Between Issue & Law

Seldom does Manhattan's sleek, sharp Representative Vito Marcantonio, a tireless party-liner, make much sense on the floor of the House. But last week, as a one-man minority, he had a chance to deliver a shrewd blow while he enjoyed the discomfiture of the two majority parties. "It is obvious to everybody," he said, in his shrill and rasping voice, "that everybody wants civil rights as an issue but not as a law. That goes for Harry Truman, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party."

All week long, the FEPC bill--to punish an employer for discrimination in hiring because of race or religion--was an issue, but it came no nearer to a vote. It was a performance that reflected little credit on either party, for both have endorsed FEPC in their platforms. Even before the debate began, Speaker Sam Rayburn of Bonham, Texas let it be known that he would do his considerable best to keep FEPC from reaching the House floor. His excuse was that the bitter struggle over changing the House rules (TIME, Jan. 30) had not left the "right atmosphere" for another wrenching controversy. When FEPC came up, under the rules that Rayburn had successfully fought to retain only three days before, he decided that a more appropriate topic would be the statehood bills for Alaska and Hawaii.

Clocks & Quorums. That was all the Dixiecrats needed to stop FEPC in its tracks. But just to be sure that the painful subject wouldn't be called up that day, anti-FEPC forces made six demands for quorums, each of which took up half an hour, and Mississippi's John Rankin even rose to complain that the House clocks did not agree with each other. Republican leaders made no move to come to the rescue. Waddling out of a meeting of the Rules Committee next day, Ohio's portly Republican Clarence Brown cheerfully admitted that he had voted with committee Dixiecrats to keep the bill from reaching the floor. Not that he was against FEPC, of course, he just wanted to give two absent Republican committeemen a chance to vote on it. Also, "I wanted to protect the Speaker," he added piously.

FEPC supporters made one more effort. Freshman Congressman Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. announced that he hoped to get a House majority--218 signatures--to a petition to pry the bill loose from committee. He was immediately sat upon by Manhattan's Adam Clayton Powell, one of the two House Negroes and author of the FEPC bill.

"Your Humble Colleague." As long as the Roosevelt name was attached to the petition, complained Powell, no self-respecting Republican would be caught within a country mile of it. He hinted broadly that young Roosevelt wanted to run for New York's governorship, and was only trying to grab a little publicity. He urged his young friend to step aside and let him start another petition. Cried Powell: "I told him ... 'do not be petty' . . . Let the FEPC roll on. I have no desire for personal glory in this situation. As a Negro I can go no higher politically. I can never run for governor ... This is the height that a Negro can reach in our generation." Big Franklin Jr. got to his feet; he was angry at the dressing-down, but he tried not to show it. Grudgingly he agreed to support the Powell petition, and remarked that "your humble colleague" had only been trying to be helpful.

No one expected FEPC to roll very far through the 81st Congress. It might inch its way through the House, but it was almost sure to be talked to death in the Senate.

Last week the House also: P:Closed one minor loophole in the tax laws by billing U.S. life-insurance companies $90 million to $93 million a year on income from their investments.

The Senate:

P: Finally got a slightly liberalized Displaced Persons bill from its Judiciary Committee, which is headed by Nevada's stubborn obstructionist, Pat McCarran. It would supposedly permit the entry of an additional 125,000 D.P.s, but was still loaded with some typical McCarran booby traps. Sample: insisting that 30% of those admitted be farmers with at least two years' experience. The D.P.s looking for a new home are mostly city-bred refugees from Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

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