STATEMENT OF REV. J. M. BARNES, HATTIESBURG, MISS., BEFORE THE HOUSE JUDICIARY SUBCOMMITTEE No. 5, APRIL 24, 1959

Mr. Chairman, gentlemen of the committee, I am Rev. J. M. Barnes, of Hattiesburg, Miss., which is in Forrest County. I am accompanied by Mrs. Barnes, my wife. I was born in Mississippi and have been living in Hattiesburg for 25 years. Mrs. Barnes was born in Hattiesburg and has lived there all of her life. During the whole 25 years of my residence in the county, I have been unable to register and vote. In 1952 the circuit clerk, Luther M. Cox, refused to permit me to register. I have continued to try to register about four times each year, including this year, along with other Negroes, but we were refused.

Because of the frequent denials, we made a test case. We had a Negro lady who lives in the county and who appeared to be white to try to register. Without any questions whatsoever she was registered. On the same day, 14 of us attempted to register, but we were refused. That has been the condition throughout the years and it is still going on. We had an election of a new clerk and the condition has been the same since the new clerk has been in office. We went to see him 1 week after he was in office and we asked to register. He told us that we couldn't register. He said he didn't have his office set up and said for us to come back later. I asked him what did he mean by later. He said he didn't know.

I was in the new clerk's office on March 7, 1959, to register. He wasn't present and I asked his deputy clerk to register me. She stated that she could not register me and I would have to see the clerk. Last year on October 17, 1958, I was in the office of the circuit clerk to register, with me was Mr. Clyde Kennard. We asked if we could register and the reply was "No." I then asked if he had any reasons for not registering me. He said "No." He then asked Clyde Kennard if we belonged to the NAACP and Clyde said "No," which he did not belong. I said "Yes," which I do belong. I then asked the clerk if he had any reason for refusing to let us register, he said "No." Each time, he did not ask us for any qualifications or present us with any blanks, he just says "No" we could not register.

After being turned down several times, I filed affidavits and also carried my case to the State election commission in 1956 by registered mail. The commission did not answer. The only reply I received was the receipt indicating that the letter had been received by them. Our poll taxes are paid up for the years 1952 through 1959. I am offering the committee copies of the receipts.

In Forrest County, there are 7,400 colored persons 21 years and over. There are 25 Negroes registered. The reason for the small number of colored people is because most of them have had the same experience that I have had. I have not been permitted to register and many of the persons with me have been denied the right to register. Most people now say, "what's the use of trying because we are not going to get fair treatment at the place of registration." In spite of this discouragement, I continue to urge them to make attempts to register. Some continue to make attempts to register and will continue to do so, but we need the Federal Government on this matter. The officials of Forrest County will continue to deny colored people the right to register and vote unless they are required to do so.

Mr. SLAYMAN. Our next meeting is at 10 a.m., tomorrow, in room 457, Old Senate Office Building.

Senator ERVIN. The subcommittee is now recessed until then. (Whereupon, at 12 noon, the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m., Thursday, May 21, 1959.)

CIVIL RIGHTS-1959

THURSDAY, MAY 21, 1959

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY,

Washington D.C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess at 10 a.m. in room 318, Old Senate Office Building, Senator Sam J. Ervin, Jr. (acting chairman) presiding.

Present: Senators Ervin and McClellan.

Also present: Charles H. Slayman, Jr., chief counsel and staff director.

Senator ERVIN. The subcommittee will come to order.

The chairman of the subcommitttee, Senator Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., is detained by other committee work, and for this reason will not be able to be present today. I am presiding over the subcommittee at his request.

The committee is delighted to have with us today the able and distinguished Congressman from South Carolina, Mendel Rivers. You may proceed in your own way, as you see fit.

Mr. RIVERS. Thank you.

Senator ERVIN. You may either stand or be seated.

Mr. RIVERS. Since I have it written, Mr. Chairman, I will just sit down.

STATEMENT OF HON. L. MENDEL RIVERS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

Mr. RIVERS. Mr. Chairman, this morning I appear in opposition to the entire group of bills which have flooded both this body and our body on the alleged excuse of the protection of civil rights.

I have a list of them here and I will only refer to a few. They are carried on by those with whom we do not agree. We call them leftwingers of our party, that same group of the modern Republicans. They have been introduced at the insistence, request, and by the direction in our part of the Congress of the NAACP and that group of Americans who at the moment are in charge of this Government of the United States and of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Chairman, it is ironic that any proposal or anything promulgated by the NAACP not only receives the enthusiastic approval of the group to which I have just referred, but it demonstrates how in order to stay in the Congress of the United States, certain people would ignore the Constitution in order to destroy that segment of white people living south of the Mason-Dixon line and annihilate anyone who dares to oppose their program.

The ringleaders in this constitutional crusade who show little interest in the welfare of their own people when it comes to juvenile delinquency and mass murder and things of that character, in the large cities of the East and and the Midwest and other sections of the country, they do not care a thing about what goes on in their own backyards. Their program is to change your and my way of life. I know and you know that you never hear of these people ever, ever, ever making a statement on the floor of either body of Congress when they hear of these terrific and terrible mass assaults on the people in the streets of Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and these other large areas in America. You do not hear it.

You do not see the barrage of cameras coming down to Henderson, N.C., where today the National Guard is keeping order like they did in Little Rock. They had more cameramen in Little Rock than they had schoolchildren to try to discredit the great people of that great city.

They do not see that. They do not care for anything but to destroy our way of doing business, whether it is good or bad. We are their program. We are their target, and they will do anything to discredit

us.

We never see a bill, we never see a statement by any of them showing our way of doing business.

Mr. Chairman, I congratulate you. I want to congratulate this committee under the leadership of the distinguished Senator from Mississippi for setting up a committee with the divergent points of view of all the Senate of the United States.

You have people on your subcommittee who do not agree with me and do not agree with you. At least you are objective. We do not have that over in our House, and I said that publicly.

On the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, over 33 percent of that membership comes from South of the MasonDixon Line. Not one of that 33 percent was on the subcommittee which is considering the legislation to destroy my people.

I told this to the chairman face to face, that he wasn't doing the right thing. I say it now off the record, on the record, or in the record. We have a group who are considering this legislation in our body who, if they had the temerity to agree with me on if, and, or but, it might cost their seat in Congress. We do not have anybody who can be objective on that subcommittee. That is for the record.

But in your body, at least you are objective. I told Mr. Celler that. I now tell you that. Before his committee we are being hanged, drawn, and quartered in absentia, as Shakespeare or some other great man like Sam Ervin has said. We aren't represented in this committee. That is why I have come over here this morning, Mr. Chairman, to take up your time and my time. It is a long walk from our office over here, but it does me good.

The bills under consideration by your committee, Mr. Chairman, roughly are those by Senator Javits, S. 256, S. 810 by Senator Douglas, which is the same as H.R. 347 introduced by Mr. Celler. Those bills, I am informed by Mr. Willis from Louisiana and the distinguished Senator on your right, deal with the criticism of the Supreme Court in parts of the bill. You cannot even criticize the Supreme Court; it is a violation of law.

Senator Douglas said that in New York. He criticized the bar association because they didn't defend the Supreme Court against criticism, and he lamented that.

The distinguished Senator from Mississippi, Senator Eastland, last year about July 10 or thereabouts spoke about the disenchantment of the President of the United States on the Supreme Court. He sent a special message over here by virtue of the fact that that body of the Supreme Court in their decision had abolished the State Department of the United States in their capacity of issuing visas or show any discretionary power under the basic law of 1918 about which both of you gentlemen here this morning are thoroughly familiar.

President Eisenhower complained about that. The American Bar Association said this year, Mr. Chairman, that because of the decision of the Supreme Court in their house of delegates the internal security of this country had been weakened. They didn't reflect on our problem down in our part of the country. They were talking about other things.

They were also complaining about the Steve Nelson case, the Mallory case, and these other cases by the Supreme Court. They have complained.

Douglas didn't like that.

One of the greatest lawyers, Judge Learned Hand, criticized the Supreme Court. Under these bills that are before you today, they can't do that. We have a terrible concoction before your committee and before ours, along with the other terrific and predatory elements of their proposals contained in these bills.

I have come here this morning only to call this to your attention, that I hope that your distinguished committee somewhere down the line, through your great leadership, can bring back sanity to the thinking of those with whom you have contact.

Take the FBI. I worked in the Department of Justice years ago when you were a young boy, Mr. Chairman. In that day the Department of Justice had some respectability in my country. Take the great J. Edgar Hoover. I knew him well and I know him well. Look what has happened to J. Edgar Hoover under the bludgeoning of the present Attorney General and of the policy of this administration. Take, for instance, the alleged lynching case in Mississippi. Of course none of us believes in lynching. I know and you know that Edgar Hoover was ordered to send his men to Mississippi. Edgar Hoover is a good soldier and he carries out orders regardless of how distasteful. I can't speak for Hoover and I don't propose to, but I do not imagine he relishes some of the assignments the present Attorney General gives him. However, under the bludgeoning of the forces who despise the southern people, the FBI is going through one of its most serious trials. If the policy of this administration continues, the prestige of the FBI is bound to suffer. It is my earnest hope that the people in my section of America will not lose one iota of the esteem with which they hold Edgar Hoover and the FBI.

If the NAACP has its way, the FBI will be destroyed in America as a crime-detection force.

William Jennings Bryan said, "The humblest citizen in the land clad in the armor of right can prevail against a whole host of error."