FAIR EMPLOYMENT PRACTICE LEGISLATION by W. Brooke Graves, WASHINGTON, D. C. APRIL 1951 x2192 This publication is sold by the Card Division, Library of Congress, Washington 25, D. C. Price $1.65. Its purchase may be charged against card accounts of subscribers to the card service; others must pay in advance by check or money order made payable to the Librarian of Congress. Postage stamps are not accepted. PURCHASES FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES FOR THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE MADE WITH UNESCO BOOK COUPONS. L. C. Card, 51-60016 The Legislative Reference Service imposes upon the members of its staff one positive and specific requirement: that the reports which they prepare shall be absolutely fair, presenting with equal effectiveness the arguments on both sides of any controversial issue without making any recommendations. This study has been prepared in accordance with this general policy. The nature of the subject matter, and of the material available regarding it, make peculiarly difficult the realization of this objective. In the present instance, the reasons for this difficulty may be briefly stated. In the first place, fair employment practice legislation is rather the first acts of this specific character having been adopted in the legislative sessions of 1945. It takes years, sometimes a period of a generation of experience, to enable one to make a fair and adequate appraisal of the operation or the effectiveness of a new law or the operation of a new institution. Here we have a record of five years. While it is really too early to attempt to make such a study, it is believed that the effort may, nevertheless, be justified by reason of the widespread interest in the subject which it is anticipated may develop in the 82d Congress and in the 1951 sessions of the legislatures of the several states. The basic work underlying the study had already been undertaken in response to specific congressional requests. Reference has been made to the inadequacy of the material upon which such a study must be based. These inadequacies are inherent in the situation and are in no wise peculiar to fair employment practice legislation. In the case of any such proposal which involves a change in the status quo, a very substantial portion of the published material inevitably supports the change. The supporters approach the problem with something of the zeal of reformers, while those who oppose the innovation or question its wisdom are usually much less vocal. There are a number of reasons for this fact. Those who support the status quo often do so more on the basis of attachment for institutions and customs with which they are familiar, than because of any careful or reasoned analysis of them. Thus it often happens that they are not the most effective spokesmen for their own point of view. In other cases these defenders, realizing that their position has elements of weakness in it, tend rather to use personal influence in fighting a proposal than to engage in public discussion of its merits. The result of these factors often is, and this is certainly the case with the fair employment practice legislation, that most published statements of opposition are less impressive as well as less frequent than are the statements in support, even though it is well-known that there are many persons who strongly feel that such legislation is either unwise or unworkable or both. |