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Full resolution (TIFF) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Economics - 19. The War Boom—and Thereafter - 3. Government Policy in Regard to the Negro in War Production
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Chapter 19. The War Boom—^and Thereafter 415
defense contracts. The order contains, further,, a confirmation of previous
orders about nondiscrimination in defense training programs. Finally, a
President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practice was to be set up for
the purpose of receiving and investigating complaints of discrimination in
violation of the order.^“
The Committee can scarcely institute any punishment for noncompli-
ance. Theoretically, it could recommend the cancellation of war contracts,
but, in view of the present emergency, such a measure would hardly ever
be considered. Its main weapons are publicity and moral pressure, and
those weapons have been used with some success.^® No employer or trade
union likes to appear as the defendant at one of the public hearings, a
record of which is published by the Committee together with ^^findings”
and "directives.” It is obvious that only a small portion of all offending
employers and unions can be reached, since the staff of the Committee, so
far, has been small.^^ Yet the Committee has shown that it means busi-
ness, and that it is not willing to accept a token employment of a few
Negroes in custodial and other menial jobs as evidence of nondiscrimina-
tion.
There are numerous reports about airplane plants and other previously
exclusionistic establishments which have opened their doors to the Negro
worker. Some of these gains have a highly strategic value, in that Negro
workers have been placed in occupations where they have never worked
before. It is hard to say, however, to what extent the gains are due to the
activities of the Committee or to the increased scarcity of labor. There is
no evidence that the Committee, as yet, has brought about any results
which are significant from a quantitative point of view. It is not impos-
sible, however, that the Committee may help to change even the "statis-
tical” picture in the future. In the first place, it was only during the winter
1941-1942 that the Committee established itself in the general consciousness
of the employers and the unions. Prestige and publicity have their effective-
ness over a period of time, and not all at once.® Second, Negroes and women
constitute an increasingly important part of the remaining labor reserve,
so that any further expansion in war production must mean an increased
utilization of Negro and female labor. It is obvious, however, that large-
scale results, if they are attained at all, will have to come before the peak
in war production has been reached.
The Executive Order and the President’s Committee, directly or iiidi-
rectly, have had a healthy effect on some of the federal government serv-
ices as well as on private industry.^® We previously touched upon the fact
* While this book is in press, the F.E.P.C. has been moribund, largely because of political
pressure from Southern politicians, and partly because the war boom has sharply reduced the
number of unemployed Negroes. Whether the F.E.P.C. will ever be revived, it is impossible
to say. It oi£dally remains in existence although it has no activity.
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