majority of the Spanish-American population, concentrated within a 150-mile radius of Sante Fe, lived in numerous small villages, farming the surrounding lands. The older people within the villages found security within the extended family. Poverty there may have been, but food, clothing, and shelter were shared equitably among all age groups. The English-speaking population dominant in the cities, the larger towns, and in the ranching areas, generally was able to provide for its own needs. There was little need nor desire to appeal to the State or Federal Government for assistance."

Ours is a State which draws on a number of traditions with respect to its attitude toward older people. In Spanish times the entire life of the landowner revolved around his position as family head and patriarch and the respect given him increased with his venerability. This respect for age was extended to other families where the patriarch continued to manage his interests actively as long as he wished.

Among the Indians, custom might send a newly married couple to live with the groom's people or the bride's, depending on a patrilinear or a matrilinear tribal organization, but in either case they lived with their elders until they could assume the same position of honor with respect to their own children. Among the white men, too, an agricultural pattern of life ancestry and age together formed a living tradition worthy of respect.

During the past three decades New Mexico, like the rest of the United States, has greatly changed. We have seen the development of huge cattle and sheep ranches, the mining of gold, silver, and copper in the past and uranium in the present. Oil production now figures largely in the State's economy. And there is a constant influx of newcomers, attracted by a growing industrialism and by the State's natural beauties and climate. And New Mexico, which has been described as a "land of antiquity but its people are young" is, because of its fine climate attracting more and more senior citizens in its retirement villages.

We in New Mexico learned a lot about how the situation of our aged people has changed in conducting the survey during 1960, for the White House Conference on Aging. In our State 29 of the 33 counties set up committees in preparation for the Governor's conference, held in September of that year, and 3 more counties asked for guidance in establishing such committees after the Governor's conference was held. We found that little research had been done on the problems of the aging in New Mexico. As a result very little seems to be known of the specific problems and characteristics of the aging population native to our State. We found that studies are needed in almost every area, such as the cultural and social characteristics of the aged, the emotional problems of the aged, their medical needs, housing surveys and need, employment needs and conditions, migratory currents among the aged, problems associated with a plural cultural society, recreation needs, and the types of organizations and groupings that exist among our older people. We found that no central State archive nor any central clearinghouse was in existence.

And we found, too, that the investigations tapped a tremendous interest in these matters in each one of our counties where county chairmen, with their subcommittee chairman and interested voluntary citizen workers collected information in response to questionnaires prepared at the State level. We found ideas as to some of the things which could be done at the local level and at the State level. For example, faced with the knowledge that older men and women in the Spanish-speaking areas were not using their handicraft skills such as weaving, wood carving, and furniture making because there was no organized market demand, one local committee suggested that the State could create a State Handicraft Board to furnish at cost necessary raw materials, maintain high standards of quality, and merchandise the finished products. The more rural counties indicated that they needed more doctors, dentists, and nurses. This situation, in the view of the Commission, could be remedied by traveling clinics of various kinds.

On one point, all respondents were clear-and, again I quote from the report: "One of New Mexico's major objectives is to set up a permanent State pattern of organization for continuing support of the needs of older persons. This should operate by both county and State levels. The 1960 State conference hopes to provide a 'blue print' for future action."

Mr. Chairman, the bill before us today can, I believe, do on a national level what New Mexico was able to begin to do at the State level with some assistance from the Federal Government. You will recall that Mr. Fogarty's bill, H.R. 9822 introduced on January 8, 1958, which brought about the White House Conference on Aging, provided grants to assist the States in studying their own

problems and writing a report on them, in preparation for the meeting of the Conference itself in January of 1961.

The permanent U.S. Commission on Aging, which would be established by the bill pending before you today would continue to give the kind of guidance and counseling, suggestions and technical assistance which were so profitably made available to the States on a temporary basis in connection with the White House Conference. In urging the Congress earlier this year to move without delay toward hearings and action on his bill, Mr. Fogarty has said, "It is now my firm conviction that until a high-level agency is created that will command the respect and full attention of the Nation's total efforts, we cannot achieve the goals that we have defined for America's older citizens." These goals, as set forth in the 10-point declarations of objectives for older Americans suggests the breadth of the problems our older Americans are facing, as well as the scope of the Commission. The bill would declare as the policy of the United States the attainment of the following objectives on their behalf:

1. An adequate income for retirement in health, honor and dignity;

2. Equal opportunity for employment;

3. The best possible physical and mental health;

4. Suitable housing;

5. Services to achieve independent living;

6. Full opportunity for meaningful activity;

7. Efficient, coordinated community services when needed;

8. Immediate benefit from proven research knowledge;

9. Freedom, independence, and free exercise of individual initiative;

10. The right to consideration of their needs and potentials without fragmentation.

To this end the bill provides planning grants of $40,000 to each State ($10,000 to the Virgin Islands) to assist them in establishing or improving the objectives of the bill. Thus those States which have developed impetus in their studies preceding the White House Conference can use the resources developed at that time to move forward in the directions they had mapped in this one-shot enterprise with the knowledge that their Federal Government is concerned with assisting them to develop a permanent program. Many States, like New Mexico, learned as a result of these earlier studies how important it is to have a permanent program on a statewide basis. The fact that nearly all States now have a permanent program at the State level indicates to my mind that there is realization at the State level that we can no longer resort to sporadic attempts to solve these problems.

I want, especially, to endorse the provision of the bill which provides projects grants of $10 million annually to the States for community planning and coordination of programs for carrying out the purposes of the bill, for demonstration projects, for the training of special personnel (including volunteers) and for the establishment of new or expansion of existing programs to carry out such purposes. As I indicated in my opening remarks, the times have changed very drastically particularly with regard to the situation in which our older citizens find themselves when they reach the so-called golden years.

As we found in New Mexico, there is much we need to know about their situation today. Likewise there is, I am convinced, a deep current of concern within all of our communities about how best we can act, as individuals, as communities, and as States, in helping to overcome some of the obstacles which have been set for our senior citizens as a price for our progress as a nation. It is, indeed, this current of good will, this concern at the community level, which can receive sustenance and guidance through this provision of the bill. Under the activities of the Commission, communities can exchange experience so that the good will, which I am convinced is there, can be converted into effective action. We have much to learn about what can be done and what cannot be done through effective community action. In this manner we will be able to discover, over the years, in the spirit of good neighbors, what may work for our particular community and what may not. The answers may well be as diverse as are our communities in this country. In some areas a particular problem of the older population may call for one kind of concentrated effort, in some another. The national problem is, I am convinced, as diverse as are the problems of given communities in my own State. For example, we already have available, in heavily populated Bernalillo County, medical, psychiatric, and psychological examinations through the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center and Bernalillo County Indian Hospital. Vocational counseling is available at the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center through the vocational rehabilitation divi

sion and employment security commission. Individual counseling is available through these agencies and the department of public welfare, State hospital, family counseling service, and the public health department. Therapy for psychological, speech, and occupation therapy is available at the New Mexico Rehabilitation Center, the university speech departinent, and vocational rehabilitation. The activities in Bernalillo County would, naturally, start with this base and expand into areas where nothing is being done.

On the other hand, Taos County, which is perhaps more representative of the State, reported a serious lack of such rehabilitation facilities:

"A survey would determine the exact need (for restoration of physical capacities), but there is a need for these services * * *. The committee estimates the need in this area (for therapies to restore and improve vision, speech and hearing) to be at least 40 percent of the going population."

These are just two illustrations of the contrast, in some areas of my great State, where distances are very great. I have mentioned the need developed by the Governor's committee for traveling clinics for medically starved communities far from the cities. This, to my mind, is the type of project which might well be undertaken by the State, on an experimental basis, under this provision of the bill.

Finally, I am in favor of the provision of the bill which provides grants of $2 million to public and other nonpublic institutions and organizations for demonstration, research, and training projects. As the New Mexico report points out:

"Up to the present time there have been few research programs developed, or administrative decisions made to explore the nature of the problems of aged. Resources for social services apart from providing money for old-age assistance are largely confined to the more important cities. Here are concentrated persons who have had training in the treatment and care of the aged. In the rest of the State there are no trained professional workers in the field of geriatrics. In the majority of the counties the only professional people interested at all in the problems of the aged are members of the staffs of such State departments as the department of public welfare and the department of public health. Members of these agencies work with all age groups and come into contact with the aged only when they apply for the services rendered by the agency. Here and there may be found a doctor, a dentist, nurse, priest, or minister who through a personal interest specializes in some aspect of geriatrics.

"In summary, there is much to be done in New Mexico. The problems flourish in abundance. Trained personnel to deal with them are lacking. Little public information is available, and research must be stimulated. The area is open for dedicated and wise leadership whether from private groups or from established public agencies and institutions of higher learning."

In introducing the companion bill to H.R. 10014 on the Senate side (S. 2779) its sponsor, Senator McNamara, stressing the need for a high-level Federal agency to help solve the complexity of problems facing the mosaic of community structures and resources which make up our country, pointed out that such a commission "can give full time and attention to the full range of interrelated needs and potentials of older people, serve as their eloquent spokesman and— because of its independence and high position in the governmental structure— command the wholehearted cooperation of all governmental and nongovernmental agencies in achieving effective action." With this purpose I am heartily in accord.

In closing let me quote once again from the report of our survey committee as exemplifying the spirit in which our Nation must set forth to achieve the 10-point declaration of objectives for our senior citizens which I have already listed. In submitting her report, the editor, Mrs. Mary Steen, of Santa Fe, concluded with this paragraph:

"There is a great deal of room for each person in New Mexico. There is room for everyone to be an individual, whether he speak an Indian tongue, or Spanish or English. He may be as tall as his shadow will let him be. Is there also room for him to grow old in a big social environment? Is there a place in the wide distances of New Mexico for him to grow old in an atmosphere of confidence and serenity. It is with this larger thought in mind, that this preliminary report is made."

As I take it, the larger purpose of H.R. 10014 is to enable each of our older citizens, wherever they live, to "be as tall as his shadow will let him be." I look forward to its early enactment.

Thank you.

STATEMENT OF HON. PETER W. RODINO, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to appear before this committee on behalf of my bill H.R. 558 which would establish a Bureau of Senior Citizens in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and declare congressional policy to be that, though the problems of the expanding number of aged persons are matters primarily of State concern, the Federal Government proposes to assist them. As you know, I have believed for a number of years that we must, in this way, recognize the great and multiple problems facing our older men and women by creating a permanent organization, at the Federal level, to act as a clearinghouse for ideas and to encourage the development of community and State activities on their behalf.

You are familiar, I know, with the statistics which show not only the growing numbers of older people, but the special problems which have been created for them in an expanding industrial society from the fact that we have moved very rapidly from the predominantly agricultural economy they knew in their youth to the highly mobile job market of today. You understand that these people, who would have been relatively self-sufficient on a family farm, are paying the price of progress in that they must depend upon cash income, in some form, to meet their everyday needs of food, clotihng, and a place to live.

We do not always realize, however, I believe, that their situation today is not of their own making, except insofar as they have contributed to our remarkable progress as the workers who made is possible. Their present dilemma is a byproduct of the sweeping changes which must inevitably take place as an individual society develops. For example, I was impressed by a recent report on the problems Japan is facing today as a result of the same kind of industrial progress in that country. World War II and the revolutionary socioeconomic changes in the postwar period have, in that country reversed the position of the aged. After years of hard work Japanese men and women formerly looked forward to retirement at age 55-a retirement which brought them new status in the extended family, and time to spend with their grandchildren. Social custom brought special feasts in honor of the 61st, 77th, and 88th birthday. Today the traditional family system is disappearing. The demoralization of the country has, very properly, developed a new spirit of individualism. In the younger generation it has raised the question of rights versus traditional responsibility and in the older generation has brought both new needs and the desire for freedom to express them. It is likely that this pattern of the growth of the "problem of aging" will be repeated in each developing country.

Once again, therefore, by establishing a Bureau of Older Persons at the Federal level, the United States will not only provide an example which speaks to our own countrymen of the human values we cherish in a democracy but it will be an example for all of the developing countries of the world.

Mr. Chairman, we have learned in my own State of New Jersey that, with the inauguration of a permanent body at the State level we have achieved both a new degree of cooperation and continuity in our community effort. The division of aging, established on a permanent basis in April 1958, is the coordinating agency for all of our programs on aging. And there is a small professional staff which carries forward these programs with the cooperation of staff members of the various interested State agencies.

Perhaps some of the good results we have already achieved in New Jersey will suggest the kind we can achieve, I believe, on a national level through the establishment of the new Bureau. When the Division of Aging of New Jersey opened its offices in 1958, one of its first projects was to contact the elected administrator of each of the 521 municipalities in the State, requesting information on what activities were already in progress for the aged, and explaining the functions of the division to be that of consultant to the community. When a request comes in, the usual procedure is to consult the files for information about the particular community. We find that some community groups have prepared a plan and ask only advice as to the best ways of carrying it out; others ask for enlightenment on the kinds of problems to look for, in view of the experience of other communities, together with alternative kinds of solutions. It is not uncommon to have community groups ask that the consultant tell them what should be done about their aging problem. This offers the consultant an opportunity to reemphasize the fact that he is not there to direct their activities but to give them background information, help them examine their community situation, and offer the resources and assistance of the division in taking steps toward a solution.

87006-62-pt. 1-3

The division on aging in New Jersey also circulates a monthly newsletter, Added Years, which is sent to over 8,000 citizens throughout the State. It contains descriptions of government and private programs for the aging, reports on pertinent legislation, and generally stimulates awareness of existing needs and resources. The scope of those needs and resources is suggested by typical articles in recent issues of this little publication which cover a broad range of subjects including day centers, housing for the elderly, public medical care, homemaker programs, rehabilitation, recreation, institutional living, discrimination in employment, and restorative nursing.

It is a heartening experience to read through these little leaflets and discover the new frontiers of experience they are gaining and the new hope and imagination which our communities are bringing to these projects. In Middlesex County a program for senior citizens entitled "Your Health-Your Food-and You" conducts Monday afternon meetings with the cooperation of the Middlesex County Tuberculosis & Health League and the Public Service Electric & Gas Co. For the large proportion of our aged people who are living alone and doing their cooking on a one-burner stove and subsisting on a limited budget, adequate and nourishing food is a very real problem, and this program recognizes that finding. The ad hoc committee on aging of Essex County in my own district has, with the assistance of the State division on aging, planned coordinated programs for senior citizens with the cooperation of municipalities. A recent questionnaire sent to 190 organizations serving the aging in the county showed that a multiplicity of agencies, each with its own idea of what the elderly want or need, is complicating the campaign. The committee is acting to unify all programs into a well-rounded organization with definite guidelines of service. James D. Compton, chairman of the ad hoc committee, has announced an early spring meeting to adopt a constitution and elect officers for a permanent countywide organization. Mr. Chairman, at the national level we have had some activity on behalf of the aging but it has been peripatetic. Committees of the Congress have conducted investigations and issued reports and I hope they will continue to do so. The White House Conference on Aging held in Washington in January 1961, under authority of an act of the Congress, was a progressive step forward, but that Conference, having issued its report, is now adjourned. The time has come, Mr. Chairman, when we must recognize at the national level-as we have at the State and community level-that we must have a permanent body in our Government concerned with all of the very broad problems of health, of income, of housing, of recreation, of nutrition, and of finding suitable employment for our senior citizens.

Mr. Chairman, we also need to learn the facts of these matters because I am convinced that they will help us to set our sights higher with respect to what we can do for our older men and women-and more things that we can do with them. A comprehensive study in New Jersey of discrimination in employment because of age, for example, was recently conducted. Among the myths destroyed by its findings is the one which holds that older workers are more prone to absenteeism than younger workers. The fact is that attendance records indicate older workers are at least as good as workers under 45, and are often better than the youngest age groups. Another myth shattered by the study is that older workers have lower productivity than younger employees. The findings show that only in a small number of jobs requiring great physical strength or agility do younger workers outproduce older ones.

On this particular point I am reminded, Mr. Chairman, of the commentator who, following the inspiring trip of our astronaut, John Glenn, wrote that it was fortunate Mr. Glenn has a steady job because, if he entered many employment offices in our country and admitted to being 40 years of age, he would have difficulty finding a job.

It is because I am convinced that a Bureau of Older Persons will be able to assist the States and communities of this country in finding new horizons for our older citizens that I am so greatly concerned with the enactment of this legislation. I urge you to report out a measure shaped along the lines of my bill for the consideration of the Congress.

PETER W. RODINO, Jr.,

Member of Congress.