inspection during September 5-15, 1961, dated October 3, 1961, states "Survey findings show that many aspects of the civilian personnel management program are being administered in an adequate or better manner. Noteworthy among the favorable findings are *** (g) serious effort to assure equitable treatment of employees belonging to minority groups.” If I can be of further assistance to you in this matter, please let me know. Sincerely yours, JOHN M. ANSLEY, Lieutenant Colonel, CE, Commanding. CENTRAL SOYA, Fort Wayne, Ind., December 7, 1961. Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. ROOSEVELT: Thank you very much for the letter from your Special Subcommittee on Labor with the special testimony of Mr. Holman. We appre ciate the opportunity of replying to this letter. At the Master Feed & Seed Co., of East St. Louis, which is affiliated with Central Soya, we employ only five semiskilled warehousemen and six other people, who are skilled salesmen, clerical, or supervisory personnel. You may be interested in knowing that some of the services provided to the Master Feed & Seed Co. warehouse at East St. Louis are provided by colored people. If we were discriminatory, we would not be hiring these workers. Also, you may be interested in knowing that at our feed manufacturing plant in Memphis, Tenn., a large percentage of our millworkers are colored. Furthermore, at our Texas feed manufacturing plant, most of our workers are of Mexican origin and have pigmented skins, although they are not the same as NAACP. Being good citizens in the business communities in which we operate, we fully understand the laws of the land and the importance of the problem you are attempting to bring to light. However, we do not appreciate receiving reports which are prejudiced and which imply discriminatory practices, putting our company and related industries in a bad light, when this is not the case. Having met you personally in Washington on various occasions, I fully appreciate and respect the fine work which you are doing; and we believe that you want us to speak with honesty and frankness as has been done in this letter. With best wishes for a very pleasant holiday season, I remain, J. L. KRIDER, Vice President. St. Clair County, Ill., December 5, 1961, Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, Congress of the United States. DEAR SIR: We wish to acknowledge your letter of November 14, transmitting to us testimony given to your special subcommittee by Dr. Holman. We appreciate your referring this to us and giving us an opportunity to state Swift & Co.'s policy in this respect. It has been our company's longstanding policy to give fair and reasonable consideration to any applicant for employment regardless of race, creed, nationality, or sex. This policy is explicit not only in our management instruction documents but also is spelled out in contracts with unions representing employees in our plants. You may be interested in noting this in the attached pages 6 and 7 of the master agreement with the union representing employees at our National Stock Yards plant. Sincerely yours, GARLAND RUSSELL. EMPLOYMENT POLICY 6. (a) The company shall give preference, when hiring people, to former employees whose services were satisfactory. Employees whose employment is terminated as a result of technological change and who have not received separation pay, may request employment at other units covered by this agreement, and if such employment is available shall be offered such employment with service rights to which they would be entitled under this agreement preserved for all purposes, except that the seniority of such employees at the new plant shall date from the date of employment at the new plant unless otherwise mutually agreed. (b) Employees who have given long and faithful service in the employ of the company and have become unable to handle their position, will be given preference to such other work as is available. Wages paid to such employees shall be the wages of the position assigned. 7. The company agrees that it will give fair and reasonable consideration to any applicant or employee regardless of race, sex, color, creed, nationality, or membership in the union. NO COERCION 8. The union, its officers, and members shall not intimidate or coerce employees into joining the union or continuing their membership therein. CONTRIBUTIONS 9. Contributions to charity and membership in insurance or welfare associations is entirely voluntary on the part of the employee. MANAGEMENT 10. The management of the plants and direction of the working forces, including the right to hire, suspend, or discharge for just cause, to assign to jobs, to transfer employes within the plant, to increase and decrease the working force, to determine products to be handled, produced, or manufactured, the schedules of production, and the methods, processes, and means of production or handling, are vested exclusively in the company; provided this will not be used for the purpose of discrimination against any employe or to avoid any of the provisions of this agreement. COMPANY AND UNION RESPONSIBILITY 11. There shall be no strike, stoppage, slowdown, or suspension of work on the part of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters & Butcher Workmen of North America (AFL-CIO), the local unions, or their members, or lockout on the part of the company. MOBIL OIL CO., East St. Louis, Ill., December 4, 1961. Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, U.S. House of Representatives, DEAR CONGRESSMAN ROOSEVELT: I acknowledge your letter of November 14 which was received on November 20, and appreciate the opportunity to comment on the matter you have raised. I know you will be interested in the policy of our company, which is set forth in the following resolution of our board of directors, dated June 8, 1955: "Socony Mobil Oil Co., Inc., has long had a policy against any discrimination in its business relationships because of race, creed, color, or national origin. Increasingly in recent years what had been a moral obligation and good practice has become also a matter of law. Many contacts which the U.S. Government enters into with industrial firms require the latter to avoid discriminatory practices. Those in direct charge of each phase of our company's business will continue to be responsible for seeing to it that anything having to do with personnel is conducted without prejudice, on the merits of the individual, and in conformity with applicable State and Federal laws." I have been the manager of the East St. Louis refinery of the company since 1956 and in such capacity have had full authority over all hiring practices. To the best of my knowledge, the above policy has been explicitly followed. Respectfully, H. A. LUTZ, Refinery Manager. Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, MIDWEST RUBBER RECLAIMING CO., Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. ROOSEVELT: Our company has received a letter, written by you as Chairman of a Special Subcommittee on Labor, concerning the recent Chicago hearings of your committee regarding the testimony of Dr. Lucien H. Holman. For your information, Dr. Holman is misinformed. I have carefully investigated the facts touching upon the statements made by him concerning our company and can find no basis whatsoever therefor. We appreciate your kindness in enclosing a copy of Dr. Holman's testimony for our information. Very truly yours, GILBERT K. TRIMBLE, President. FARMERS INSURANCE GROUP, Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, DEAR SIR: On November 14, 1961, you requested a written reply to allegations made by Dr. Lucien H. Holman in a statement before the Committee on Education and Labor of the House of Representatives on October 22, 1961. In reading Dr. Holman's statement, I find that he has reference to the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Co. in Aurora. Of course, I do not know whether he had reference to our own company, the Farmers Insurance Exchange, which is a member of the Farmers Insurance Group; however, our employment statement as set out in our personnel procedure manual is as follows: "The employment policy of the Farmers Insurance Group is employment on the basis of merit, qualifications, competency. There shall be no discrimination by management or employees against any applicant or employee because of race, religious creed, color, national origin, or ancestry. No position in the company is held exempt because of bona fide occupational qualification. All minority employees have equal rights for on-the-job training." Very truly yours, C. E. WILLIS, Regional Vice President. Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAS Co., Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN ROOSEVELT: This refers to your letter of November 14, 1961, received by this company. With respect to the allegations made in the testimony of Dr. Lucien H. Holman before your subcommittee referring to Northern Illinois Gas Co., this is to advise that Northern Illinois Gas Co. does not have, and has never had, any policy or practice which would involve discrimination against any employee or applicant for employment on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or ancestry. Your sincerely, W. E. PRESTON, Vice President. SPENCER KELLOGG DIVISION OF TEXTRON, INC., Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, SIR: We are surprised and shocked to hear we have been accused of discriminatory employment practices at our East St. Louis plant as we have a very high percentage of Negro employees in that plant. All of our employees are hired on merit with total disregard to race, creed or color. We have only two positions open to women employees at the plant, both of which have always been filled on merit. It is also surprising that Dr. Holman, in his testimony on October 22, 1961, referred to our company as the Staley Milling Co. The Staley Milling Co. merged with Spencer Kellogg on November 1, 1958, and has not operated under the name of Staley Milling Co. since about July 1, 1959. When Staley Milling Co. operated the East St. Louis plant, I was in charge as manager and their policy was exactly as outlined above. Very truly yours, Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, JOSEPH A. COOPER, Executive Vice President. UNION ASBESTOS & RUBBER CO., Bloomington, Ill., November 30, 1961. Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: On November 14 you wrote enclosing a copy of testimony given by a Dr. Holman to members of your subcommittee concerning employment practices in Illinois. We in our Bloomington, Ill., plant have no discriminatory labor practices of any kind. Dr. Holman's testimony is in error in that he stated that we employ 500 people. At the present time our Bloomington payroll does not exceed 160 people, and at no time has it been over 250 people. It is true that at the present time we have no Negroes on the payroll. This is due largely to the fact that we have seen no Negro applicants for several years. Any Negro applicant at this plant will have the same treatment as any other person applying for work, and will be either accepted or rejected based on his merits, regardless of race or color. Yours very sincerely, EMIL T. JOHNSON, Senior Vice President. EAST SIDE ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES, Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, DEAR SIR: Approximately half of our members were named as employers "engaged in discriminatory employment practices" in the testimony of Dr. Lucien H. Holman before your Special Subcommittee on Labor. We appreciate your apprising us of these accusations which came as fresh and unpleasant news. Probably some of our member companies will wish to answer individually. This, however, is made difficult by Dr. Holman having offered largely unsupported conclusions rather than the "facts on job discrimination (which) speak for themselves" that he promised. As one who for many years has been actively and practically engaged in the employment practices of the East Side community I want to reply to these allegations. First, the Illinois FEPC law was not written by "big business" as Dr. Holman stated. With a few exceptions, industrial employers were opposed to enactment of this law. We admit it and do no apologize for opposition to a law that we believed unnecessary and impracticable. As to its being "enforced by big business," a study of the membership of the commission will surely refute this. His reference to "no penalties" and "costly legal fees" are similarly inaccurate, as even a hasty reading of the act would prove. Second, Dr. Holman's charge that "job discrimination is widespread" in Madison and St. Clair Counties may be his opinion, to which he is entitled, but it is not shared by us. Dr. Holman did not offer a single bit of proof of discrimination but rather posed his opinionated conclusions as facts. By using a shotgun attack, Dr. Holman may have hit some fair game, but he also hurt some he should have protected. In some instances (but not in reference to any of our members) Dr. Holman stated, apparently intended as proof of discrimination, that X company employed "no Negroes." Equating either no employment or low percentage employment of Negroes with discrimination is a non sequitur and completely unfair to many employers. Forcing employment of Negroes to be on any kind of a proportionate basis would be discriminatory against white applicants because it absolutely could not be done on merit. The disadvantages of Negroes-lack of training and experience, union exclusions, and problems of acceptance by their white coworkers-in the employment market are being overcome rapidly, and I am sure that employers here welcome the change. Incidentally, it is unfair for "big business"-I couldn't determine whether it was "the known devil" or "the suspected witch" in Dr. Holman's antagonistic description-to be cast in the role of villain in this connection. It is ironic that on one hand corporate employers are accused of being cold and impersonal and on the other hand of being deliberately and extremely biased and intolerant, which are strictly personal traits. In our acceptance of Negro applicants we are being discouraged by their practice of inquring about or ostensibly applying for jobs they either do not want or at least never follow up on to the extent of being hired or rejected. We can only conclude that this is done to build up cases against employers. In any event it is a nuisance and a time-wasting harassment that we do not experience with other applicants. If this is part of the program of NAACP or any other groups, they are doing a disservice to everyone and actually delaying rather than hastening the employment of their members. Dr. Holman and others like him are wrong in treating us as adversaries. We have no fight with him or with anyone who honestly wants to work with us in solving our employment and employee relations problems. Yours very sincerely, FRANK C. MANSFIELD, Manager. MATERIAL SERVICE, Chicago, Ill., November 22, 1961. Hon. JAMES ROOSEVELT, Chairman, Special Subcommittee on Labor, DEAR SIR: We have your letter of November 14, 1961, with respect to the testimony of Dr. Lucien H. Holman, State president of the Illinois Conference of NAACP, concerning discriminatory employment practices. We want to thank you for the opportunity to make this written reply to the testimony of Dr. Holman that pertains to our company. We have reviewed this testimony and have noted that on page 8 Dr. Holman has stated that Material Service does not hire nonwhites. We would like to respectfully submit that we believe there is a misunderstanding in this respect. On the same page 8 of the testimony, Dr. Holman has stated that the Independent Concrete Pipe Plant does hire nonwhites. The pipe plant referred to is a substantial operation of Material Service located at Lockport, Ill., which is in the Joliet area. This operation, although sometimes locally called the old Independent Pipe Plant, has no separate corporate existence, and it is possible that some confusion could exist over the name. In any event, it would appear that Dr. Holman has, on the same page of his testimony, clearly identified us unqualifiedly as employing nonwhites, and this is a correct statement of the facts. It is and has been our policy to employ without regard to race, color, or creed. We never have kept records based on the number of people employed in any socalled minority groups, but one has only to go through our operations, not only in the Joliet area but in our Chicago operations as well, and he will find substantial numbers of representatives from all races and creeds. Again, we have appreciated the opportunity to respond to Dr. Holman's testimony and correct what we deem to be a misunderstanding. Very truly yours, LUCIAN A. LINCOLN, Director of Industrial Relations. |