If I can furnish any other information that will be of assistance, I will be delighted to do so. Thank you.

Senator RANDOLPH. Thank you, Governor.

The committee is privileged now to hear testimony from our colleague, Senator Daniel Brewster, of Maryland.

Will you proceed in your own way? We are very happy that you have, in a busy schedule, fitted in another appearance before our

committee.

STATEMENT OF HON. DANIEL B. BREWSTER, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND

Senator BREWSTER. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I am grateful to you and my colleagues on this committee for affording me an opportunity to testify in behalf of S. 3, the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965.

As a cosponsor of this bill, a member of this committee during the 1964 consideration of it, and a Senator from one of the States which will benefit by its enactment, I am deeply concerned with this program.

At the opening of hearings last year, the Under Secretary of Commerce, the Honorable Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., vividly illustrated the measure which divides general prosperity from regional poverty. In earlier statements, the Secretary pointed to statistics showing an Appalachian unemployment rate of 7.1 percent, compared to a national rate of 5 percent. He pointed to income figures of $3,000 or less for one-third of the families in Appalachia, as compared to one-fifth of the families in the Nation.

The concern of the President, of Mr. Roosevelt, and of many of us in Government at all levels is with the increasing gap between a bountiful America and a bypassed Appalachia.

As the senior Senator from Maryland, I am concerned with the economic prosperity of three western Maryland counties-I note their Representative, Mr. Mathias, is here this morning-which fall within the purview of Appalachian poverty and within the promises of Appalachian development. I know my own State best. I believe that the program envisioned in this act is essential to the economic future of Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties.

I believe that their problems are illustrative of the problems throughout Appalachia, and I am concerned that the members of this committee and of the Congress who do not represent Appalachian areas, understand fully the seriousness of the situation with which this legislation is intended to deal.

Let me be descriptive. The Appalachian counties in Maryland comprise 1,570 square miles of mountain and valley. They represent 15 percent of the State's total land area and accommodate 6.3 percent of the State's population. Garrett County is the second largest in the State, but it is inhabited by less than 1 percent of our total population.

Until recent times, the economic mainstays for the 194,000 inhabitants of our Appalachian counties were agriculture and mining. Farming has declined to the point where it is prosperous employment for an ever-decreasing number. In Garrett County it provides employment for one-third of the work force, but in Allegany and

Washington Counties for only 5 and 3 percent, respectively. The coal mines which once employed 6,000 provide jobs for 500 today.

Today, the economies of the tricounty area are dependent on the 8 percent of Maryland's total manufacturing which is located there. In Allegany and Washington Counties, 45 percent of the work force is so employed. In Garrett County, more than 20 percent of personal income is derived from manufacturing. The increasing automation of the manufacturing process threatens a continual reduction of available employment in industry, as well as in farming and mining.

Forest resources constitute some 600,000 acres of timberland in these three counties, but only a small portion is sawtimber and of this amount only a fraction is being cut.

Water resources are presently adequate to a stagnant economy, but could never meet the demand of population and industrial growth. Per capita income in our mountain counties was, in 1961, $500 a year below the statewide average.

Our western counties are also deficient in the development of adequate housing and the provision of educational opportunities. The percentage of substandard housing ranges from 20 percent in Allegany County to 39 percent in Garrett County. Substandard refers to housing in a dilapidated condition or lacking bath or toilet facilities. The key to economic development in 1965 is the adequacy of transportation. In this area, my State's forward looking highway program has placed Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties in a position to make significant, forward strides as soon as the other elements in the Appalachian plan have been effected. Washington and Allegany Counties have adequate highway and rail linkages completed or scheduled for early construction. Garrett County can be expected to enjoy a similar improvement, but here much needs to be done.

As our Nation has grown, we have come to recognize the interdependence of its regions, and the contribution which each makes to the prosperity of all.

President Johnson has carried forward with characteristic energy and effectiveness many of the programs which were formulated by the late John Kennedy, but the President has done more than that. He has launched a massive national war on poverty wherever it is found. This war is a noble war, and I am proud to have joined with a bipartisan group of my colleagues in sponsoring the attack on poverty and the specific legislation directed toward the elimination of poverty from the Appalachian region of our country.

Mr. Chairman, no one knows better than you, representing the great State of West Virginia, that the people of Appalachia are a great people. They have shown their spirit in their response to their circumstances, geographic, economic, and human. Even now, they are preparing to do their part in implementing the recovery for which this bill provides. They recognize, as we do, that the construction of highways, the attractions of industry, the prevention of flooding, the management of resources, the construction of educational and medical facilities, and the elimination of human suffering, are the ingredients of the good life and the Great Society.

The realization of the American dream for each county of Appalachia is within our grasp. The passage of the legislation pending before this committee is a long step toward this realization.

I am proud that it was the Governor of my own State who, in 1960, called the first conference of Appalachian Governors to consider what steps might be taken in this area. I would like to close my testimony by quoting from a statement issued by Governor Tawes at that time: -Americans cannot afford to be complacent about economic hardship and distress anywhere in the world, much less in the very heart of our own country, nor can we allow ourselves to be defeated by the difficulties of the problems we face. We must move in to tackle them with vigor and determination.

In conclusion, I would like to say I am honored and privileged to join with my colleague, the chairman of this committee, Senator Randolph, who is sponsoring this legislation. I would like to congratulate Senator Randolph for the great leadership he has personally shown in guiding this legislation to a very early hearing only within days of the inaugration, so that we can hopefully expect enactment in the immediate future and the implementation of this program before the year is over. My congratulations, Mr. Chairman, to you personally, and to the members of this committee.

Thank you.

Senator RANDOLPH. Senator Brewster, I am grateful for your remarks with reference to my personal efforts joined with yours and all members of the committee and a very large number of Senators in this matter.

I think it might be appropriate, Representative Mathias, while Senator Brewster is here, if you wish to make a brief comment—not that I am stressing the briefness except we are moving now to a conclusion.

STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES MCC. MATHIAS, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MARYLAND

Mr. MATHIAS. Thank you very much, Senator. I do appreciate the opportunity to say just a few words. I have introduced the bill as a cosponsor in the House of Representatives. It seems to me to meet some of the very basic needs that we in the Appalachian program have held for some time.

In 1961, we had a western Maryland conference which brought together representatives of industry, labor, agriculture, and government. Basically, the conclusions that we reached after a mature deliberation of our problems of the shortage of job opportunities, other economic dislocations that were being experienced periodically and recurrent was that water and highways, access and water resources, were going to be the two big things which would move us from a material point of view.

I believe that this bill will give us a substantial push forward in these areas and upon consideration, decided to give my full-hearted support to this program in its entirety.

I appreciate the chance to just add these words to those of Senator Brewster. I want to thank the chairman for his many courtesies in connection with efforts in our adjoining States pressing forward to the causes that we both believe in.

(See supplemental statement of Congressman Mathias on p. 204.) Senator RANDOLPH. Thank you very much, Representative Mathias. Senator Cooper?

Senator COOPER. I want to thank our colleague for his testimony and support.

Senator RANDOLPH. Senator Muskie.

Senator MUSKIE. It is always a pleasure to invite Senator Brewster to testify before his colleagues. However, I shall resist the temptation to subject him to questioning at this time.

Senator RANDOLPH. Senator Boggs.

Senator BOGGS. I feel the same as Senator Muskie. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator MONTOYA. I have no questions.

Senator RANDOLPH. Senator Brewster, again we thank you very much, and we look forward to not only your support but also to your active participation, if necessary, in the Senate debate.

Thank you very much.

Senator BREWSTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator RANDOLPH. I wish to note for the record the presence in the hearing today of our influential citizens of Martinsburg, Mr. Marlon Eckhard, the postmaster, and Hubert Taylor. We are very happy that they have come today to indicate their interest, and especially now to share in listening to the testimony of the newly inaugurated Governor of West Virginia. Gov. Hulett C. Smith was inaugurated on Monday afternoon in an almost blinding snowstorm. Some 3,000 or 4,000 persons who were there at the capital were impressed by the confidence which he expressed in the future of West Virginia, the courage with which he is ready to face the problems of the State, and in a sense, I think, the compassion which our new Governor has for the human needs of the area.

Governor Smith, if you will testify at this time, we know the committee will be helped by your counsel.

STATEMENT OF HON. HULETT C. SMITH, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Governor SMITH. Mr. Chairman and members of the Public Works Committee, it is a great pleasure to be here today on the first full day of this new Federal administration, in the first full week of my term as Governor of West Virginia, in the first full month of the 89th Congress, to discuss a new and promising program designed to accelerate the development of one vital section of this Nation.

Mr. Chairman, you and the other members of the Public Works Committee deserve our thanks and appreciation for calling these hearings so early, for keeping them as brief as possible, and for making every effort to bring the Appalachian regional development bill to a vote by the full Senate as soon as you can.

I trust that the House committee will follow your good example, for this program is of utmost importance to all of the 11 Appalachian States.

And here, I must pay my respects and extend my appreciation to another group of national leaders-the Conference of Appalachian Governors. I understand our chairman testified just a moment ago. The Conference of Appalachian Governors, created just 4 years ago this winter, was dedicated to the principle that the national economy could not be called healthy as long as one vast section of our country

lagged behind in the development of new jobs, public facilities, and full utilization of natural resources.

Their dedication was so intense that they persevered against many obstacles, first to attain a unity of purpose, and then to persuade the Federal Government to join with them in a genuine Federal-State cooperative effort to solve their mutual problems.

Without their efforts, I believe these hearings probably never would have become a reality, nor this bill a possibility. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the members of the conference, past and present.

For my own part, I pledge my cooperation with the other Appalachian Governors as I become the newest member of their organization, just as I pledge my cooperation to you, Mr. Chairman, and to the Federal and State officials who will administer this program.

It seems almost superfluous to say that West Virginia favors the swift enactment of S. 3. My forward-looking predecessor, Governor Barron, testified eloquently to this effect in the hearings you held last year. He was chairman of the two critical years. He and Cohens were most active in the development of the Appalachian Governors program.

As you know Senator, I have expressed support of Appalachian redevelopment many times to you face to face, in the many years of our treasured personal friendship.

Let me reaffirm:

West Virginia supports the Appalachian regional development bill. As Governor, I think S. 3 is a good bill.

It is realistic.

It goes directly to the heart of many of the problems facing Appalachia. It is attainable, within the time established in the bill. Therefore, I simply and positively support the passage of this legislation.

There probably has never been a bill or an act of Congress which could not have been improved in some way or another. So, I know that you will recognize that I am not casting any reflection whatever upon the general excellence of S. 3 when I propose some constructive suggestions. I hope they might make this bill more workable, more effective, and more responsive to the needs of West Virginia and Appalachia.

First, we are elated that the highway portion of the Appalachian regional development bill, as resubmitted, continues to provide for a broad system of first-class highways and access roads.

The 70-30 matching ratio provided in the bill is truly a major accomplishment for it gives recognition for the first time to the developmental factor that accompanies highway construction. It also takes into account the difficulty and high costs of building highways in mountainous terrain.

I must say in frankness that even 30 percent of the cost will be difficult to provide in a State such as West Virginia, which lies entirely within the Appalachian Range and has a limited capital base from which to draw revenues for highways. However, we are determined to do our best.

My State road commissioner, Sawyers, has advised me that if this bill is passed within a reasonable time, he can place 16 miles of the Appalachian system under construction before the end of calendar year 1965, and an additional 30 miles during 1966.