With the Republican National Convention opening here tomorrow, a split was reported today in the sub-committee on Civil Rights over the question of whether discrimination in employment because of race, religion or national origin should be dealt with by the Federal Government or be left entirely up to each of the states which have their own statutes.
As a result of the split, majority and minority reports were filed by the sub-committee to the full Committee on Resolutions which is to present a resolution on this issue Wednesday morning to the convention.
The majority report advocates the establishment of a federal volunteer commission to advise and, to an extent, supervise the fight against discrimination in the states and local communities. The minority report calls for “persuasive”–but not compulsory–enforcement, with a strict hands-off policy in states and communities that have their own anti-discrimination regulations.
A nine-point program for civil rights, endorsed by the 1952 Leadership Conference on Jewish Rights, was submitted here to the Civil Rights sub-committee of the platform committee of the Republican convention. The leadership conference represents more than 50 major national organizations, including the Jewish groups. The proposed plank would bring the Republican party in support of federal legislation to prohibit discrimination in employment and to the establishment of a federal fair employment agency armed with enforcement powers.
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