The Civil Rights Bill

All summer long the Kennedy administration seemed to consider the civil rights bill the most important item before Congress. But this fall, through newspaper leaks and public statements, government officials have let it be known that they consider the tax bill of equal priority. Since the Senate probably will not pass both measures during this session, the Democratic Congressional leadership must decide shortly which legislation to bring to the floor first, and which to put off until 1964.

Quite a few Presidential advisers have suggested that the tax bill should be considered before civil rights. Mr. Kennedy's Congressional tacticians point out that a Senate filibuster over civil rights would mean a serious delay in considering appropriation bills and other necessary bureaucratic measures. His economists claim that a tax bill's immediate impact on the economy might benefit Negroes more than a civil rights bill whose effects might not be felt for months after its passage. His political advisers would like to enter the 1964 campaign with the impetus provided by a newly passed civil rights bill, and with the economy booming from the full effects of an earlier tax cut.

It will take considerable courage for the President to give civil rights top priority on his legislative agenda. But delays in appropriation measures and even political risks should be accepted in order to enact the rights bill. The measure deals with some of the most basic aspects of men's lives--education, employment, voting and access to public accommodations. True, Southern obstructionism and court procedures will delay the bill's becoming fully effective, but the sooner Congress passes it the sooner its effects will be felt.

The President knows the rights bill is important; he should remember that it is as necessary in October,, when civil rights is making few headlines, as it was on August 28. Now that the Senate Commerce Committee has reported out a civil rights measure, the President should ask his Senate leaders to bring it to the floor at once.