to unite, for example, in a strong trade union movement in order to better cope with the antilabor concept of an industrial complex which has the assistance of the police powers of this State and Nation to keep the unemployed in its grip and rule these people as industrial slaves.

The Commission honestly recognizes the fact that the wealth of this region is being drained away. It went down the streams with the great hardwood logs; it rode out on rails with the coal cars; it was mailed between distant cities as royalty checks from nonresident operators to holding companies who had bought rights to this land for sometimes a dollar or 50 cents an acre but most times for 25 cents.

The failure of the Commission to make recommendations to cure these atrocities of the free enterprise system is only admission that the Commission does not want to eliminate the discriminatory practices against the working people of this area.

The beginning of adjustment

CHAPTER 3

The statement in this chapter that "recent developments indicate clearly that the Appalachian people understand their problems and are determined to solve them" indicates too that the people they are talking about are representatives of the American Power Co., the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., absentee owners of large acreages of timber and coal rights and the Associated Industries of Kentucky. These are the interests with the permanently established lobbies at Frankfort which have ruthlessly exploited the timber and mineral resources of this region for the benefit of the few to the detriment of the people. They are the people the Commission has called together recently in certain locations out of the reach of the unemployed people of this area.

Page 28 of the report states that "Appalachia's 8.5 percent of the population received 4.9 percent of the Federal dollars. This relatively low level of Federal spending, combined with the inadequate tax base of this region, explains part of the region's distress." It also states that "a substantial effort in education, health facilities, employment services, community apparatus-all items of social overhead neglected for long decades-must be made." But it makes no recommendations as to how we can receive our part of the Federal appropriations nor how the inadequate tax base can be remedied nor how the comprehensive program for schools can be achieved.

The Commission also suggests a water control effort to attract new investments in property. This is a program not solely to protect present investments, yet the consensus of the whole report is to protect present investment.

The elements of a program

CHAPTER 4

This chapter is a shrewd evasion by the President's Appalachian Commission to adopt a program that would benefit the whole American economy. Such a program would stop the import of power from Canada and give thousands of jobs to coal miners. It would provide a diversified economy in this region which would free the unemployed people from the social, political, and economic pressures of a one-industry economy. It could automatically take care of the poor housing conditions, provide more and better schools, take the people off the "dole" and let them work. It would, if the tax structure were revised, to include wealth, build all necessary highways. It would eliminate the spending of millions of dollars of the people's money for various Government projects whose offices are featherbedded with political appointees who pressure the lame, the sick, and the blind to conform to the political aspirations of the department head who appointed them and his arbitrary decisions about wage levels, conditions of living, and fair family incomes.

The Commission's ideas seem to encourage the plans for a "magic mountain" or a "cloud city," or recreational centers for those that have, which would employ a few of the unemployed servants of the masters and keep them in the same condition they have been in for the last half century.

Their recommendations on power suggests to us the amount of consideration we should give to all the other recommendations.

Their urban renewal or low-cost house projects have proved a failure because most of the units are empty due to the unemployment that prevails in the area. All other Federal projects have been of little aid to the unemployed of this area because most of the work was done by out-of-State contractors using mechanical equipment operated by out-of-State employees.

CONCLUSIONS

Our conclusions are that the forgotten man in this report remains forgotten. The members of this Commission are deeply aware of the problems they describe but they are reluctant to prescribe a cure for the ills listed in all the reports of commissions over a period of 60 years, because they are reluctant to interfere with the power structure which the State authorities have permitted to drain the resources of this region away leaving the people without jobs, without schools, without public facilities, without roads, churches, recreation centers, with poverty, malnutrition, disease, and pestilence stalking through the land. It has left shacks crumbling to the scarred earth and children searching through the refuge dumps for a morsel of nourishment-ragged, naked, diseased, and without hope. One-room schoolhouses still dominate the area, with walls wired together by steel ropes-an old coal-fired heating stove that is inadequate in every respect and forces the children to crumple their feet in under their bodies to keep them warm. Parents threaten to boycott the schools if the schoolhouses are not repaired, while the radio and TV proclaim to the world that there is a free school lunch program free to all the kids whose parents cannot pay, which is far from the truth.

Pitiful Federal and State relief projects with poverty wage levels are operated by politically appointed heads of departments. Their rules of administration are so complicated that the applicants are kept running around in circles until they are exhausted. Their medical and hospital relief programs are administered in such a manner that several of the applicants have died before their claims to any aid whatever can be approved. Fathers, mothers, daughters, and sons in great need of medical care but without means to secure it, the sick, lame, and injured all lie at hospital doors without doctors to admit them. Expectant mothers lie in hospital corridors until their unemployed fathers and friends try to borrow the money.

The seniority rules of the House and Senate permit the heads of committees to deny the National Congress even to debate the medicare bill, or consider a national health plan, or a bill to force automation to take care of the human slag heap it has created. Power lobbies, medical associations, chambers of commerce, oil and gas cartels, captains of industry, and railroad monopolies press for legislation to aid big business without any thought of the human element they have discarded for automation.

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS, BY RICHARD C. LONGMIRE, PAULS VALLEY, OKLA., CHAIRMAN, LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

We appreciate this opportunity to present the views of the National Association of Soil & Water Conservations Districts (NACD) in support of H.R. 11065, the proposed Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1964.

The Nation's soil and water conservation districts have a vital interest in the development of land, water, timber, and the related natural resources. For the past 26 years, districts have been engaged in many of the conservation and resource development activities envisioned in the Appalachian Regional Development Act.

In working with over 2 million rural and urban cooperators, we have learned that the technical management assistance, watershed development, and other kinds of aid provided through the Nation's 2,950 districts are often the keys to broader economic development and a better life for the communities involved. But in spite of these efforts, and the efforts of many other private and public organizations and agencies, poverty continues in parts of the 10 Appalachian States. The area has not responded adequately to the challenges of modern America. Appalachia has not shared in the general expansion of wealth and opportunity enjoyed by the country as a whole.

Whatever the reasons for this lag in development-and they are explored admirably in the report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission-NACD believes the time has come to correct the trend of past decades. We advocate a concerted effort to aid Appalachia fulfill the promises of its potential in every respect. We believe that H.R. 11065 is an excellent step in this direction.

At our 1964 convention held this past February in Kansas City, NACD went on record as supporting the goals of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. Our member districts and officers and directors recognize the fact that although Appalachia has many areas with undeveloped potential, overall development has met with limited success.

BASIC POLICY

As a matter of basic policy, we seek to increase the contribution that soil and water conservation districts and associated watershed districts can make in accelerating natural resource development. In order to achieve maximum growth of the Appalachian area, we believe broad resource development programs based on soil and water capabilities will be essential. Such programs, including watershed development, will make possible improved recreational opportunities; enlarge agricultural, municipal, and industrial water supplies; and build the attractiveness of the region to investors and industry. Many provisions of H.R. 11065 would promote these goals.

PASTURELAND IMPROVEMENT

The proposed authority for the Secretary of Agriculture to assist in the improvement and development of the area's 12 million acres of pastureland will, in addition to providing direct economic benefits, pay other dividends for years to come in Appalachia. Almost 75 percent of the pastureland in this region needs conservation treatment, according to the national conservation needs inventory.

Much of this land has been badly neglected for generations. It should be improved now so that its utility will not be lost for many generations of future Americans.

As an important aid to this end, NACD supports the establishment of a plant materials center to select and test plants best suited for pasture development and soil conservation in the region, as recommended by the President's Commission.

TIMBER INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

The provisions which would make possible technical assistance by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to local timber development organizations and other groups engaged in timber production and the manufacture of wood products, appear to have great potential for rebuilding a healthy forest products industry in the region. The problems of forest conservation and development in areas such as Appalachia, where much timber acreage is widely scattered in small tracts, are well known. H.R. 11065 wold give real impetus to the administrative and physical consolidation of small holdings into efficient management units.

STRIP MINE RECLAMATION

The plans embodied in the bill to demonstrate the application of modern strip mine reclamation through the acceleration of fish and wildlife restoration projects provides a unique opportunity to heal scars on the land which have been a regional and national disgrace for many years. Neglected mining areas are a distinct and costly impediment to the attraction of new industries, the development of desirable recreational areas, and the growth of residential areas.

WATER DEVELOPMENT

In a related effort, the President is requesting an additional $37.8 million in the coming year for accelerating water projects in Appalachia. NACD, which has witnessed the remarkable advances in community development associated with hundreds of upstream watershed projects sponsored by districts across the Nation, believes that water is a vital key to the economic development of Ap palachia. Water is a prime factor-perhaps the most important factor-in the location of many types of industry. It is the basis for the kind of recreational development for which the demand is expanding so rapidly, especially in the Eastern United States. It is the foundation for agricultural advancement and municipal growth. We support wholeheartedly this request to move water projects ahead faster.

PARTNERSHIP WITH EXISTING AGENCIES

NACD recognizes the fact that existing agencies have not been able to do the job that is needed in Appalachia. And we understand the need for creating new organizational arrangements to provide a focus for the administration of a program of this importance and magnitude.

On the other hand, we would like to record our support for the provision in section 302 that directs the use of services and facilities already available through existing agencies of the Federal Government wherever possible, in order to avoid duplication. In addition, we recommend that the Appalachian Regional Commission be directed to follow thhe same policy in its relationships with existing State and local agencies-many of which are vitally concerned with regional development.

We believe the greatest prospective contribution of H.R. 11065 may not necessarily be the administrative arrangements and mechanisms for action, but the commitment that it represents the commitment of the Nation to give substantial, immediate attention to a serious problem in order to get immediate results.

Much would be lost if we bypass the opportunity to call on the energies, authorities, and valuable experience of existing agencies. In particular, we believe soil and water conservation districts have much to offer in carrying forward the large and important effort that is proposed. Districts are capable and knowledgeable, they are engaged in the kinds of constructive action that are essential to the development of a region, they have a real devotion to the public interest, and their contribution is limited only by the support that can be made available to them.

There is a real opportunity here for meaningful and effective partnership between soil and water conservation districts, and the new timber development organizations and local development districts which are envisioned under provisions of this act.

ACTION AND THE FUTURE

We should like to make one final point. NACD believes the overwhelming need in solving the problems of Appalachia is action. We must begin now because we are dealing with the lives of people who are alive today.

But we must not forget that the core of the problem of Appalachia in the past has been a shortsighted philosophy of development-or rather nondevelopment--that has concentrated on exploiting the potential of the present with little thought for the future. NACD believes that the program for Appalachia, though it concerns itself with immediate action, must recognize the value of research and emphasize a continuing attention to long-range problems.

PENNSYLVANIA STATE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, HARRISBURG

POLICY STATEMENT CONCERNING APPALACHIA

The State chamber supports the parts of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission (PARC) program which assist private, local, and State efforts toward regional development. However, it opposes the parts of the program which increase Federal ownership or control of resources or tend to discourage private, local, or State effort through Federal domination.

The chamber believes that the useful portions of the Appalachian program can be fully implemented by existing Federal agencies. Creation of a new Federal commission, of a new Federal financing corporation, or any additional level of Federal bureaucracy is unnecessary and harmful. Additional governmental structures would not improve existing or proposed programs and would certainly cause Federal domination in essentially State and local affairs. Proper coordination of programs for the Appalachian region could be obtained simply and effectively by a Presidential assistant working with existing agencies.

The chamber gives qualified approval to the proposals for construction of a highway system for better access to the Appalachian region as suggested in the PARC report. Although such a program is in keeping with traditional functions of government, care must be exercised that proper standards are established. Design criteria for each State should be adequate to insure that the new roads withstand heavy loads of industrial and commercial products. The design criteria should be no less than the standards in effect in each State at the time the roads are constructed. In addition, location criteria should be reevaluated in the light of local needs. Legislation providing for the Appalachia program

should set forth (1) the number of miles of development and local access roads to be constructed in each State; (2) the Federal-State matching ratio to be in effect for each State; and (3) a specific but equitable formula that will distribute the annual Appalachian highway appropriation among the participating States. Also, the legislation providing for the Appalachia program should be flexible in assignment of mileage and funds between development roads and local access roads. However, the State chamber opposes the use of general revenues of the U.S. Treasury to construct highways. The Appalachia highway program should be financed by highway funds. With these qualifications the highway program should aid Pennsylvania's economy by increasing the mobility of its citizens, facilitating commerce, and stimulating tourism.

The State chamber approves much of the water resources program recommended in the PARC report. The suggested programs aimed at flood control, reclamation, and navigation are a proper responsibility of the Federal Government. However, sewage treatment and prevention of stream pollution are primarily matters for State and local action, and Federal assistance should be given only at the request of State authorities. Moreover, water resources projects should not include uneconomic production of hydroelectric power. Where power can be generated economically at such projects as a byproduct, the power development should be financed by private investor capital and should be owned and operated by private enterprise upon payment of proper costs and license fees to the Government.

The natural resources proposals in the PARC report are given qualified approval by the chamber. Many of the recommendations concerning agriculture, timber, and minerals, including coal, provide for valuable research and technical assistance. More intensive management of existing public forest land for multiple use, as proposed in the PARC report, would have a direct beneficial impact on the Appalachian forest products industry and communities dependent on that industry.

The pro

Other parts of the natural resources proposals are objectionable. posed agriculture program unwisely provides a substantial possibility of Federal subsidization of uneconomic land use and of perpetuation of the conditions intended to be remedied. The proposed timber development organizations are objectionable because they are unnecessary and would create federally subsidized competition with existing private organizations. The State chamber is opposed to acquisition of additional lands for the national forest system. Public land ownership of forest land in Pennsylvania already exceeds 20 percent. With reference to the minerals portion of the report, the chamber believes that technological advances creating a potential increase in the economic use of coal, by means of large-scale mine-mouth electric generating plants and extra high voltage long-distance transmission lines, are already being fully utilized by the investor-owned electric companies. Hence, it believes that Government owned or financed power facilities are neither necessary nor desirable.

The chamber opposes the PARC recommendation that studies be made of minemouth powerplants and related hydroelectric projects because such studies would unnecessarily duplicate the national power survey now being conducted by the Federal Power Commission. The chamber expresses concern in light of recent statements by President Johnson, Secretary of the Interior Udall and other program sponsors that the PARC proposals concerning water resources, minerals, and power might lead to the establishment throughout Appalachia of a Federal electric power empire similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority. The chamber points out that Government subsidized electric power is not an important factor in attracting new industry or stimulating the economy of a region. After 30 years' operation and an investment of $2.3 billion in the power facilities of TVA, most of the counties served by the TVA are listed as distressed areas where Federal assistance is urgently needed.

The chamber gives qualified approval to the human resources recommendations of the report. While proposals for training, vocational rehabilitation, and health and welfare services are within the proper sphere of governmental activity, the chamber believes that control of these activities should be placed at State and local levels of government. It does not believe that existing Federal programs such as the Vocational Education Act of 1963 and the Manpower Development and Training Act should be expanded as proposed until those programs have been properly implemented and actual experience under the programs have been evaluated.

The chamber recommends that basic responsibility and leadership for industrial, commercial, and community development activities remain at the local level. In keeping with this, the State chamber has encouraged such activity as