Memorandum on Visit to Baltimore on Western Electric Case

We went to Baltimore on the above date to meet with Brigadier General A. A. Farmer, who is in charge of the Western Electric Company for the War Department. Also at the meeting was Lieutenant Colonel W. E. Thurman. General Farmer stated that the company is currently operating at top efficiency level; most of the employees are back at work; and there has been no change in the arrangement of facilities at the plant. He said, however, he was assured from investigations conducted by the F. B. I. and Army Intelligence that, when the Army moves out, some of the workers will leave the plant unless there is a plan provided for some separation of Negroes and whites in the use of lavatory facilities. General Farmer was asked whether the investigations had shown what the reaction of Negroes would be if a segregated lavatory scheme was introduced. General Farmer stated that some of the investigators felt that a large number of Negroes would not object to the separate facilities. Mr. Mitchell told General Farmer that he did not share the views of the investigators concerning the reaction of the Negroes on the basis of information which he had received from first-hand sources.

General Farmer stated that a new man, Mr. Jack Gainey, is in charge of personnel. Apparently, he has replaced Mr. C. C. Chew. Also, Mr. V. L. Dorsey, of the PBEA, has been replaced by Mr. H. G. Hennighausen. Colonel Thurman appeared to regard Mr. Hennighausen as more stable than Mr. Dorsey. Mr. Mitchell feels that there is very little to choose from when considering the relative merits of Mr. Dorsey and Mr. Hennighausen.

Colonel Thurman presented what he said was the company’s plan for a solution of the problem. First, the company intends to maintain the restaurant facilities as before. There will be new facilities installed with smaller tables, but Negroes and whites alike will use these facilities, under the plan. Another part of the plan calls for the establishment of locker units with wash rooms and toilets attached. General Farmer stated that the company had been given assistance in obtaining the additional steel required for lockers and that the Western Electric Company would spend approximately $500,000 in getting improved locker and lavatory facilities throughout the plant. Under this unit system, Negroes would be assigned to a locker unit on one side of the building and the whites to units on the opposite side. There would be no signs designating Negro or white facilities, but Colonel Thurman said the company hoped that persons using certain locker units would use the lavatory facilities attached to such units. Mr. Mitchell asked whether those planning this new scheme had taken into consideration the possibility of difficulties which individuals would face if they were working in one part of the plant and their locker unit with its lavatory facility was in another part. Colonel Thurman said that under the plan the facilities would be conveniently located as far as it was possible to do so, and it would be unlikely that persons would be disadvantaged by the arrangement.

It was agreed that Mr. Trimble would remain in Baltimore and go through the plant to try to ascertain the attitude of the colored employees on the question of separate or joint facilities.

In the afternoon, Mr. Trimble went with General Farmer to the latter’s office in the Cable Building and started the afternoon’s work by talking with Mr. John Shea, the Works Manager. Mr. Shea gave the same report about the reasons for the proposed plan for separate facilities that General Farmer and Colonel Thurman had given us in the forenoon. He said that the plan was that of the management. This was worked out, Mr. Shea said, after management had become convinced that trouble would develop when the military was removed from the plant if joint facilities were continued. He explained that, in his opinion, the community is opposed to joint facilities for colored and white and that he was reminded of this everytime he went to the Rotary Club or a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce. He had recently been to a social gathering, he said, including members of the Johns Hopkins University faculty and that at this gathering the faculty members made the same charge that he received from the business elements of the community, namely, that Western Electric was upsetting the pattern of the community on the race question. He also read from an article in the Baltimore Sun for December 31, 1943, which was to the same effect.

Mr. Shea was asked about the type of physical examination that the company gave prospective employees and whether or not a Wassermann test was given to determine the presence of venereal diseases. He at first said that such tests were given but called the medical office to check on his memory. He got the report that local tests were not given except a visual physical examination, but that the company’s doctors did take samples of blood, which were sent to the Public Health Department of Baltimore for analysis. The test that the City Department of Health employed, he was told, was the Klein test which is supposed to be more accurate than the Wassermann. It was also reported to him, however, that while the City Health Department is making the test a new employee is put on the job and is released if the test reveals the presence of such a disease.

Mr. Trimble then went through the Cable Building and the Wire Building and talked to a number of the colored employees, both male and female, to find out how they felt on the question of separate or joint facilities for the two races. (General Farmer had told us that a number of colored employees were in favor of separate facilities). He talked to approximately 27 colored employees chosen at random. Nearly all the male employees expressed themselves as being opposed to the establishment of separate facilities. Quite a few of the female employees indicated that they would not object to separate facilities. At the same time, some of the employees who expressed this opinion obviously felt rather bitter about the treatment which they received from the white employees. He got the feeling that even though they said that they would accept separate facilities, nevertheless, some of them would be somewhat resentful if separate facilities were established. Quite a few among the employees interviewed did feel that a strike would probably occur if the military were withdrawn and joint facilities were continued. A smaller number did not think that a strike would develop.

Mr. Trimble’s purpose in interviewing them was solely to determine their attitude on the question of facilities, and he scrupulously refrained from saying anything that might influence their decision one way or another. He did not even indicate to them that any plan for separate facilities was contemplated. The results of his interviews can be summarized as follows: Most of the colored people would resent the establishment of separate facilities; some of them also felt that a strike might develop if and when the military was removed if joint facilities were continued. If separate facilities were established, he believed the effect on the colored employees would be one of resentment and lowering of morale but that that would be the extent of their objection. As to whether the white employees would strike if joint facilities were retained, he believes it is impossible to determine except by trial.