Mr. KEE. Optimistic. I am grateful I am going to be on your counterpart committee over on the House.

Senator RANDOLPH. I remember in the presence of newspaper people here today that in my campaign at one time I was with a friend who was campaigning also, and he was asked to make a statement and he didn't make it. He looked at the newspaper people and said, "You can't misquote silence." I don't say that the newspaper people misquote; in fact, I think just the opposite. They make a real contribution to informing the public, after talking with persons who are running for public office, those of us who share the responsibility of a public life. I would want to say today that we are glad that you have not been silent on this matter, that you have responded in good grace and conscience to the request I have made of you. Thank you very much.

Now, Governor Smith, I think that with these Members of the House present, I would like to refer to the some 18 years that your father spent in the House of Representatives and to your having been reared in a sense in a Federal legislative atmosphere.

I think West Virginia is very fortunate that we are going to have a Governor who understands this partnership between the State and Federal levels. This will be very helpful to us. We are delighted that you have testified for us today, and that you have given us these recommendations.

I also want to call attention to your aide, Paul Crabtree. We have known him here on Capitol Hill. We believe that if this program comes into being that the State of West Virginia will implement very quickly its responsibility.

We are ready, are we not, in West Virginia, to come forward with our contribution of 30 percent needed in the road construction program? Is that true?

Governor SMITH. Yes, Senator. We are ready to move when this legislation is passed. We have the program advanced to the stage, as I mentioned, that 16 miles of highway can be under contract this

year.

Senator RANDOLPH. And our legislature, now in its beginning days, would provide funds for the State's level of participation in other programs that are embraced in this legislation?

Governor SMITH. The present budget covers those fields and to that extent we could at the present time, not knowing how far this legislation was going to go, but I am hopeful that before our statutory session of the legislature adjourns on March 16 that this bill will be moved to the Senate to the point that we can be sure that we have included the proper legislation and the proper funding for our part of making the Appalachia regional development program a success not only for West Virginia, but a success for our sister States in Appalachia and for the good of the country.

Senator RANDOLPH. Governor Smith, between 1950 and 1960 West Virginia lost approximately 712 percent of its population. Do you believe that this type of program would help to stabilize our population figure and stop outmigration?

Governor SMITH. Senator, I think that this type of legislation is not only going to stabilize our population, but it is going to enable it to grow. I look upon this as not something to try and hold the line; I look on this as a definite breakthrough on a program that will develop

this great area of the Nation that lies within the Appalachian region, and, as such, will enable this part of the country to contribute its full share of measure to the entire growth of the Nation.

Senator RANDOLPH. Thank you, Governor Smith.

I am going to give the opportunity to Senator Cooper, while I talk with our Governor for just a few moments, of calling perhaps three witnesses from Kentucky who will testify as we come to the conclusion of the hearings. I will return in a moment.

Senator COOPER. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, we have been very fortunate during the course of these hearings to have the testimony of Governors of several of the States included in the Appalachian area, and last year we heard from various representatives of the area.

A few days ago I had a call from the officials and private citizens in a county of eastern Kentucky included in this area. These citizens were very desirous that some of the problems of this county-which is in the middle of the eastern Kentucky counties-be presented to the committee. This county is Jackson County, Ky., and the county seat of Mrs. Kee. Jackson County is not situated in the extreme eastern part of our State, where the names of many of those counties have become familiar. It is not the most mountainous area. is not in the great coal-producing area.

It

Curiously enough, it is located on the plateau just up from the bluegrass section of Kentucky and it is adjacent to one of our rich farming counties in Madison. It is not too far distant from Lexington, Ky., yet is is isolated and has suffered many of the problems and troubles so common in this part of Kentucky.

Historically, its problems have been the problems of other counties in this area. It has rich timber resources which they have been used up without care in the lumbering operations. It has a small coal mining area. Its schools in the early days were founded by churchesthe Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church, the Catholic Church. By reason of the very fact that it is located just adjacent to the richest part of our State, it would seem that it should have and would have had a better chance of development, but the land is not very rich, though it has possibilities for improved use through conservation practices.

The real problem, I think, is communication. Although it is located just next to the bluegrass area, it is almost inaccessible as far as decent roads are concerned. The representatives here are very much concerned and want their problems to be considered by the committee and by the Commission when it is established.

This county of Jackson and two other counties in this area, McCreary and Martin, are especially alike in their problems. They are at the edges, and yet they suffer and have suffered these same problems. The decisions about what shall be done after this legislation is passed will be made by the Commission and by the Governors and their delegates, but I can say that I intend to do all I can to recommend that your county, Jackson, and the other two counties that I mentioned, be given full and fair consideration along with the other counties in this area of Kentucky, I know you have expressed a concern that you will not be given full consideration, so I think it is only fair that you should have this opportunity to place your case on the record.

I am going to call on Father Beiting and Mr. Jess Wilson, who is with the rural electric cooperative of that county, and who is executive secretary of the county improvement association.

Father Beiting, will you state your name, your residence, and something about your work?

STATEMENT OF FATHER RALPH BEITING; ACCOMPANIED BY JESS WILSON, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, JACKSON COUNTY (W. Va.) IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

Father BEITING. Thank you very much, Senator.

Father Ralph Beiting. I am the representative of the Bishop of Covington in the southern section of the State, which would include these 49 counties of Appalachia.

At the present time I am working directly in four of the counties, Jackson County being one of them. It is in this respect that I have been associated with Mr. Jess Wilson, who has been appointed the executive secretary of the Jackson County Improvement Association. Jess has done a considerable amount of work to better the county over many years, particularly in these last years in which the attention of the Nation has been called to the problems of Appalachia.

I would just like to make one or two little comments in regard to the testimony that was given prior by certainly people much more competent than we. Nevertheless, I think that Senator Muskie's question concerning the nature of the environment, as far as production of raw materials and so on Jackson County, for example, has about 216,000 acres of land; 156,000 of this is in forest area which is 72 percent, and yet a survey that was taken in 1962 indicated that 118,000 acres of this was in very bad need of reforestation and timber management. In other words, 70 percent of the timber that Jackson County had was in need of a program such as the Appalachia bill would be able to produce.

Also, in talking with representatives of the University of Kentucky, especially men like Dr. Swemman, who was one of the geographers for the United Nations, one of the things that he insisted on in eastern Kentucky was that it did not have a pattern of success, that always they had heard planning, they had heard stories of better days, and yet nothing had ever developed, and because of this lack of pattern of success, they were in a very discouraged state of mind.

As Governor Scranton seemed to indicate, if we could get something immediate, so that people could know for once this was not simply a utopian idea, that it had its roots in reality, and in the reality of 1965 and 1966, then there would develop a real spirit of initiative.

Thirdly, I would like to say that the suggestion made by Senator Hart, that perhaps more areas should be brought into the Appalachia bill, that those areas could be best helped if this most chronic area would first prove itself and then the other areas that also need help very badly could say here was an area that was tried and trusted at work; our area could do so as well.

If you put too many in at one time, the chances of any of us getting the desired help, I think, is greatly diminished.

Finally, I know that something that the Senate and the Congress of the United States is not specifically interested in is religion, but I

think that there has been created on the part of this bill a religious atmosphere that is highly desirable in America. Now, I mean by that the spirit of cooperation that is present as a result of this bill and legislation similar to this.

I, myself, while I do represent the diocese of Covington and the entire eastern Kentucky area, in Jackson County our church is very small. In fact, we number at the present time only 1 out of every 1,000 inhabitants, yet when your call came to the county, one of the individuals that they insisted go to Washington was a Catholic priest. Now, I think this is a revolution that is going to take place in Appalachia where the religious elements are going to bond themselves together not as adversaries but as friends, and it is going to create a tremendous revival and renewal of real aspirations on the part of our people.

I know oftentimes this is not brought up, but I think the committee certainly is going to reap a great harvest of benefits from this aspect of the bill.

Now, I think that this is approximately everything that I would like to say. I am sure Mr. Wilson would like to add something on his many years of background. I have only been in the area for 15 years, but Mr. Wilson's family was there I think they led Daniel Boone into the area, so I know he has been there for quite a long time— at least he is older than I am, anyway.

Senator COOPER. State your name, your residence, and your occupation.

Mr. WILSON. Jess Wilson, executive secretary of the Jackson County Improvement Association.

If Harry Caudill went looking for one man that he could call a 100 percent east Kentucky hillbilly, I suppose I would be that person. Actually, I had a great deal to do with the first committee that I ever heard talk about the Appalachian Governors' conference. I was the first chairman of that committee at Gatlinburg, Tenn., so I do feel a vital interest in what has happened here today, and possibly the contributions that were made back then, and were talked about years

ago.

We in Jackson County, in looking for somebody who is concerned with our problems here, know nobody else who actually has a greater concern for our conditions and for the values.

Senator COOPER. Do you have any specific recommendations either concerning your own county or the program itself? I think you had some concern about inclusion of Jackson County in the roads network. Father BEITING. Yes. U.S. Highway 421 which connects with Interstate I-75 just a few miles north of Jackson County services the entire center section of eastern Kentucky. I would say at least eight of the counties in this area are vitally connected by this highway with the rest of the country. Without this highway, they are completely inaccessible to any other section of the United States.

Jackson County is the entrance point for this highway into the mountain area, and if any work is going to be done, this would be an ideal section to start with. Many accidents have occurred on this section, and many deaths, and the highway property damage, if prorated against cost of construction, would in itself be a very vital consideration in making the road very feasible.

We also have a great amount of traffic on it. The State highway has estimated that last year in the McKee area alone that nearly 1,700 people an hour go over the highway there; a few miles south it gets as high as 4,000, so it is an area in which we have a great deal of traffic, yet the road is very narrow.

The coal, the timber, the tourism that must come in and out of the area, is solely dependent on this one highway. This is something we feel in Jackson County would be a wonderful step not only for our own county, but for the seven or eight additional and adjoining counties.

Water is also important. We are very much concerned over the Rockcastle River Reservoir which is under the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers. This is at the present time in the planning stage, and about $56,000 has been appropriated by the Congress for survey work on this stream. We feel that there could be untold benefits come not only to this county, but to Rockcastle County and sections of Laurel County and Pulaski County, and so on, if such a reservoir were created.

We have, of course, some of the finest scenery in the country, and again, there is no one to see it, no one to enjoy it, simply because we have not been able to develop it and then to get the access highways into it to make it accessible to the people.

These two big things would, I think, be our major concern.
Senator COOPER. I would like to comment briefly.

First, I do know Route 421 very well and have traveled over it many times. I know it is the outlet for people in Jackson County to get down to Madison County, to Lexington and to the center of the State. I also know that it leads on into Leslie County, Clay County, and indeed other counties up in eastern Kentucky and affords a very quick and good way for ingress and egress.

I agree with you. I think it ought to be included in this network. It is a matter for the Governor of the State. I am going to recommend its inclusion, and I know that you will make every effort that you can.

As to the proposed Rockcastle Reservoir, I do know about it; I introduced the resolution which ordered the survey. It is now in the hands of the Corps of Engineers. The corps will make its report, determining its feasibility, and then Congress will decide whether or not to authorize and appropriate funds for its construction. We have to wait first for the action of the Corps of Engineers.

I think it has been helpful, Senator Randolph, for these representatives of a county in this area, small in population, with less developed communications, although located just adjacent to the richest part of our State. I might note that when you speak of Daniel Boone, we can recall that it was through this county that Daniel Boone entered central Kentucky to establish Boonesborough.

I have been very interested in, as you mentioned, your schools, which were established in the early days by the churches and were very, very good schools. Very great progress has been made there in the field of education, despite the lack of communication outlets and economic development.

Let me say, Senator Randolph and members of the committee, to show the initiative of this county, with one of the lowest per capita income figures in Kentucky, the citizens and officials of this county,