination in employment is entirely within your power. Failure to take affirmative action on this fundamental democratic principle will be, unfortunately, a tacit endorsement of the existing undemocratic and un-American practices which S. 984 seeks to correct.

The Jewish War Veterans of the United States strongly urges your honorable committee to do everything possible to speed the passage of this legislation.

Senator DONNELL. Does any member of the committee desire to interrogate Colonel Schottland?

-The next witness is Mr. Paul Williams, president, Southern Regional Council, Richmond, Va.

(Mr. Schottland submitted the following brief:)

TESTIMONY OF COL. CHARLES I. SCHOTTLAND, NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, JEWISH WAR VETERANS OF THE UNITED STATES, BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND PUBLIC WELFARE, FRIDAY, JUNE 20, WASHINGTON, D. C.

In connection with Senate bill 984, I have the honor to represent the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, which is the oldest veterans" organization in the country next to the Grand Army of the Republic and the Army and Navy Union. It was established in 1896 by Jewish veterans of the Civil War who fought in the armies of both the North and the South. Today it has 600 posts all over the United States, with approximately 100,000 members.

I am authorized to present the views of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States by virtue of resolutions passed by its national executive committee, and I appear before your honorable committee upon express direction of our national commander, Milton H. Richman, of Hartford, Conn.

I shall not repeat, in this brief statement, arguments which have been presented to your committee by other witnesses with reference to various details of the bill, but desire to make a few comments from the standpoint of a veteran-one of those 18,000,000 veterans of our last two wars who fought for our democratic way of life, one of those 600,000 Jewish veterans of World War II who returned leaving behind 13,000 Jewish dead with the dead of other Americans of all religious faiths. In considering the implications of this bill, I ask your indulgence as I recall vividly a day in Normandy in July 1944, just a few weeks after D-day. As an officer attached to General Eisenhower's headquarters, I was going through Normandy when my jeep was forced to stop because of a traffic tie-up alongside a ditch where a group of GI's were eating their K rations. In the group of some 15 to 20, there were 3 Negro truck drivers. One soldier greeted my driver with an accent that left no doubt that he was from Brooklyn. Some were obviously from the farm, if one could judge by their general appearance; others were city bred. Undoubtedly, in that small group were Protestant, Catholic, Jew-a real cross section of the youth of our land.

That is the way of war. These men, bound together in a common fight and a common danger that lay heavily on all American troops in France at that moment, were having a shared meal in common discomfort and in a common recognition that they were fighting for a democratic United States without regard to their individual racial or religious backgrounds.

As soldiers, these men encountered no discrimination in their right to fight and die for democracy; as veterans, they are discovering that they are being denied equal opportunities to earn a living in that democracy by sheer accident of birth-because they were born of parents who were Catholics,, Mexicans, Italians, Jews, Negroes, or other minority religious, racial, or national backgrounds.

Gentlemen, when you add together the number of persons in the United States who are discriminated against in employment all over the country by virtue of their race, religion, or national origin, you have a staggering total which represents a substantial percentage of the American population. A number of incidents have come to our attention where Jewish veterans with outstanding military records have been frankly and openly denied equal opportunities for ememployment because of their religion and without reference to their qualifications for the job.

This bill which you gentlemen are now considering has significance beyond the borders of our country. During the war, I was in intimate contact with Allied liaison officers of 14 different nationalities attached to our headquarters who frequently asked their American colleagues why we discriminated against Negroes, Mexicans, Jews, and other racial or religious groups in so many aspects of our economic life. Nor was it pleasant to listen, as I did one day in France, to the Nazi radio exploit our discriminatory practices and exhort our Negro truck drivers to sabotage our fast supply program along the Red Ball highways. To these Nazi pleas all Americans turned a deaf ear, but many had hearts full of hope that never again would our enemies find such a vulnerable spot in our democratic

armor.

We have an opportunity, here, gentlemen, to tell the world that we are putting into practice in our own country those democratic ideals which we are attempting to have other countries follow in the present world struggle to preserve that civilization in which we all believe.

The Jewish War Veterans of the United States is firm in the belief that this Congress can provide the world with a conclusive and unassailable demonstration of the national faith in these democratic principles through passage of an FEPC Act which will stand as the most telling and effective refutation of the propaganda of all who would impugn our way of life.

As a veterans' organization, we see such legislation as worthy and legitimate payment of a promissory note to millions of our own veterans who took up arms in a conviction that the terrible equality of war would one day be matched by equal opportunities in peace.

Gentlemen, the privilege-yes, the responsibility--of eliminating many of the evils of discrimination in employment is entirely within your power. Failure to take affirmative action on this fundamental democratic principle will be, unfortunately, a tacit endorsement of the existing undemocratic and un-American practices which S. 964 seeks to correct.

The Jewish War Veterans of the United States strongly urges your honorable committe to do everything possible to speed the passage of this legislation.

STATEMENT OF PAUL D. WILLIAMS, PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN REGIONAL COUNCIL, RICHMOND, VA.

Senator DONNELL. Mr. Williams, you heard the announcement in regard to 12 o'clock. Your testimony will not be terminated if you are not through by that time.

Please state your name, address, and educational background and something as to the organization in whose behalf you appear.

Mr. WILLIAMS. My name is Paul D. Williams. I was born in Richmond, Va., and have lived there all my life. I am serving a second term as president of the Southern Regional Council, succeeding Dr. Howard W. Odum, of the University of North Carolina. The Southern Regional Council is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization which has for its purpose the advancement of opportunities of all peoples of the South. While I speak at this time as an individual, I am confident that what I have to say represents the majority viewpoint of my board of directors and entire membership.

Senator DONNELL. The board of directors has not, however, authorized you to speak in its behalf?

Mr. WILLIAMS. No; there are 60 members of the board, and when I was asked to testify I did not have time to clear with them, and that is the reason I prefer to speak as an individual.

Senator DONNELL. Yes, sir. Does your board of directors have frequent meetings, Mr. Williams?

Mr. WILLIAMS. We meet once a year and then in quarterly meetings through an executive committee the workings of the organization carry on.

Senator DONNELL. Is there a large body, a larger body than the board of directors?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir; there is a membership at large-$2 membership.

Senator DONNELL. And does that membership have some type of convention at which delegates appear?

Mr. WILLIAMS. They meet annually, too.

Senator DONNELL. When did the most recent meeting of that type occur?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Last November.

Senator DONNELL. Has either the membership in its convention or the board of directors at any time passed any resolution on the subject of discrimination in employment?

Mr. WILLIAMS. We have gone on record as in favor of a fair practices law; no particular law, but fair practices.

Senator DONNELL. You have stated that the Southern Regional Council is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization; how large a membership does it have?

Mr. WILLIAMS. We have slightly over 2,000 paid members.
Senator DONNELL. Slightly over 2,000.

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.

Senator DONNELL. In how many States is your membership?

Mr. WILLIAMS. In the 13 States that are generally considered the South. I might say from Virginia to Arkansas to Texas to Florida.

Senator DONNELL. Does the membership of this organization consist of white people and Negroes also or is it confined exclusively to members of one race?

Mr. WILLIAMS. All Americans.

Senator DONNELL. All Americans are eligible to membership?

Mr. WILLIAMS. To membership and to office and to the paid personnel. The officers serve voluntarily; we have a paid personnel in Atlanta, Ga., and this personnel is composed of all competent people and they are hired and upgraded regardless of their religion or creed. They work side by side every day.

Senator DONNELL. What proportion of your membership would you say is white and what proportion colored?

Mr. WILLIAMS. I would say about two-thirds white and about onethird is colored.

Senator DONNELL. Very well, Mr. Williams, will you proceed?
Senator ELLENDER. What is your occupation, Mr. Williams?

Mr. WILLIAMS. I am in the publishing business. I am editor for a textbook publishing firm.

Senator DONNELL. What is the name of that firm?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Mensard Bush & Co., of Chicago.

Senator DONNELL. What type of textbooks does it publish?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Elementary and high school.

Senator DONNELL. Used in the South?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Used nationally.

Senator DONNELL. How large an organization does it have?
Mr. WILLIAMS. I do not know what you mean by that.
Senator DONNELL. How many people does it employ?

Mr. WILLIAMS. We have about 10 representatives on the road and we have about 10 in the office.

Senator DONNELL. So there are about 20 persons in the organization. Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.

Senator DONNELL. A small publishing house?

Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.

Senator DONNELL. Do you do the actual publishing or do you have that done by some printing concern?

Mr. WILLIAMS. As in the case of even most of these large concerns, like MacMillan, they job the work out to other concerns like Cuneo of Chicago and Donnelly and others who are specialists in the publishing of books.

Senator DONNELL. Very well, Mr. Williams, proceed.

Mr. WILLIAMS. The Southern Regional Council puts into daily practice the basic principles of the FEPC as to the hiring and upgrading of individuals according to their qualification and not on the basis of race, color, creed, or national origin. The Southern Regional Council is predominantly Protestant yet its president is a Catholic, its associate director and its executive committee chairman are Negroes and its general counsel is a Jew.

A fair employment practice law is essential as a demonstration of social justice. It is implied in the fundamentals of Christianity which proclaims the dignity and worth of each individual. Christianity is a sham if it preaches one thing in doctrine and another in practice. If Christianity did this it would frustrate the very thing it sets out to accomplish; namely, that we are all children of God, destined for