[From the United Mine Workers Journal of December 1, 1955]

DOUGLAS' DEPRESSED AREAS ACT SHOULD BE ENACTED BY CONGRESS

One of the most critical problems facing the Nation today and one which is being given increasing recognition by responsible representatives of both political parties is the existence of pockets of depression in what otherwise seems to be an economy of plenty.

One can't blame official spokesmen of the Eisenhower administration for bragging that we have the greatest number of persons employed in the history of the Nation. But the fact is that there are still more than 2 million jobless and that the 65 million employed are the result of growth of the population and a fairly stable economy.

There should be more jobs. And there will have to be more in the next few years. There must be at least 700,000 new jobs available each and every year to absorb the normal growth of the population.

The hue and cry now being raised by many labor organizations over so-called automation-the automatic factory-is nothing new as far as the United Mine Workers of America are concerned. For more than a generation now mechanization of our coal industry has created technological unemployment in the mining industry.

In an overall expanding national economy-which ours has not been for the past few years-these men who lost their jobs to automatic mining machines could and would be absorbed into jobs in other industries. But they are not being absorbed. They are hungry and jobless.

The fact that our economy is not expanding as it should to create new jobs in new industries for those thrown out of work by technological advances in other industries is evidenced by the figures presented on November 14 by UMWA Vice President Thomas Kennedy to the Subcommittee on Foreign Economic Policy of the Joint Congressional Committee on the President's Economic Report. Those figures show that there are still 155,000 able-bodied coal miners without jobs.

Many of them never will regain jobs in the mines. This is a cold, hard fact which the UMWA has faced up to ever since its founding. The union always has taken the position that mechanization must be encouraged, with the men who stay in the industry sharing in the benefits of increased productivity through a higher wage scale.

But the union also takes the position that the technologically unemployed must be absorbed in other jobs in other industries. And the only way this can be realized is to create conditions that will lead to an ever-expanding economy. We do not think that so far the Eisenhower administration has been willing to face up to its responsibility in this matter.

The responsibility of the administration is clear. It is not a matter of debate. In 1946 the Congress of the United States passed an employment law. It was the intent of Congress to make the executive department of the Federal Government responsible for policies that would create conditions of full employment.

The very first recognition the present administration has given to this responsibility came only a few weeks ago when Dr. Arthur F. Burns, Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, presented a program to the President for the alleviation of unemployment in distress areas.

We hope most sincerely that this is a program and not just a lot of politics for an election year.

But we are naturally suspicious. An almost identical blueprint for alleviation of depression in distress areas such as coal regions--was presented in the form of proposed legislation in the past session of the 84th Congress.

It got little or no attention in the last-minute rush to adjourn in the late

summer.

The proposed legislation-which raises important basic issues-was prepared by Senator Paul H. Douglas, Democrat, Illinois, and introduced in behalf of himself and Senators Harley M. Kilgore, Democrat, West Virginia, Estes Kefauver, Democrat, Tennessee, Pat McNamara, Democrat, Michigan, Hubert Humphrey, Democrat, Minnesota, Matthew M. Neely, Democrat, West Virginia, James E. Murray, Democrat, Montana, and John F. Kennedy, Democrat, Massachusetts. It spells out a constructive program "to alleviate conditions of excessive unemployment in certain economically depressed areas." The bill, called S. 2663, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and will be acted upon-we hope-in the next session of the 84th Congress convening in January.

Now Senator Douglas' bill and the newspaper publicity on Dr. Burns' program make the two appear to be similar in principle. Senator Douglas got there first but Dr. Burns got all the publicity because he got an endorsement from President Eisenhower for his program. That's not too important a point except that we think credit should be given where credit is due. What is important is that the legislation should not be allowed to become a political football in Congress. The unemployed are not interested in whether the Republican administration, which happens to be in office now, assumes its responsibility under the Employment Act or whether the Democratic majority in Congress takes the ball and runs with it. The problem is there; it's real and it must be acted upon one way or the other.

Called the Depressed Areas Act, Senator Douglas' bill states: "The Congress hereby finds and declares that the maintenance of the national economy at a high level of prosperity and employment is vital to the best interests of the United States and that the present existence of excessive unemployment in certain areas of the Nation is jeopardizinz the health, standard of living and general welfare of the Nation."

The bill would establish a Depressed Areas Administration within the executive branch of Government, Dr. Burns program also calls for such an agency. The bill defines a depressed area as an area with not less than 9 percent unemployment for at least 18 months or 6 percent unemployment for at least 3 years.

Many coal areas qualify.

The bill would empower the Secretary of Labor to make special studies to determine the facts of unemployment for the use of the Depressed Areas Administration.

Local industrial development committees would be set up by the Depressed Areas Administrator to prepare plans and cost estimates for the construction of industrial plants and commercial facilities to attract new industries. Local citizen groups and private and public lending agencies would help to finance the construction. The Depressed Areas Administration would be authorized to make loans where financing could not be arranged otherwise.

The bill would set aside $200 million in Federal funds to help finance the program.

Part of the program would include the construction of public facilities as needed by the States and their political subdivisions.

All Federal agencies that buy supplies or services for the Federal Government would be obligated to procure such supplies or services, wherever possible, from contractors in the depressed areas to help alleviate unemployment.

Tax relief would be granted to industries erecting new plants in the distress

areas.

The Secretary of Labor would provide for vocational training for the unemployed so that they might learn new skills. The Secretary of Labor also would be authorized to enter into agreement with the States to provide supplementary unemployment compensation for 13 weeks to those undergoing training for new jobs.

In line with the surplus food legislation won by the UMWA in the last session of Congress, the Depressed Areas Act would authorize the Commodity Credit Corporation of the Department of Agriculture to process surplus commodities into a form suitable for home or institutional use and pay transportation costs. The sponsors of this well-thought-out bill are making plans now to hold public hearings to build up support for the bill.

The Nation's unemployed coal miners can only wish them Godspeed in this humanitarian program.

Senator DOUGLAS. We are very happy to have with us another sponsor of the bill, Senator Kefauver of Tennessee. We are very glad, indeed, to welcome you here, Senator.

STATEMENT OF HON. ESTES KEFAUVER, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Senator KEFAUVER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my colleagues of the committee. Thank you for the privilege of appearing before this subcommittee today in support of S. 2663, the depressed areas bill, of which I have the honor to be a cosponsor.

I should like, Mr. Chairman, to pass around to the members of the committee copies of our report, which was issued last week, and I don't ask that the report be

Senator DOUGLAS. Would you like to have that made a part of the record, Senator?

Senator KEFAUVER. It is a lengthy report, and I will refer to certain sections of it which I would like to be printed in the appendix, but I would like for this to be considered as an exhibit to this committee's hearings.

Senator DOUGLAS. It will be done.

Senator KEFAUVER. In an interim report issued last week by the subcommittee, we found that there was a cause and effect relationship between the inability of a substantial segment of young people to obtain employment and delinquent behavior. Unless such effective action is taken, the problem will become increasingly severe each year. It could reach acute proportions since the number of young people involved may double within the next 15 years.

Although the provisions of S. 2663 are not specifically aimed at solving this problem, I have every hope that the emphasis which the depressed areas bill places on improved vocational training will stimulate a variety of projects designed to reduce youth unemployment and to better help youth find a productive role in society.

Mr. Chairman, I should specifically like to ask that on page 11 of this report the paragraph headed "Problem of Employing Young People Adjudicated Delinquent," and down to the next subsection on page 12, and also on page 17, the paragraph providing preparation for employment and adjustment to life, on down to the next subheading on page 20; and on page 25, the United States Employment Service, providing leadership, down to the middle of page 27, be printed in the record. I think these parts are particularly pertinent. Senator DOUGLAS. That will be done.

(The excerpts from the report on juvenile delinquency follow :)

PROBLEM OF EMPLOYING YOUNG PEOPLE ADJUDICATED DELINQUENT

There is a problem of placing in jobs those young people who have appeared in juvenile courts and have been adjudicated delinquent. These young people need intensive help. A majority of them will fail again unless they obtain employment and become satisfactorily adjusted to a job. Their problem of finding employment is frequently made more difficult by the stigma of having been adjudged delinquent, although the training schools for delinquents often provide valuable work experience in the trades. Many of these delinquents, it must be recognized, are weak in their skill and personality qualifications to produce and pay their way. Although an adjudication as a juvenile delinquent is not a criminal record, according to law, it is frequently so considered by governmental and private agencies.1 Frequently, both management and labor will rule them out if they find out about the delinquent's past. This places the youngster in a dilemma. If he conceals the information, he becomes culpable when he is found out. If he is frank and honest regarding his past, he usually does not obtain the job. It is important that this group receive the best counseling if they are to achieve adjustment in today's society.

1G. Howland Shaw in his testimony before the Subcommittee To Investigate Juvenile Delinquency on April 20, 1955, said: "I remember when I was Assistant Secretary of State I had a boy who applied for Foreign Service who had a juvenile record, and the question was whether we should allow him to proceed or not. I had the provision of the law and I acted accordingly. But that provision of the law is not taken into serious consideration at the present time" (hearings before the Subcommittee To Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, Youth Employment, U. S. Senate, 84th Cong., 1st sess., p. 8).

PROVIDING PREPARATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AND ADJUSTMENT TO LIFE While it is the primary interest of the subcommittee to prevent or reduce the incidence of juvenile delinquency in the United States, it may be pointed out that millions of youngsters are well prepared to meet their responsibilities through their experiences in the educational programs. The subcommittee is aware of the fact that America provides educational opportunities to a higher percentage of its youth than do most nations. It is likewise aware that American tradition has dictated the preparation of children of ability for the learned professions. Criticism has often been directed at school administrators because of their serious concern for potential dropouts and for those pupils who do not respond to academic subjects designed primarily to prepare the student for higher education. The same is frequently true in the area of vocational subjects of a highly technical nature.

The belief is held by many persons that the first concern of those expending the taxpayers' dollars for education should be for the most deserving-deserving in the sense of meaning those most capable and most responsive to the program being offered. Such a program, however, results in inadequate educational opportunity for at least 10 percent of the youth of America. They are thereby relegated to a struggle against uneven odds to succeed in life. Of this group, many become juvenile delinquents and affect the upward curve of crime incidence. Educators recognize that starting at junior high school level, as many youngsters move into adolescence, they have a drive to do and to achieve in practical activities. This accentuates the need that they have work experience and studies related to vocational goals. Today American homes require fewer tasks of the young people than they once did because of the increasing use of labor-saving gadgets, apartment living, and small, compact homes. Fewer and fewer youths have regular chores to perform at home. Parents find they cannot provide work experience in most instances for their teen-age children. Most secondary school administrators express approval of the goal of continuous enrollment of all youth through the high-school-age bracket. Practical courses providing work experience programs, however, are reaching but a small percentage of America's highschool youth. Programs in junior high schools are reaching an even smaller percentage.

A survey made by the United States Office of Education 3 years after World War II showed a surprisingly small number of high-school pupils in workexperience programs. For example, there were only 8,826 enrolled in diversified occupation courses. There were 21,452 pupils enrolled in cooperative office training courses. An additional 16,016 boys and girls were enrolled in cooperative store training, making a total of 46,294 pupils. During the period these statistics were gathered, the total number of pupils enrolled was 6,907,830. When one considers that there are a number of scattered experimental programs, part of which are nonremunerative work, the total number in work-experience programs while reaching perhaps 50,000 is really inconsequential as compared to the total enrollment in the Nation.

The greater part of the remunerative work-experience jobs are in business offices and in the distributive trades. Many persons are convinced that labor and industry should recognize the fact that their long-time interests and those of the Nation require that they cooperate with the educational system in developing practical courses. They could use their personnel, their experience, their facilities, and their dollars for developing such courses.

Educational leaders have not taken the lead in meeting the needs and in many instances have not availed themselves of public employment services and other agencies that might be helpful. It has resulted in inadequate educational opportunity for many pupils, who are not challenged by an academic course, who are not interested in business courses, and who lack the qualifications to enroll in technical schools. Many times it is such youngsters who become antagonistic to school, coming in conflict with their teachers, they constitute many of those referred to the children's court and those who drop out of school.

Approximately one-fifth of the children entering high school will go on to college. Approximately 40 percent of all boys and girls who enter high school will have dropped out before completing high school. This means that about 20 percent of our young people require secondary level training preparatory te entering college. The remaining 80 percent need preparation for the trades

S. Office of Education bulletin, Offerings and Enrollments in High Schools for

1948-49.

In his testimony before the subcommittee, Mr. Odell indicated that the Employment Service is at present reaching only a small fraction of the dropouts who are in need of help to secure a job." There is evidence that most of the dropouts need positive guidance and placement service. There is a gap in the service available to the thousands of youths during the summer months who need assistance in securing employment. Some communities, and a few States, have established projects in cooperation with school authorities, but for the most part these are not adequately organized and systematically operated by employment offices. There is a definite need for a specialized approach to youth employment. This has been taken by some schools in organizing school-work programs. For the most part, these programs are usually confined to commercial students and those interested in retail occupations. They have contributed toward keeping many youths in school and, at the same time, providing an opportunity for earning an income and furnishing beneficial work experiences.

Senator KEFAUVER. Mr. Chairman, I am also especially interested in one other section of this bill, and this is the procurement section beginning with section 11 and section 12 on pages 9 and 10.

I think that the language there is good, directing each department and agency to engage in procurement of any supplies for the use by or on behalf of the United States Government to the maximum practicable extent to secure such services from contractors in depressed areas.

The language is, of course, necessarily general, and I would strongly recommend to the committee the consideration of more specific language such as was suggested by Senator Kennedy last year in an amendment offered on the floor of the Senate.

I think section 12 is of great importance, and I hope that it will be construed to mean that the Administrator will particularly keep a list of small-business firms in depressed areas and will have liaison with the Defense Department, enabling the small-business concerns in these depressed areas to be considered by the procurement departments of the Government.

I think one reason, always, why small business has never really secured its share of defense procurement, particularly, is that they simply cannot maintain the representatives in Washington to coordinate to present what they can do to coordinate their bids with the demands of the Defense Department. That was a very splendid service rendered years ago by the Smaller War Plants Corporation, and I should hope that this section might also be enlarged so as to bring in some of the activities that were formerly carried out by the Smaller War Plants Corporation placed under the Administrator in this bill, and I would like to recommend also, Mr. Chairman, that the Administrator be required to file an annual or semiannual report with the Congress or with this committee and a similar House committee on just what success he has had with the Defense Departments in placing and helping small industries place contracts with the procurement.

Senator DOUGLAS. Those are very constructive suggestions, I think, Senator Kefauver.

Senator KEFAUVER. Thank you. In conclusion, I should like to observe that our failure as a Ñation to provide proper job training and proper job opportunities for our citizens young and old constitutes a shocking waste of natural resources.

The power of the individual to produce is as much a natural resource as unharnessed waterpower. If it is not employed, it is wasted;

7 Odell, Charles E., op. cit., pp. 58-59.