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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SOUTHERN SCHOOL NEWS—FEBRUARY—PAGE 3 Rules Committee Schedules Hearing on Civil Rights Bill WASHINGTON, D.C. C ivil rights legislation re mained in deadlock for most of the first month of the new ses sion of Congress. It broke Jan. 28 with the House Rules Commit tee’s plans to hold a hearing on a bill in early February. (See “Na tional Affairs.”) In his State of the Union mes sage, President Eisenhower de voted three paragraphs to civil rights, and limited his remarks to voting. (See “National Affairs.”) The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Arkansas may constitutionally require teachers to submit sworn statements of organizations they have belonged to in the past five years. (See “National Affairs.”) A District School Board member asked school officials to consider aband oning their annual racial count of pupils and teachers. (See “District Schools.”) Southern congressmen pressed for legislation to stiffen tuition require ments for non-resident students in District public schools. (See “District Schools.”) A deadlock over civil rights legisla tion in the new session of Congress broke Jan. 28 when the House Rules Committee announced it would hold a hearing in early February on a bill it had kept bottled up since last summer. The Rules Committee was expected to clear the bill for House consideration early in February. A move to bring the bill to the floor without committee clearance has gathered more than 190 of the required 219 petition signatures. The Rules Committee, headed by Rep. Howard Smith (D-Va.), will probably have another chance to block the bill if it clears both the Senate and House. Rules Committee clearance is required to send the measure to a Senate-House conference committee to compromise differences between the versions. ABBREVIATED VERSION The House bill is an abbreviated ver sion of President Eisenhower’s “mod erate” seven-point bill of 1959. In addition to its voting provisions, it would: • Make it a federal crime to obstruct court school orders (such as the Little Rock mob episode). • Make it a federal crime to cross state lines to evade prosecution for malicious bombings of any structure or vehicle. • Assure continued schools for 70,000 children of military personnel at south ern bases if their schools are closed by desegregation disputes. SEEK STRONGER BILL Civil rights supporters hope to strengthen the bill by restoring the President’s proposals to give financial and technical aid to communities try ing to desegregate schools. They also will make another attempt to add the so-called Part IH provision, deleted from the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which would empower the Justice De partment to seek court injunctions to order desegregation and protect other civil rights. But Roy Wilkins, executive secre tary of the National Assn, for the Ad vancement of Colored People, said Jan. 14 that he felt there was an “understanding” at the capital that “the weak bill now in the House Rules Committee will be pushed through Congress to get the issue out of the way before the real political campaign gets under way.” Wilkins was one of some 30 spokes men for religious, racial, labor and other groups, banded together as the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, who went to the capital to enlist sup port for a strong civil rights bill in this session. Another group, the Volunteer Civil Rights Commission, was scheduled to hold a meeting in a Washington church Jan. 31 to hear seven Negroes from five southern states tell of their un successful efforts to register as voters. “I’m Cornin’, Chile, Halle lujah! De Spirit Moved Me!” —Louisville Courier-Journal “What About The Rights Of ‘Unorganized’ Citizens?” —Nashville Banner Much of the congressional debate centered on the Civil Rights Commis sion proposal to use federal registrars where necessary to assure that qualified Negroes are permitted to vote in fed eral elections. At month’s end, the administration came up with an alternate plan to use referees appointed by federal courts to register qualified persons for all elec tions and to set up machinery to pro tect voting rights as well as registra tion. After announcing his new voter ref eree plan Jan. 26, Atty. Gen. William P. Rogers said he had no plans “at the moment” to seek any more civil rights legislation in this session of Congress. But he indicated the Justice Depart ment is still exploring the possibility of further action in the Mack Parker Mississippi lynching case. TALMADGE BILL Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.) offered a new proposal Jan. 28 for a constitutional amendment to give the states exclusive control over public education. Talmadge said his revised version meets “groundless and special” objec tions raised when he proposed a similar amendment last year. That proposal was defeated in subcommittee. The new version, introduced with seven southern co-sponsors, would give the states exclusive control over all public education. It also says that nothing in the article should be con strued “to authorize any state to deny to any pupil because of race, color, na tional origin or religious belief the right to attend schools equal in respect to the quality and ability of the teachers, curriculum and physical facilities to those attended by other pupils attend ing schools in the same school system.” PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE In his State of the Union message Jan. 7, President Eisenhower reminded Congress that the civil rights program he submitted last year had not yet been enacted. But otherwise the Presi dent limited his civil rights remarks to the right to vote, which he called “one of the strongest pillars of a free society.” At a Jan. 13 press conference, Mr. Eisenhower again urged Congress to “act decisively” on the legislation car ried over from last year. On Jan. 26 the President nominated Harold R. Tyler, 38-year-old New York lawyer and former assistant U.S. at torney there, to head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division. COURT WILL RULE The Supreme Court agreed Jan. 25 to rule whether Arkansas may require teachers to submit sworn statements of organizations they have belonged to in the last five years. The case stemmed from the Little Rock school desegrega tion dispute. The Arkansas Legislature passed a package of anti-integration laws in August 1958, including one that estab lished the requirement of reports on teachers’ organizational memberships and contributions. A companion law, passed a year ago, prohibited NAACP members from holding public jobs in Arkansas. B. T. Shelton, a Little Rock Negro teacher and admittedly an NAACP member, refused to submit the state ment and challenged the validity of the law. A three-judge federal court in Little Rock struck down as uncon stitutional the bar against NAACP members holding pub’ic jobs, but up held the law requiring statements of membership. Shelton appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the law would curb the exercise of the constitutional free dom of association by discouraging teachers’ participation in organizations thought to be unpopular with their superiors. In other actions, the Supreme Court: • Refused to review another con viction of segregationist John Kasper— this one a six-month sentence by a state court for inciting a crowd to riot in September 1957 on the night a school was dynamited. Kasper contended his speeches against school desegregation were pro tected by freedom of speech. He has served two federal sentences for dis obeying court orders to stop stirring up school trouble in Clinton, Term. • Refused to hear a complaint of Negro railroad firemen in Georgia that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire men and Enginemen had unfairly given part of their work to junior white firemen. Last year the court re fused to decide whether exclusion of Negroes from the union was uncon stitutional. • Announced it will hear oral argu ments Feb. 23 in a Louisiana voting case where 1,377 Negroes were ordered restored to the voting lists. In a letter to District School Supt. Carl F. Hansen, School Board member Wesley S. Williams suggested that the system should drop its annual racial count of pupils and teachers. Williams, one of three Negroes on the nine-member board, said “representa tive groups in the community have been growing restive because of the continued racial census.” He asked whether the District schools, desegregated since 1954, are not “at the point, if not long past it,” where a racial census serves no use ful purpose. He also asked how much staff time and effort goes into the racial count. Hansen said he would study Wil liams’ letter and reply to it at a later date. But school officials noted that a 1925 statute, still on the books, re quires the racial tally of pupils. Sev eral years ago the School Board asked the District commissioners to seek re peal of the legal requirement for a racial census, but the commissioners took no action. Chairman D. R. (Billy) Matthews (D-Fla.) of a House District subcom mittee said Jan. 14 that he expects a favorable report on a bill to crack down on non-resident students get ting a “free” education in Washing ton’s public schools. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joel T. Broyhill (R-Va.) would require stu dents attending school here to live with either a parent or legal guardian, or pay annual non-resident tuitions ranging from $200 to more than $900. Broyhill introduced the measure after declaring last spring that many Negro families living elsewhere send their children to Washington “to live with aunts, uncles and distant cousins in order to send them to local inte grated schools.” 1,600 NON-RESIDENTS Children may now live with anyone in the District and receive tuition-free education if the purpose of their being here is not solely to attend school. Broyhill estimates that some 1,600 non resident students are attending public schools now, resulting in a loss of about $385,000 a year in tuition fees. The District Federation of Citizens’ Assns. backed Broyhill’s bill at a pub lic hearing held Jan. 14 by the House District subcommittee. In earlier testi mony, District officials suggested amendments, including one that would excuse non-resident students from tui tion payments if they were living here with persons exercising “full care, cus tody and support,” regardless of their status as parents or guardians. Chairman Matthews said he would press for action on the Broyhill bill “at the earliest possible moment.” WANTS PAGE EXAM In other congressional action affect ing District schools, Rep. William S. Broomfie’d (R-Mich.) said Jan. 8 that capitol pages should be selected by a nationwide competitive examination and removed from “the spoils system.” He said appointment by examination instead of through the patronage of Congressmen would improve the Capi tol Page School—part of the District school system—where the youths get their education while serving. The school should be one of the “most advanced” in the country be cause of its peculiar function, Broom field said. He criticized as a poor “lesson in democracy” what he called the “un written law” against appointment of Negro pages. Competitive examination would end racial and religious bias, he suggested. Several Negro pages have been ap pointed to duties at the Supreme Court. One Negro youth came to Washington last summer as a congressional page appointee, but did not get the job be cause the House patronage committee ruled that congressmen with more sen iority than his sponsor had first crack at appointments. BACK LUNCH PROGRAM District officials told a Senate Dis trict subcommittee Jan. 14 that they will support a free lunch program for 4,800 needy elementary pupils. A “pilot program” for 2,000 children has been under way since last year. Subcom mittee Chairman Wayne Morse (D- Ore.), a strong backer of the lunch program, said he was “thrilled” with the results. But school officials said they would have to seek facilities to feed the youngsters in their own elementary school buildings. Pupils who now go to nearby secondary schools for then- free lunches are often taunted along the way with cries of “hunger march,” “bread line” and “march of poverty,” the subcommittee was told. The District school budget for fiscal 1981, submitted to Congress as part of the federal budget, included funds for about 200 additional teachers. They President Eisenhower’s Following is the portion pertaining to civil rights in Pres ident Eisenhower’s State of the Union message to Congress on Jan. 7: “In all our hopes and plans for a better world we all rec ognize that provincial and racial prejudices must be com batted. In the long perspective of history, the right to vote has been one of the strongest pillars of a free society. Our first duty is to protect this right against all encroachment. In spite of constitutional guarantees, and notwithstanding Civil Rights Statement much progress of recent years, bias still deprives some persons in this country of equal protection of the laws. “Early in your last session, I recommended legislation which would help eliminate several practices discriminating against the basic rights of Americans. The Civil Rights Commission has developed additional constructive recommendations. I hope that these will be among the matters to be seriously considered in the current session. I trust that Congress will thus signal to the world that our Government is striving for equality under law for all our people.” # # # will take care of growing enrollments, expanded special educational services, and further reduction of elementary class size toward the School Board’s 30-pupil goal. NEW BOARD MEMBER Mrs. John L. Steele, a P-TA leader and former teacher, was named to the School Board Jan. 22 by the judges of federal District Court. The appointment was for the unex pired term of Mrs. Manson B. Pettit, who resigned to accompany her hus band to an out-of-town position. The term ends June 30, 1961. Mrs. Steele, wife of the chief of the Washington Bureau of Time and Life magazines, has been active in press ing for the P-TA’s legislative program to improve District schools. She said her major concern on the board will be development of “a curriculum to meet the varying needs of Washington children.” COUNCIL PRAISED The board voted Jan. 20 to praise the District Apprenticeship Council for its efforts to eliminate racial discrimina tion in apprenticeship opportunities. “We would hope that sustained in terest and effort by the Apprentice ship Council will help to open all ap prenticeship opportunities to all of our graduates regardless of race,” the board said. The council reported that 200 to 250 Negroes are now serving regular in dentured apprenticeships in District crafts. PRESENTS PAY PLAN A plan to withhold automatic pay increases from teachers who do not re ceive a satisfactory rating in a con tinuous review of their work was pre sented to the board Jan. 20 by Supt. Hansen. He told the board that there is a “continuing necessity for the assur ance that the performance of every staff member will be of acceptable quality. This means that annual incre ments and continued employment must be merited.” Hansen suggested machinery for evaluating teachers’ work and penaliz ing those who do not make the grade by freezing their salary level or dis missing them. The board, which had asked for a program to make pay distinctions be tween teachers at various performance levels, took the plan under advisement. If approved, it would be coupled to efforts to obtain a six-million-dollar-a- year pay raise for teachers. # # # Books And The Issue The library at Southern Education Reporting Service recently received these books: CHRISTIANS IN RACIAL CRISIS by Thomas F. Pettigrew and Ernest Q. Campbell. Public Affairs Press, 194 pp., $3.50. An analysis of the factors bearing on ministers and churches in Little Rock, Ark. in segregation-desegregation ques tions. RACE RELATIONS AND AMERICAN LAW by Jack Greenberg. Columbia Univ. Press, 420 pp., $10. An encyclopedic treatise on the law of race relations in the United States. Greenburg traces changing legal inter pretations and predicts a future course of American law on race relations. THE CASE FOR THE SOUTH by W. D. Workman Jr. The Devin - Adair Co., 302 pp., $5.00. A descriptive appraisal of the south erner yesterday and today by a widely known southern newsman. The book tells how white southerners feel about states rights, race relations, school seg regation and similar problems. CRUSADER WITHOUT VIOLENCE by L. D. Reddick. Harper & Bros., 234 pp., $3.95. A biography of the Rev. Martin Lu ther King Jr. by a close associate. The book also studies new forces that are shaping race relations in the South. THE PUBLIC PAPERS OF CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN Edited by Henry M. Christman. Simon and Schuster, 237 pp., $4.50. The major statements of Warren as governor of California, his public ad dresses and the decisions on issue rang ing from desegregation to civil liberties. # # #