Atlanta Daily World

Publishers Point To Competency Of Many Americans

BY LOUIS LAUTIER

WASHINGTON, D.C. — (NNPA)

The naming of J. Ernest Wilkins, Assistant Secretary of Labor, as a member of the newly created Civil Rights Commission brought criticism of the lack of geographical distribution of colored persons picked for top spots in the Eisenhower Administration.

Personally, Mr. Wilkins is very highly regarded. He won honors as a student at the University of Illinois, distinguished himself as a member of the bar in Chicago, as a layman in the Methodist Church he rose to be secretary of its Judicial Council, and attracted the attention of Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell while he was serving as vice chairman of the President's Committee on Government Contracts.

But there was general widespread feeling that there are other colored persons competent to serve in high Government positions than Mr. Wilkins.

VIEW OF PUBLISHERS

This feeling was the general view of a group of publishers who met in Washington the day after the White House announced the appointments of members of the commission.

A quick survey of persons holding Presidential appointments appears to support this criticism.

Of seven colored persons holding Presidential appointments requiring Senate confirmation: three of them are from Illinois, and a fourth attended the University of Illinois and practiced law in Chicago before taking a job in Missouri.

The three Illinoisans holding Presidential commissions are: Mr. Wilkins, Richard L. Jones, United States Ambassador to Liberia, and Geneva Washington, Alternate Representative to the United Nations General Assembly.

RICHARDSON APPOINTMENT

Judge Scovel Richardson of the United States Customs Court was originally appointed by President Eisenhower as a member of the Federal Parole Board from Missouri. After serving as chairman of that board, he was appointed to the Customs Court

Judge Richardson received his (Continued on Page 4, Col 2)
Publisher's Point
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bachelor of arts and master's degrees from the University of Illinois and his law degree from Howard University. After practicing law in Chicago, he accepted the post of associate professor of law at the Lincoln, University Law School in St. Louis where he later became dean.

The only other colored persons holding statutory positions are Walter A. Gordon, Governor of the Virgin Islands, whose home is in Almeda, Calif.: Leon P. Miller, United States Attorney for the Virgin Islands, and Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. (retired). who is a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission.

These seven appointments to statutory positions. requiring Senate confirmation, are relatively so small in number that they almost approach zero.

In naming Mr. Wilkins to the Commission, President Eisenhower apparently had an eye peeled toward the Senate Judicial Committee, of which Senator James O. Eastland, Dixiecrat, is chairman, and Senators Olin D. Johnson of South Carolina John L. McClellan of Arkansas, and Sam J. Ervin of North Carolina. all hostile to the civil rights bill while it was pending in Congress. are members.

Reports already are abroad that Eastland, Johnston, McClellan and Ervin have their knives unsheathed and whetted for the appointees to the Commission as soon as their nominations are sent to the Senate.

The Administration reasoned that Mr. Wilkins. having been confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Labor, can win confirmation as a member of the Commission.