Discrimination against Jews or Negroes seeking employment in defense industries will be the subject of public hearings here by President Roosevelt’s Committee on Fair Employment Practices, to be held on Feb. 16 -17, it was announced today.
“A man who is holding up construction of a bomber or a tank because he refuses to hire a Jew or a Negro is just as much a saboteur as a man who throws a monkey wrench into the machinery,” declared Eugene Davidson, field representative of the President’s Committee here.
Mr. Davidson appealed to organizations, unions and individuals to report to him any case of racial or religious discrimination in defense employment. Such cases will be carefully investigated and then aired at the February hearings, he stated. The attention of employers was drawn, by Mr. Davidson, to the fact that there is no legislation or regulation in effect which bars the employment of aliens, except in cases of secret defense work where the employment of an alien must be approved by the Secretary of War or the Navy.
The President’s Committee will attempt to remedy discriminatory employment practices by persuasion and reasoning, but it has the power, under the order issued by President Roosevelt last June, to recommend the cancellation of orders or the withholding of payment from companies that refuse to abandon discrimination against minority groups.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
