The provisions of this act would be most beneficial to the people of Puerto Rico. However, section 101 (c) of the act states that the term "United States" includes "the several States, the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and the District of Columbia." Since I believe that there was no intention to omit Puerto Rico from the coverage of this bill, I should appreciate it if, when the committee takes up consideration of S. 104, it would amend section 101 (c) to read: “As used in this act, the term 'United States' includes the several States, the Territories of Alaska and Hawaii, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia." Sincerely, A. FERNÓS-ISERN, Resident Commissioner. Senator CLARK. Since there are no further witnesses, the hearing will be recessed until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. (Whereupon, at 12:25 p. m., the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene at 10 a. m., Thursday, March 14, 1957.) AREA REDEVELOPMENT THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 1957 UNITED STATES SENATE, COMMITTEE ON BANKING AND CURRENCY, SUBCOMMITTEE ON PRODUCTION AND STABILIZATION, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to recess, in room 301, Senate Office Building, at 10: 10 a. m., Senator Paul H. Douglas, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senator Douglas. Also present: Representative Gray. Senator DOUGLAS. The subcommittee will come to order. Yesterday we had testimony from witnesses from the State of Pennsylvania. Today we have testimony primarily from witnesses from the State of Illinois. First I am going to recognize my good friend, Pat Greathouse, the vice president of the UAW, AFL-CIO, who, I believe, is accompanied by Mayor Ray Mills, of Des Moines, Iowa, and City Manager Cornelius Bodine, of Rock Island. Mr. Greathouse, will you proceed? STATEMENT OF PAT GREATHOUSE, VICE PRESIDENT; ACCOMPANIED BY HERSCHEL DAVIS, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT TO MR. GREATHOUSE, AND SAMUEL JACOBS, WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIVE, UAW, AFL-CIO; RAY MILLS, MAYOR, DES MOINES, IOWA; AND CORNELIUS BODINE, CITY MANAGER, ROCK ISLAND, ILL. Mr. GREATHOUSE. Mr. Chairman, my name is Pat Greathouse. I am vice president of the International Union, United Automobile, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers Union of America, known popularly as the UAW, and director of the union's agricultural implement department. set I am serving as chairman of the agricultural implements task force, up in July of 1956, to look into the widespread unemployment in that industry. The task force consists of the following people: Jack Humble, mayor of Racine, Wis.; Mike Micich, mayor of Charles City, Iowa; Ray Mills, mayor of Des Moines, Iowa; Paul Woods, mayor of Canton, Ill.; Cornelius Bodine, Jr., city manager of Rock Island, Ill.; Ralph Bradley, president, Illinois Farmers Union; Ed Glenn, director, National Farm Organization. UAW officials besides myself are: Ray Berndt, director, region 3 (Indiana and Kentucky); Robert Johnston, director, region 4 (Illi nois, Iowa, and Nebraska); and Harvey Kitzman, director, region 10 (Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana). This committee is a representative committee, having been selected from mayors, representatives of governors, representatives of labor organizations and farm organizations, to work as a continuing committee on this matter. In testifying in support of S. 964, the area redevelopment bill, although I am speaking for the UAW; I am speaking also for the Agricultural Implement Task Force, which, at a meeting held here in Washington on January 29 and 30, specifically considered this bill and voted unanimously to support it. I would like to give you, for inclusion in the record of this hearing, a copy of the program adopted by the task force at its meeting here on January 30, 1957. Senator DOUGLAS. Without objection, it may be made a part of the record at the conclusion of your prepared statement. Mr. GREATHOUSE. This bill and its history show that Congress is finally coming to grips with a most serious problem that has plagued us for a long time. We have had distressed areas, both farm and city, for many years. Yet for a long time there seemed to be a feeling that the places involved were too few and too isolated to bother with. However, the problem has not gone away, because we sat quietly, doing nothing. In spite of a year of rising employment, the number of major areas classified as group D or worse was the same in January 1957 and in January 1956. The problem is too big and too persistent to be ignored any longer. It affects too many places, big and little, rural and urban, in too many different sections of the country. Last year, S. 2663 had bipartisan support. Some of the most distinguished Members of the Senate testified in support of the bill; it was adopted by a vote of 2 to 1, a tribute to those who worked in developing this plan to meet the problems of unemployment, poverty and blight that persistently plague so many areas of America. The vote on S. 2663, which was substantially the same as this bill, shows that the Senate is now ready to act. We are confident that when the House of Representatives gets a chance to declare itself on this matter, it too will show that Congress, like the American people, is ready to get something done. The story of localized distress is now an old one in 2 of the 3 major industries with which our union deals, the automobile industry and the agricultural implement industry. Even in the aircraft industry, in spite of its prosperity, layoffs are taking place because of rapid, radical changes in aircraft design and of the switching from aircraft to guided missiles. Even in this industry we must be alert as to what may happen to unemployment if established centers of production become obsolete or are for any reason given up by the industry. Apparently, there is no guaranty that distress will not exist for many people at the very same time that the industry which formerly employed them, and even the country as a whole, are prosperous. It is significant in this connection that it is the oldest and the best established industrial centers which may be the most vulnerable to distress. The places that most readily come to mind when a major industry is mentioned-these are the ones most likely to he hit by Suf obsolescence, decentralization, shifts in consumer preference, competition from foreign producers, and other influences that may pin on an area rich in human resources and public utilities that sorry tag, "distressed area. Before these hearings are over, you will have been reminded many times of what has happened to the older mining centers of Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Kentucky; to the older textile centers of New England; to railroad, lumber and other centers which once provided production and employment. As one who knows something about the auto industry and the great many workers whose lives are bound up with it, I must remind you that a vast section of Detroit, which proudly called itself the arsenal of democracy during World War II, is now in real difficulty and might be called a distressed area if we were less selective than we are in handing out that label. I have here a report of the Detroit City Plan Commission, in which appear a number of maps which show the creeping obsolescence that now affects a large part of a city that once produced so much for America. I ask that one of these maps, which shows the industrial locations of "extreme and considerable tendency to obsolescence" in this area of Detroit, be made a part of the record of this hearing. Senator DOUGLAS. That will be done. It will be made a part of the record following your prepared statement. (See p. 285.) Mr. GREATHOUSE. This map is the result of a field study by examiners of the city plan commission, and, while it was not prepared for this hearing, I have obtained their permission to use it. I offer it to demonstrate how serious this problem of obsolescence, apart from the other causes of distress to which I have referred, may be for an old and well established production center like this one. I ask, too, that there be inserted in the record at this point a copy of this statement, issued by the UAW international executive board in September 1956, which lists some of the many major plants, now idle and abandoned in the city of Detroit, and the number of workers, many of them over 50, who have been laid off. The list includes Packard, Hudson, Murray, Motor Products, and a great many others. Senator DOUGLAS. That too will be made a part of the record at the conclusion of your prepared statement. Mr. GREATHOUSE. We have also added an appendix to add additional plants which have closed since that time. Senator DOUGLAS. The Hudson automobile plant has been closed down? Mr. GREATHOUSE. Yes, it has. Senator DOUGLAS. Has the Packard plant been closed down? Senator DOUGLAS. At Detroit? Mr. GREATHOUSE. Yes. Senator DOUGLAS. Thank you. Mr. GREATHOUSE. At its peak, Hudson had employed 20,000 workers. Standard Steel Spring had 1,250 on its seniority list when it closed, and so it goes. We have a table here showing the unemployment as a percent of the labor force in the Detroit labor market area, which runs from January 1953 to February 1957. 91201-57-pt. 1-19 |