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rights bill.
He said the country needs “a
elear definition from Congress’’
on what must be done to do away
with racial discrimination. With-
‘out that, he said, cities like At-
lanta that have made progress
voluntarily will “slip back.”
\The mayor said that if Con-
‘ess does not act, it will be in
‘ect an ‘‘endorsement” of seg-
‘ation.
te mayor was the first South-
politician to testify in favor
@ legislation. He was warmly
fsed for his statement by the
airman and other members of
2 Senate Commerce committee,
flich is handling the bill.
/ERMED VALIANT
“I am humble in your pres-
ence,”’ Chairman John Pastore of
_Rhode Island told Allen. He said
, Allen displayed ‘“‘courage”’ in
| speaking out for civil rights be-
cause he came from an area
“where sincere people disagree.”
‘| Pastore is an advocate of civil
‘|rights legislation. He and Sen.
,| Strom Thurmond, D-S.C., who is
|| opposed to the pending bill, got
*|into a hot and angry, top-of-the-
-|lungs argument while Allen was
,|on the witness stand.
| PINPOINTING ASKED
| Pastore accused Thurmond of
asking Allen “loaded’’ questions
and threatened to rule him out
of order. Thurmond accused Pas-
tore of “gag” rule and accused
the audience, which had applaud-
ed Pastore, of being “a bunch of
left wingers.”
| The burden or Mayor Allen’s
| testimony was that if Congress
| would specify just where discrim-
jination is illegal, it will be
easier for local governments and
businessmen to comply with de-
,|mands from Negroes for more
>|rights, He said Congress ought
to outlaw discrimination in private
‘4 business—but give communities
“24 months or more” to adjust to
10) the new law.
“T have heard dozens of busi-
J- | nessmen say that if there had been
it} a court order or definition by
d| Congress, it would have been
} | easier to desegregate,” Allen said.
“| $en. Thurmond pointed out to
| Allen that eight of 10 examples
\ the mayor cited. of desegregation
isp Atlanta had been voluntary ae-
¢ Continued on Page 5, Column i
\
ee
Senator Hails Allen
For Attacking Bias
By TED LIPPMAN
Constitution Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. Friday
\ |}urged Congress to pass a “public accommodations” civil
Rees Baiada pees, Wirep hoto r
BACKS BILL
Mayor Ivan Allen Jr.
Girl, 8, Dies
Of Encephalitis
At Savannah
SAVANNAH (® — Nancy Fay
Justice, 8-year-old girl who had
been critically ill for two weeks
with symptoms of encephalitis,
died Friday at Hunter Air Force
Base Hospital.
She had been admitted te the
hospital July 15.
A Hunter public information of-
fice spokesman said that the
“probable cause of the little girl’s
death was due to a type of en-
cephalitis not connected with the
recent equine variety” reported in
Chatham County.
Several horses have died here
in the past two weeks, their deaths
being blamed on a type of sleep-
ing sickness.
Nancy was the daughter of Capt.
and Mrs, James EB. Justices
St a ap.
ee eee
Senator Hails Allen
For Attacking Bias
Continued From Page 1
tions asking, “Don’t you feel
there was less tension when there
was voluntary action?"
“No. If we had a clear defini-
tion from Congress it would be
easier,” the mayor said. ‘The
courts have left us up in the air.”
The need for congressional ac-
tion “‘to take us out of a pit of
indecision” was the theme Allen
returned to time and again, When
committee members tried to get
him to talk about the legal and
constitutional intricacies of the
proposed legislation, he always
begged off. “I’m not a lawyer,’
he said several times.
In his prepared statement he
said, “I beg of you not to let
this issue of discrimination drown
in legalistic water.”
WHAT TRIBUNAL MEANT
In another place in his state-
ment, he said, ‘If the Congress
should fail to clarify the issues
at the present time, then by
inference it would be saying that
you could begin discrimination
under the guise-of private busi-
ness, I do not believe that this
is what the Supreme Court has
intended with ifs decisions. 1 do
not believe that this is the intent
of Congress or the people of this
country.”
At one point, Thurmond asked
Allen about the possible adverse
effect an anti-discrimination law
might have on some private busi-
nesses. “I think you know I'm not
i ie favor of the destruction of .
private property, Allen said,
“What I’m asking Congress is to
give me a definition of how that
business is to be preserved anc
at the same time how the righi
of 200,000 Negro citizens in Atlanta
are to be protected.”
Another witness before.the Com-
merce Committee Friday was Gov.
Donald Russell of South Carolina.
He opposed the bill as unconsti-
tutional and said it “offers no
sound remedy for the delicate and
complex problem of racial re-
lations.”
“MORE DIFFICULT”
Russell said, ‘Actually, legis-
lative coercion can aggravate and |-
make more difficult the whole
problem. New York state has as
stringent a code of so-called anti-
discrimination legislation as can |
be envisaged, Has such legislation
solved, race relations in New
York? There are riots in the
Bronx. There are demonstrations
in Manhattan. There are sit-downs
in the offices of both Gov. Rocke-
feller and Mayor Wagner. There
are strident indictments of the
City of New York as a city of
racial ghettos. Laws have not giv-
en New York racial peace.”
The third witness of the day was |’
R. Carter Pittman of Dalton, Ga.,
an attorney. He opposed the meas-
ure and discussed the “interesting
history’’ of the Constitution’s Com-
merece Clause. That is what the
administration is relying on as the | !
hasis of the constitutionality of the|
proposed law.
Pittman said none of the dele-
gates to the Constitutional Con-
vention believed that the Com-
merce Clause should be “pervert-
ed into’’ a power to regulate the
use of private property at rest
within a state,
“esac
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