Box 17, Folder 13, Document 9

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RoR,
Rebuts Southern Charges
_ Bill Would Infringe Upon
| State or Property Rights

By E. W. KENWORTHY
Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, July 18 —
Attorney General Robert ¥F,
Kennedy denied today that the
Administration's civil Tights
bill would “improperly” inter-
fere with either the richts of
the states or the rights of priy-
ate property.

Southern opponents argue;

that four sections of the bill,
dealing with “schools, voting,
public accommodations and Fed-
eral funds, are an infringement
on states’ rights,

They are joined by man.
Northern legislators of tot
Parties in asserting that the
Proposed ban on discrimination
in public facilities would impair
property rights,

The Attorney"@eneral aa-
|dressed himself Pes these
arguments toda “he began
testifying on the/bill/Before the
Senate Judiciary ngommittee.
The committee, headed by Sen-
ator James O, Hassland of Mis-
Sissippf, has n@WEMGin recent
times reported, Sul@ivil rights
bill. ‘tag?

Mr. Kennedy @etused the
Southerners, in Gfflct, of for-
getting the debates in the Con-
stitutional Convention and mis-
applying ‘their fayorite doc-
trine. He said:

“States’ rights, as our fore-
fathers conceived it, was a pro-
tection of ‘the right of the in-
dividual citizen. Those who



preach most frequently about
States Rights today..are not
those seek the. otection of!
the individual citizen, but his

exploitation. <a
“The time is long past — if
it ever existed—when we

ind
ntinued on Page 7,Column 2 4

———_———

While the Administration be-
lieved _in_the principle of Githe
less Federal intervention
better,” the Attorney General
Said, it could not forget that)

(a citizen of Alabama or Missis-| =
| sippi “is also an American citi- s

zen.”
Stresses Federal Roles

“We expect him to obey
American laws, to pay. Ameri-
‘can taxes, to fight and die in
Ameri wars, whatever the
color of his skin,” Mr. Kennedy
said.

As for the argument on pro-
perty rights, he reminded the
lcommittee that thirty-two state
already had laws banning dis-
crimination in public facilities.
Most of those laws, he asserted,
were “more encompassing and
far more stringent than the
legislation we have suggested.”

Senator Sam J, Ervin, former
Associate Justice of the North
Carolina Supreme Court, was
the principal interrogator of the
Attorney General. Senator Er-

with -help) from Senator



‘gal assault

tion bill. 77

es as “the North
his ques-
Vir. Kennedy
ss Why “the founding
fathers decided to have a writ-
ten Constitution.”
“They wanted the citizen to
‘be sure what his rights, liber-
ties and responsibilities would
be, and the relationship of the
Federal Government to the
states,’ the Attorney General
replied, as if he were a school-
boy taking an examination,

Then, beginning with Ex
Parte Milligan, a Supreme
Court decision of 1866, the Sen-
ator began to read to Mr, Ken-
nedy excerpts from court deci-
sions and Constitutional au-
thorities, all dealing with the
protection of citizens from
usurpations of power by the ex-
ecutive.

Mr, Ervin had hardly begun
his reading, however, when the
noon bell rang summoning the
Senate to session.

Because Senator Strom Thur-
mond,

press rel
Carolina solon,” be;

itioning by) asic

mit committee
tings While the Senate is in
session, the fcc
journed until Monday.

In an impromptu news con-
ference afterward, Senator Er-
vin was asked to comment on
charges made by Govs. Ross R.
Barnett of Mississippi and
George C, Wallace of Alabama
and Attorney General /Bruce
Bennett of Arkansas that the
civil rights movement was
“Communist-inspired.”

Mr. Ervin said that he had
“no aceess to information on
the activities of Communists.”
‘He added that he was going to

taking
Constitu

what the two gove

said before the Senate Com-
merce Committee or what proof
they had for their assertions
that demonstrations were
“Communist-inspired.”

The two Governors and Mr.
Bennett. were witnesses pre-
sented by Senator Thurmond.
“Different approaches have
different appeals to different
Senators,” Mr. Ervin said. “A
fellow in public life gets a lot
of votes from a lot of people.”
Later Senator Russess said)
that obviously Communists
would get behind the civil rights)
bill because it was a ‘potential|
source of trouble” and they}
liked “to rub salt in sores.”)
“My opposition,” he added, “‘is|,
predicated on the grounds that)
it is un-American, contrary |
the Constitution and a. curta

ment of the use and right of
private property.”

“We're on mighty high fil
on the Constitutional argument,
Mr. Russell declared.
Governors Barnett and Wal-
lace had both insisted that li-
teracy tests for voting were
impartially administered in the
states. . ;

Attorney General Kennedy
gave examples today of what
he called “shocking instances
of discrimination against Ne-
groes” in both states. —

The Alabama registration ap-
plication, he said, as one ques-
tion: ;

Will you give
fort to the enem
United States
the Government of
Alabama.” ,

A white man wilh
grade education
answer “No—Gi
stat of Ala” \

A Negro

same county,

for twenty-eight years, was
rejected for an ineonsequential
error of a date, Mr. Kennedy
said. When she completed the
form perfectly in a second try,
the registrar ruled she could
not apply more than once.

Negroes, he said, are often
asked to interpret the mean-
ing of “due process” to a regis-
tar who knows no law, while
whites are asked explain,
“There shall be no imprison-
ment for debt.”

‘Literate’ Whites Answer

One white man interpreted
that sentence, Mr. Kennedy said,
in this way: j

“T think that a Neogro Should
Have 8 years im college Be
for voting Be couse He dont
under Stand.”

‘He was accepted.

In Tallahatchie County, Miss.,
4,329 of the whites, or 84.8
per cent, are registered, while
only five Negroes, less than
one-tenth of one per, cent, are
registered, Mr. Kennedy said.

Secretary of Labor W. Wil-
lard Wirtz, testifying before the
Senate Commerce Committee,
said he favored “in principle”
an amendment proposed by Sen-
ator Barry Goldwater, Republi-
can of Arizona, to deny certifi-
cation under the Landrum-
Griffin Act to any labor union



‘approach the problem “on the

practicing racial discrimination.










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