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Mr. BAILEY. Have you had occasion to visit Puerto Rico?

Mr. ROBBINS. I was there on other business. I was in Puerto Rico on other business.

Mr. BAILEY. You might give the committee the benefit of the situation affecting the aged down there, since it is one of our territories. Mr. ROBBINS. Well, I didn't do much on senior citizens work in Puerto Rico. I was more interested in the housing up in the old San Juan area, which is a personal project of mine, in the reconstruction of the old Spanish homes.

But the cost of public housing in Puerto Rico is so low in comparison to what I have seen in America that they are able to house their people at much less expense than we are charging here for rents. Mr. BAILEY. But is it a problem there?

Mr. ROBBINS. Well, I do not know enough about the sociology of the Puerto Rican people to know whether we can do as in the States, take older people from a Puerto Rican family and move them into a separate community. They seem to live together as a unit, more. It is a different kind of culture. And I have not made any study of that; so I would not know.

Mr. BAILEY. They do create quite a housing problem in New York, where 3 or 4 million of them come in.

Mr. ROBBINS. If they had more housing for them, I think they would move into it.

Mr. BAILEY. Just proceed, now, with your regular presentation. Or have you finished?

Mr. ROBBINS. Yes. I have no more, sir.

Mr. BAILEY. I have not had time to go over your presentation enough to ask some questions I might have wanted to ask.

Do you have any questions, Mr. Frelinghuysen?

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say I regret coming in a few minutes late. I feel as if I have missed the subject of the sentence.

Did Mr. Robbins comment on the bills before the subcommittee and his point of view with respect to it?

Mr. ROBBINS. No.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. What relevance does this have to the problem that our committee is discussing?

Mr. ROBBINS. Well, I was interested in the fact that, as we are doing so much work on senior housing, as a consultant, anything that affects the future of the programs that are now in existence

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. We are not discussing the future of the hous ing program, that I know of.

I have no questions, Mr. Chairman, but it does not seem to me that Mr. Robbins is coming to the right committee, offhand, interesting as his testimony may be.

Mr. BAILEY. The gentleman from New Jersey will admit that is one of the problems in the area of aged and aging, that of housing. Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. The problem of growing old is a problem, Mr. Chairman, but that has no relevance to the problem before our committee, as I understand it, any more than the problem of medical care as such is before the jurisdiction of this committee.

Of course, housing is a problem; but I would hate to think of our segregating our senior citizens automatically into special housing for

them. I do not have any desire to get into a discussion of this. I do not think this is within the jurisdiction of our committee.

Of course, as Members of Congress, we are interested in housing for the elderly, but the proposal that we are considering is not going to either accelerate or decelerate adequate housing for the elderly,

so far as I know.

Mr. BAILEY. Have you any further comments, Mr. Robbins?

Mr. ROBBINS. No, sir.

Mr. BAILEY. Thank you for your presentation.

Mr. ROBBINS. Thank you, sir.

Mr. BAILEY. Our next witness will be Mrs. Ethel James Williams, program consultant, National Council of Negro Women.

Dr. Wolfe of the staff is vice president of this organization.

If you will, Dr. Wolfe, I would be pleased to have you make some

comment.

Dr. WOLFE. Thank you very much, Mr. Bailey.

Yes, I would like to say that Mrs. Williams, who is the program consultant for the National Council of Negro Women, of which I am the national vice president, is also the assistant professor at the School of Social Work of Howard University, and we are very pleased to have her represent for us at this time the National Council of Negro Women, which is composed of 850,000 Negro women throughout the United States and its territories.

Mr. BAILEY. You may further identify yourself to the reporter, if necessary, and proceed with your statement.

STATEMENT OF MRS. ETHEL JAMES WILLIAMS, PROGRAM CONSULTANT, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF NEGRO WOMEN, INC.

Mrs. WILLIAMS. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am Mrs. Ethel James Williams, representing the National Council of Negro Women. The National Council of Negro Women is a coordinating, planning body, founded and organized in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, together with a group of outstanding women leadIts purpose is to meet the need for united planning and concerted action for the economic, social, educational, and cultural welfare of Negro women in the United States.

ers.

It has brought together national organizations of Negro women to achieve the numerical strength and stature necessary for effective representation. To further implement the broad program of the National Council of Negro Women, councils were organized in local com-> munities. In 1962, there are 23 national member organizations and 96 local councils capable of reaching some 850,000 women. It is affiliated with the National Council of Women of the United States, Inc., and with the International Council of Women.

The National Council of Negro Women is particularly pleased to have this opportunity to speak for the adult citizens of our country. We, in our organizational activities, have for many years stressed the importance of studies and research around the processes of aging and have noted with concern the stereotyped approaches by many of us to this problem.

The physical, behavioral, and social sciences have made tremendous strides in the past decades in their studies on and about people and

how they perform in life situations and the reasons for their highlevel of functioning or malfunctioning. The relatively sudden increase in an older population has added a new dimension to our research and planning which is forcing us to reassess our concept of longer life and retirement.

The so-called youth orientation of our culture tends to blur the aura of respect, concern, and attention which rightly is the heritage of the elder members of our society. Our semantics, interestingly enough, reflect our ambivalence in this matter. We say "aging," the "aged person," "over 65," "senior citizen," "going like 60," "adult citizen," and so forth. The real and implied fears of "growing old" means isolation, idleness, rejection, ridicule and impoverishment. This blocks our vision as we concern ourselves with the problems and not with the opportunities.

In gaining a perspective we can then view the senior citizen as a whole person with basic needs and drives. They have aspirations, hopes and dreams, with certain skills and a background, in thousands of instances, of long years of high-level performance. The senior citizen needs security, recognition, and a sense of belonging; he wishes to be an active and participating member of society.

There is a commitment inherent in our way of life and an accountability for our acts and actions which underscores the "sense of urgency" in moving ahead with adequate study, thought, testing, evaluation, and action with and not for our senior citizens.

The bold, new imaginative programs for the aging which are an essential part of this administration's plans gives one the motivation and encouragement needed to begin and/or continue pressing for legislation; helping to create a climate of understanding and acceptance, and acquainting the general public with the needs of the elderly. The overall design as has been presented with the series of component parts, does give hope to many groups and organizations, both private and public, who have in their way attempted to meet some of the needs of our senior citizens.

As with any service, be it social or medical, a pattern of coordinated programs is necessary to give structure as well as meaning to a concerted effort to see a workable program launched. The nature and extent of the problem as well as the opportunities propounded is of concern and a challenge to the National Council of Negro Women.

This pattern of service as envisioned by the national council and as so ably enunciated by the government officials, State and local officers, aging agency personnel, includes: adequate health services, with medical care and assistance, health information; provisions for long-term illnesses and disability; institutional care including nursing homes.

Adequate income maintenance-liberal social security benefits: This pattern of service also includes decent, sanitary, and safe housing for the senior citizen at a price he can afford to pay; continuing education, rehabilitation, vocational training, guidance and counseling. Preretirement programs are also necessary, with the establishment of a "new look" at his work potential; recreation, not as an appendage to other activities, but a meaningful activity affording opportunities for volunteer work; participation, involvement and planning.

There are certainly dynamic implications of new knowledge which underscore the need for research, demonstration projects, training,

teaching and providing specialized services. Of particular concern to us is that there is a sizable segment of our population, 3 million women,1 nonwhite, in the total labor force as of April 1960.

Most of them are employed in three broad categories-private, household workers, operators in factories and laundries, and in other service occupations. It has been only since 1951 that social security included the domestic workers and not until 1955 that the act was modified to give more protection to this employee. It was noted that in 1958, the average yearly income for domestics was $1,161 as compared to clerical workers with an average yearly income of $3,388. Added to this 1959 data which notes that the occupation of husbands of domestics are concentrated in the service and laboring categories. These figures become extremely significant as we take a broad view of the situation. The Negro worker in tragically large numbers has no occupational mobility; his income does not allow for savings in any sizable amount for old age and retirement. Social security benefits will be extremely low or nonexistent particularly for the Negro domestic worker and along with the complexities of racial barriers in other aspects of living, brings graphically into focus the fact that there are millions of older people without income (11 million receiving social insurance benefits and 2.3 million receiving old-age assistance) and the responsibility the Government has to assume for this phase of social planning as well as for the other services mentioned previously.

Has it occurred to any of us that we too will be old some day? Comprehensive planning for the aging is not like play-acting in amateur dramatics when the curtain is drawn we become ourselves again. This understanding and comprehension calls for the conscious involvement of all of us in the process.

The National Council of Negro Women is attempting through its women's groups to respond to this problem and accept the challenge inherent in the broad community planning for the senior citizen. Thank you.

Mr. BAILEY. Mr. Frelinghuysen?

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to say that it is a pleasure to welcome Mrs. Williams here. I am sure she knows that we are very proud to have Dr. Wolfe on our staff.

I just want to assure you, Mrs. Williams, that I for one am very conscious of the fact that I am growing old someday, inasmuch as I have a son who is going to be old enough to vote next fall when the opportunity comes.

I have a couple of very brief questions.

With respect to the bill and/or bills that this subcommittee is considering, are you for or against establishment of the U.S. Commission on the Aging?

Mrs. WILLIAMS. As I tried to imply in this report, for the Commission; because we were talking about broad community planning; where you would have the fragments of many programs under an umbrella, where you could get a program moving together, with all of its component parts, rather than having different agencies and organizations working on particular programs.

1"1960 Handbook on Women Workers," Women's Bureau, Department of Labor Bulletin No. 275.

So we are, you see, interested in a commission where you can see concerted effort.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. I am still worrying about the expectations that seem to have been created about this Commission. This Commission is not going to piece together the fragments of existing programs and result in action which the agencies themselves are not taking, to the best of my knowledge. There is not going to be that kind of compulsion, arbitrary or complete enough power "arbitrary" is not the right word, but sufficient power in the Commission to oblige the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to take action which it is not presently taking.

If we are worrying about steering the problems which presently exist in the Federal Government, the Commission is not going to have transferred responsibility for these programs. It could oversee. It could breathe down Mr. Ribicoff's shoulder and Mr. Goldberg's shoulder and say, "You are not doing enough in certain areas," and presumably it can encourage them to take further action. But the fragmentation is going to be there. There is no reorganization of the Government with respect to the basic problem.

Mrs. WILLIAMS. I did not mean to give that impression. But there needs to be some vehicle, and as of now this would be a vehicle to sort of get things off the ground in terms of help for the aged.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Are you one of the witnesses who feel we have been slack in utilizing existing authority to develop and improve programs for the aged?

Mrs. WILLIAMS. No, I am not. I think in the reports I have been reading, starting with the White House Conference on the Aging, your State commissions that have special programs for the aging, your local organizations, your church groups all over the country you have this push for and interest in it. And there are, from the reports I have been reading, excellent reports of projects that have been started in this whole area.

Mr. FREYLINGHUYSEN. You refer to getting programs off the ground. If there is this increasing awareness and there are programs which are functioning, why is there this feeling that more needs to be done? That is something that still escapes me.

Mrs. WILLIAMS. Well, No. 1, I do not want to make the assumption that the Commission is going to be the answer. I do not think it is the answer. If I am correct in my interpretation, the Commission is just one of the ways.

And I am certainly not a lawyer; so I will not dare to try to interpret the bill as such. But I think that there is a sense of urgency by many people that we are trying to do what we can, but as these reports have been saying, there is so much more in terms of research. There is the new knowledge we are finding out about the aging processes. We need more training for workers, and we do need more services.

But this is not saying that something is not being done. This is not saying that something just needs to be propelled into space. I do not want to give that assumption, at all.

Mr. FRELINGHUYSEN. Just one final question with respect to this sense of urgency to which you refer, and also your reference to the bold, new, imaginative programs which the Kennedy administration has developed for the aging.

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