Yet in spite of this specific language in the basic Civil Rights Act, racial balance has been the whole impetus of what is involved. I don't see anything wrong with a minority being together. The Chinese out in San Francisco have raised their children emphasizing two different concepts.

One virtue is to discourage any kind of juvenile delinquency. As we know, the Chinese children have the best record as far as juvenile delinquency of any group we have in America.

The second thing they teach their children is respect for their parents, and both of these are very desirable traits. The Chinese have objected to busing. They are a minority and live together but now they have forced busing. It doesn't matter what minority it is, groups should have a right to live together.

I had an experience during the war that impressed me very much. Our outfit shipped out of Boston and was loaded into 54 ships in our convoy. About the fourth day out the fellow on watch came back and he said, "The Nazi submarines have found us.”

About the fifth day out the whole submarine pack had found us. My men became pretty nervous and they asked, "How long is it going to take us to get to Europe?"

I went down and checked with the mate and the mate said, "We will get there just as fast as the slowest ship."

In busing, we are getting back to the convoy system. We are gearing this whole thing down to the slowest ship and school training is related to the pace of the slower students.

I will give you an example from the nearby community of Wilmer near Dallas. In 1970 Wilmer started busing. At that time the ratio was 45 percent black, 55 percent white. That was 1970. Today they have already passed 85 percent black so we didn't achieve any type of integration if that was the objective. But one thing we have done out there in Wilmer, the school achievement level has dropped two grades and class work is adjusted to lower grades.

That didn't do any good for anybody. What they have done is simply confused the school system.

I would like to discuss racial balance. I think about the greatest thing we have in the city of Dallas is our Dallas Cowboy football team. We don't think of our Cowboy football team as to what race our players may be. We think of a team and yet as I sat down and reviewed the team, I recalled we don't have a single Mexican-American on the team and most of our stars are blacks.

We have more Mexican-Americans in Texas than we do blacks, so what we would do if we went on quota system is let half of our stars go and get Mexican-Americans to learn the game.

Mexican-Americans are the best soccer players in the world. But they are not the same stars as black footballers. Go through and look at who is outstanding. For the Cowboys take men of character like Calvin Hill, or Thomas, the rookie of the year; Hays, the fastest man; Renfro, and nobody challenges Renfro back in defense as he is always all-pro. Take dynamic big Jethro Pugh. Many have seen Cornell Green in action. These men led the Cowboy team to the world championship. There was no quota. The best players made the team. To have the best team in school we should never go to quota racial balance.

Let me tell you a story, Mr. Chairman, of a man from your area. It regards a sergeant from New York City when we served together in the Army.

As all of you know, you get to know fellows pretty well in the Army because you live in the mud and snow and you sleep together and you suffer together.

I was in an outfit of Engineers. The 2d Platoon was my platoon. My captain happened to have a hangup about Italians so he put all of the Italian boys in the 2d Platoon.

When I got assigned to it, I realized all of the Italians were in that platoon. As I went through Europe, I began to realize these were the finest boys in the world.

I could depend on them. They were good boys. When Sunday came, those boys went to Mass. If you ever asked them to help you, no matter what time of the night, they were always there. They were good boys. One day I turned to this sergeant and I said, “You know I am sure lucky in the 2d Platoon. We are really lucky. We have all of the Italians in our platoon." He said, "Lieutenant, I am not an Italian. I am American." What we are talking about here today is, are we going to let everyone in this country be Americans? Are we going to be Italians, Poles, Jews, Japanese, or will be all be Americans. Shall our schools be on a quota system for each race or will education be equal for all, and will all students be Americans.

Chairman CELLAR. Thank you, Mr. Collins.

Mr. JACOBS. Mr. Chairman, I have a question I would like to ask. I welcome you to the committee, Congressman Collins. There has been a lot of testimony about freedom of choice-a person being able to go to the school he wants to or his parents want him to. How do you reconcile the concept of freedom of choice with the concept of the neighborhood schools?

Mr. COLLINS. Normally, most people like to go to the school in their area for many reasons. It is closer to home. They can walk. All of the normal reasons that most people have. They will play with these same children when school is out. But I also favor the freedomof-choice concept. I think it is highly desirable.

Suppose we only offered German in two schools in our city and the student wanted to take German. Suppose a student wanted to take advanced calculus and we only offer that in three or four schools. I think any child in any community should have a right to go to those schools that offer these limited courses.

Mr. JACOBS. Suppose an organized effort was successful in a black ghetto someplace, and all of the black people in that ghetto wanted their children to go to a suburban school that perhaps had pastel colors, a swimming pool, tight windows-a generally better building.

I believe you said the building wasn't all that important. But it would seem to me in the wintertime if windows weren't tight, it could have a chilling effect on the educational process.

Suppose that should occur. That would be freedom of choice. People would organize and take a look, and maybe some would note that the suburban school had better audio aids.

And suppose they did that as a matter of freedom of choice. Would you find some conflict then between the advocacy of the neighborhood systein of schools and the freedom of choice concept?

Mr. COLLINS. I am not aware of schools throughout the country but it is interesting in the South. Today you will find in the South as a whole, that most of the modern schools have been built in black areas.

One of the finest high school buildings in Dallas is Pinkston. Pinkston runs two-thirds full. They specialize in vocational education whereas students have been encouraged by preachers and parents that they should take humanities.

So basically, if one looks for the best school facilities in our particular community, you would find black neighborhoods to be well represented. On freedom of choice it would be only fair that people that live within an area should be entitled to go to their neighborhood school before transfers, but there would be plenty of openings in most every school.

In other words, in any area, anybody that desired a special subject should have an opportunity.

Mr. JACOBS. If you ran into the hypothetical that I propounded, then how would you reconcile the concept of neighborhood schools?

Mr. COLLINS. In the worst school building I ever sat in I got the best education. When I was in SMU, I went to the sorriest building. It was an old prefab building. The windows were wide open and drafty. The roof leaked. There were only boards on the walls and wind whistled through. We called it the shack. This was a college building. Yet within these walls I had a fine education. The reason I learned was because I had great teachers.

Mr. JACOBS. But that does not answer the question. You would put no obstacle in the way of the blacks in the ghetto who, exercising freedom of choice, organize and demand to go to schools in suburban areas on their own hook?

Mr. COLLINS. If they wanted to, I would let them go wherever they wanted to go.

Mr. JACOBS. You endorsed the statement of the gentleman from Louisiana, Mr. Waggonner, who said that schoolbusing was a sociological experiment and politically expedient.

Do you think that advocating busing is politically expedient?

Mr. COLLINS. No. I endorsed his concept. I did not go as far as getting into sociology experiment. I was endorsing the concept that the type of school building is not the criteria by which you measure academic success, although I would say this: to the degree busing has been discussed as an experiment, I object because I hate to see 5-yearold children used as pawns.

I think if we are going to do experiments, let's do it with mature. people, and concentrate in schools on quality of education.

Mr. JACOBS. One last question.

You said the Dallas Cowboys were the greatest thing in Dallas. Would you stand on that statement?

Mr. COLLINS. I would say as far as my constituents are concerned, they are still the greatest. They are the greatest team in the world. Mr. JACOBS. Your constituents are there, too?

Mr. COLLINS. It is a great thing about the Cowboys. It is a team, and the Dallas Cowboys play as a team effort. The team effort makes America great.

Mr. JACOBS. You do have good libraries there.

Mr. COLLINS. We do have other good attributes.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman CELLER. The next witness is Hon. Samuel L. Devine.

STATEMENT OF HON. SAMUEL L. DEVINE, A U.S REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OHIO

Mr. DEVINE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and gentlemen.

My statement is before you this morning, and I will be brief and to the point.

I might say that I was born in the State of Indiana, and I spent about a half century in the State of Ohio, except for employment in the State of New York and in the State of Colorado, so I don't think I could be considered as a Dixiecrat here this morning; probably as a Yankee.

I am glad this matter has finally been scheduled for hearing. Too much time has been wasted, and many of us feel the legislative processes have been unduly thwarted.

Busing, as such, is not new in the educational system. It has served a useful purpose in accommodating students whose homes were a mile or more from school.

But the key, and only issue before you today is whether the Congress ever intended busing for the purpose of promoting racial integration, or, to put it more succinctly, compulsory busing to terminate de facto segregation. Should buses be the instrument to encourage more mixture of the blacks and whites?

Stripping away all of the highly emotional aspects, it seems to me the only way to promote and maintain quality education is to preserve our neighborhood school concept. Our children are entitled to quality education, no matter where they live. Busing all over creation does great violence to this system, and indeed encourages mediocrity as well as makes a pawn of our educational processes.

I recognize in taking this position that there will be the usual cries of bias, bigotry, and racism, and the predictable smears from the professional civil libertarians and social reformers. The NAACP and ACLU undoubtedly will appear in opposition to any so-called antibusing legislation.

Nevertheless, it is my firm conviction that the overwhelming majority of Americans, black and white, are opposed to forced busing, and they don't care whether it is by constitutional amendment, legislation, or court decisions-they want it stopped.

The Congress, in my opinion, has dallied much too long, and should face up to this important disruptive issue now. The courts have legislated by judicial fiat, and attempted social reform by usurping legislative jurisdiction, clearly misreading the intentions of the Congress that specifically forbid the practice of busing solely to end de facto segregation and promote integration.

I trust the members of this subcommittee will listen well to the testimony today and throughout the hearings, as well as to their folks back home, then act expeditiously to move this legislation onto the floor of the House in order that the issues may be thoroughly debated, and all Members may then have an opportunity to "bite the bullet" and go on record. The American people are entitled to nothing less.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Chairman CELLER. Thank you for your brevity and for your succinctness.

We understand your position very well indeed, sir. We are grateful

to you.

Our next witness is the gentleman from Virginia, Watkins M. Abbitt.

STATEMENT OF HON. WATKINS M. ABBITT, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA

Mr. ABBITT. Mr. Chairman, I have a prepared statement which I would like to ask consent to submit for the record and then, for the sake of saving time, I would like to summarize what it says. Chairman CELLER. You have that consent.

(Statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF HON. WATKINS M. ABBITT, A U.S. REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS

FROM THE STATE OF VIRGINIA

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, I want to express my appreciation for the opportunity of testifying in support of H.J. Res. 855 and other similar proposed amendments to the Constitution relating to the transportation and assignment of public school students.

I introduced by resolution on September 9, 1971 when it became apparent that some action must be taken if we are to preserve any semblance of order in the operation of our public schools. Much has happened since the introduction of these resolutions last fall which makes it even more imperative that action be taken without further delay to avoid catastrophic problems when school opens in September. The proposed consolidation of the Richmond public schools with those of Henrico and Chesterfield Counties in Virginia is now before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and should the Order issued in January by the Federal District Court be upheld, this would open the floodgates for similar court orders in other school districts throughout the United States.

If there were ever any question about the nationwide appeal of this issue, such apprehension should have been effectively erased by the decision of the Federal District Court at Richmond. Make no mistake about it-we are facing a tremendous crisis throughout America, and the quicker Congress acts, the better opportunity we will have to diminish the disastrous results which may well come from consolidations of the type proposed at Richmond. It should be abundantly obvious that if the Federal courts can force the consolidation of school districts in three separate localities in order to achieve that which could not be accomplished within a single district, who is to say that such consolidations in the future might fall across state lines, encompass an entire state, or establish a national school system.

Frankly, I feel that Congress has already waited much too long in the hopes that eventually things would work out satisfactorily. It is obvious that such delays have only complicated the situation and what was once a parochial problem in the southern part of the United States is now becoming a major national issue. People from all over the country are becoming incensed over the preoccupation of the Federal courts and HEW with the idea of forced busing in order to achieve racial balance in the public schools. Federal judges, with seeming ambitions to become school superintendents, are through diverse means seeking to force their will upon school districts with little or no regard for the ultimate consequences. Surely there must be some limit to which Federal judges and HEW bureaucrats may go in seeking to achieve racial balances in the public schools. If the courts are not going to exercise sanity and the Executive Branch continues to dilly-dally on the issue, then it must logically fall upon the Congress to exercise some restraining force to protect the public schools of America. I submit that it is the responsibility of Congress to take the lead in such matters and not wait until disaster hits upon us before charting a logical and judicial course of action. Unless this is done we may ultimately find that we have little left worth preserving.

There has been much talk about the various methods to be utilized in solving the school assignment issue. Some contend that legislative action to assure "freedom of choice" in the assigning of students to the public schools is the most