CONTENTS Proxmire, Hon. William, Chairman, Joint Economic Committee: Opening Page Harris, Hon. Fred R., a U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, member, National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. - Corman, Hon. James C., a U.S. Representative in Congress from the 22d District of California, and member of the National Advisory Commission Curtis, Hon. Thomas B., ranking minority member of Joint Economic Table: "Median earnings of males 25-64 years of age with earnings in the experienced labor force,' extract from "The Advancing Liebow, Elliot, National Institute of Mental Health. Chapter II. Men and Jobs, excerpted from "Tally's Corner: A Study Answers to questions submitted by Chairman Proxmire.. Ginzberg, Eli, Hepburn Professor of Economics, Graduate School of 174 Answers to questions submitted by Chairman Proxmire_ 176 Burrell, Berkeley G., president, National Business League. Mangum, Garth L., co-director, Center for Manpower Policy Studies.. Sullivan, Rev. Leon H., chairman, Opportunity Industrial Center, Phila- 200 Nixon, Russell A., associate director, Center for Study of the Unemployed, THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 1968 Beck, Pertram M., executive director, Mobilization for Youth, New York. Page 245 248 251 Christian, Virgil L., Jr., professor, Department of Economics, University of 257 Bennett, Hon. Charles E., a U.S. Representative from the 3d District, 279 H.R. 17567; H.R. 241; and H.R. 244. 281 ADDITIONAL MATERIALS "Is the Negro American Making Progress?-A Debate on the Meaning of Statistics": Article from Washington Post, January 14, 1968.. The President's statement. The Brookings Critique, by Rashi Fein and Stephen Michelson... "Politics and People-How Many Jobs?" by Alan L. Otten, reprinted "The Urban Crisis: an analysis; an answer," AFL-CIO background paper. 235 EMPLOYMENT AND MANPOWER PROBLEMS IN THE CITIES: IMPLICATIONS OF THE REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS TUESDAY, MAY 28, 1968 CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, JOINT ECONOMIC COMMITTEE, Washington, D.C. The Joint Economic Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in room S-407, the Capitol, Hon. Richard Bolling, member of the committee, presiding in place of Chairman Proxmire. Present: Representatives Bolling, Reuss, Griffiths, Moorhead, Curtis, and Rumsfeld; and Senators Proxmire, Javits, Jordan, and Percy. Also present: John R. Stark, executive director; James W. Knowles, director of research; and Douglas C. Frechtling, minority staff. Representative BOLLING (presiding). The Joint Economic Committee will be in order. We have been informed that one of our scheduled witnesses, Mr. McCulloch, will be unable to be here. He is detained by other business. So, also, is Senator Brooke. First, I would like to call on the man who should properly be chairing this hearing, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, Senator Proxmire, for an opening statement. Senator PROXMIRE. Well, I believe the man who should properly be chairing this meeting is chairing it. I say properly for many reasons, but primarily because of his qualifications in the area and expertise in the area. Today, the Joint Economic Committee will begin hearings on the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.* The Nation, indeed, the world, has been shocked and grieved by the scope of the destruction of lives and property which occurred in the disorders. These hearings will concentrate on the employment or manpower aspects of that report. It states that: Unemployment and underemployment are among the most persistent and serious grievances of our disadvantaged minorities. The pervasive effect of these conditions on the racial ghetto is inextricably linked to the problem of civil disorders. The subject goes to the very heart of the Employment Act of 1946, which, of course, is the charter for this Joint Economic Committee. *"Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders", March 1, 1968; Chairman, Hon. Otto Kerner, Governor of Illinois. References to this report appear throughout hearing as "Kerner Report", "Kerner Commission Report", etc. As the report points out: In the Employment Act of 1946 which established this committee the United States set for itself a national goal of a useful job at a reasonable wage for all who wish to work. Their report makes clear that, in spite of much progress, and after 20 years under the act, the Nation is still a long way from its goal. Now, because of the urgency with which we regard the matter, the full committee decided to hold these hearings. Because of his concern as chairman of the Subcommittee on Urban Affairs, and because of his great knowledge in the field, I have asked Mr. Bolling to cochair them with me. He and I agree that the committee must continue to give priority concern to the subject, and we have no intention that the committee's concern with the manpower implications of the Kerner Report and, indeed, with all the implications of that report, be limited to this brief set of hearings before us now. We shall come back to it again in the hope of contributing to a constructive solution of the intolerable social problems depicted in that report. The Kerner Commission was fortunate in having in the Congress four members of the Commission, two from each House. They were among its most able and diligent members. Two of those members are here with us today, and we will call upon them. One, of course, is my dear friend and colleague, Fred Harris, who is famous for many things, including a great book he has just finished. Senator HARRIS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator PROXMIRE. And the other is the distinguished Representative James C. Corman, from the 22d Congressional District of California, a man of whom we have read a lot about and who contributed so greatly to that report. Representative BOLLING. Thank you. Mr. Rumsfeld, would you care to say anything at the beginning? Representative RUMSFELD. Nothing at all, Mr. Chairman, except to say that I feel that this is an exceedingly important effort we are undertaking today, and I commend you and the chairman of the full committee for beginning the series of hearings on the President's Commission on Civil Disorders and certainly welcome our two guests. Senator JORDAN. I have no statement, Mr. Chairman, except to endorse the action taken here to make a record on the recommendations of the Commission and see what we can or should do about it. Representative BOLLING. Senator Harris and Congressman Corman, we are glad to welcome you both; for a number of reasons, I would say, including the fact that the Senate meets at 10 today on a matter of some relative importance. We will call on Senator Harris first for his statement. Senator Harris? STATEMENT OF HON. FRED R. HARRIS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM OKLAHOMA, AND MEMBER, NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS Senator HARRIS. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Joint Economic Committee, I want to say first that I am delighted to have this opportu nity to give you some of my views of what this Nation must do if it is to meet the critical domestic crisis which now faces us. I understand that these hearings will focus rather specifically on the employment recommendations of the President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, and I think that concentration reflects the same sense of national priorities which we on the Commission expressed in our report. I want also to say how proud I was to work with Jim Corman, Bill McCulloch, and Ed Brooke, who served very diligently and with great distinction on the President's National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. And I am pleased and proud this morning to share this presentation with Jim Corman. I would first like to take this opportunity at the beginning to speak briefly about some of the fundamental issues-rather broader than unemployment and underemployment alone-which the Commission believed lie at the heart of our urban and racial crisis. My colleagues and I on the Commission said that three basic causes, always present in the American experience, but never so intensely as now, have merged and reinforced each other in post-World War II years to create the inflammatory mixture which has exploded in the form of our terrible urban disorders of the past several years. Those three causes, we said in effect, are racism, powerlessness, and poverty. Racism has been central to American history. We have always temporized and compromised with it, but have never come close to destroying it. Racism is the No. 1 mental health problem of America ; it cripples far more children and adults than schizophrenia or mental retardation. And I speak both of the victims or racism as well as those who are taught it. Some people have mistakenly assumed that when the Commission spoke of racism we had in mind just the intense personal animosity many whites express toward Negores and members of other minority groups. Not at all. We were equally concerned with the sort of racism you cannot see very well if you are white but which Negroes experience every day of their lives the racism built into the very institutions of American society, the racism which systematically and quite impersonally excludes most Negroes from a decent education, from a livable home, from a chance to set up and run a business, and-most important of all-from a decent, dignified job at a living wage. Lack of political power is the second factor which underlies disorders. This is a country now in which most of our people live in and around cities, where human relationships are very impersonal, where decisions affecting the lives and environment of large numbers of people are made by huge, distant corporations, or inaccessible planning commissions or zoning boards. Everyone I think, experiences the desire to have more power over his own life, and over the private and governmental decisions which affect his life. We all feel restless and uneasy about the fact that we don't have that kind of power. For a poor person, that feeling of powerlessness is forse. And if that person is young, it is worse still. And if he is poor, young, and black as well, that sense of powerlessness is simply overwhelming. The Commission, as this committee knows, made very detailed recommendations in both these fields. We were not sure how racist |