AUTHORIZING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE WORK OF THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL EMPLOY THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED WEEK JUNE 6, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. LESINSKI, from the Committee on Education and Labor, submitted the following REPORT To accompany H. J. Res. 2281 The Committee on Education and Labor, to whom was referred the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 228) to authorize an appropriation for the work of the President's Committee on National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the joint resolution do pass. GENERAL STATEMENT Under the terms of Public Law 176, Seventy-ninth Congress, second session, the first week in October each year is set aside for observance of National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week. The President, State Governors and mayors are asked to issue proclamations and members of various organizations and groups are called upon to give the observance appropriate attention and support. Four such observances have been held, each one creating greater public interest and understanding. Under the Retraining and Reemployment Administration, United States Department of Labor, a cooperating committee of citizens representing organizations of business, industry, labor, women's, veterans. professional, civic, fraternal, religious, farm and other groups was formed. When the RRA statutory authority expired in 1947, the President deemed it necessary to continue to receive the assistance of private and public groups for this program and asked the Secretary of Labor in August 1947 to re-form such a representative citizen's committee. This was done and the President's Committee on NEPH Week was established in the United States Department of Labor where it has continued to function. In 1948, desirous of providing the committee with sufficient funds to properly obtain, direct, and utilize the inherent good will of its members in cooperation with the program for employment of the impaired, the President recommended an appropriation which arrived late in the session of the Eightieth Congress and was not granted. Subsequently, in April 1949, the President requested Representative Augustine B. Kelley to introduce a joint resolution (H. J. Res. 228) similar to one introduced in the previous Congress. This was done and a similar joint resolution (S. J. Res. 81) introduced in the Senate by Senator Sparkman, for himself and Senator Aiken. This bill would authorize expenditure of money, not to exceed $75,000 annually, for additional promotional and educational measures aimed at providing suitable gainful employment of disabled veterans and impaired civilians. The funds would provide for a small staff to make possible a more effective liaison with committee members and organizations, the governors of the States and others in the yeararound program for greater employment opportunities. It would also provide necessary travel and telephone expenses and would make possible printing and binding funds for a periodical and other promotional plans devoted to this program. The periodical would be inexpensive, probably multilithed, and would contain latest information of interest, would describe contributions of individual organizations or firms in the movement to provide handicapped workers with employment. It would serve to help weld together those interested in this work. Witnesses who testified included the chairman, Vice Admiral Ross T McIntire, Medical Corps, United States Navy, retired; the vice chairman, Hon. Robert Ramspeck, and the assistant to the chairman, William P. McCahill. They indicated there was no intention of setting up any large staff, no plan to request additional moneys and no desire to in any way duplicate functions or responsibilities of existing agencies. The committee has been working for almost 2 years. It has held general meetings twice yearly, subcommittees meeting on call. Membership includes some 275 individuals representing 165 organizations or agencies, having a total national membership exceeding 30,000,000. Membership is by invitation and cooperation is voluntary. Among the organizations represented are: American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons; American Farm Bureau Federation; American Federation of Labor; American Legion; American Medical Association; American Telephone & Telegraph Co.. Association of Casualty and Surety Companies; B'nai B'rith; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers; Carnegie Illinois Steel Corp.; Caterpillar Tractor Co.: Civitan International; Congress of Industrial Organizations; Disabled American Veterans; Alfred I. Dupont Institute; Fraternal Order of Eagles: General Federation of Women's Clubs; Goodwill Industries of America; Gray Manufacturing Co.; Institute for the Crippled and Disabled: International News Service; Junior Chamber of Commerce; Kiwanis International; Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.; Marine Corps Reserve Officers Association: Marquette University; National Association of Broadcasters; National Catholic Welfare Conference; National Council on Rehabilitation; National Education Association; National Safety Council; National Society for Crippled Children and Adults, Inc.; New York University, Bellevue Medical Center; Order of Railway Conductors; Religious News Service; The Society for the Advancement of Management; States Vocational Rehabilitation Council; Theater Owners of America; United Automobile Workers; United Mine Workers; University of Maryland; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Westinghouse Electric Corp. A number of Cabinet and Agency officials primarily interested in or responsible for the employment and rehabilitation of the handicapped are committee "Federal associate members." As such they are apprised of all committee activities. Through these officials, greater interest is generated within the Federal service for employment of the handicapped. Interest in the communities has increased greatly since the first observance. Consequently, it is necessary for some central focal point to be established whereby various operating programs of public and private bodies proceed according to mutually acceptable plans. In this manner, the committee supplements work of Government agencies, securing for all a degree of cooperation and assistance which would be impossible if each were making separate and individual appeals for civilian cooperation. Since its inception, the committee can point to well-developed plans and policy statements regarding handicapped workers from the Chamber of Commerce of the United States and the National Association of Manufacturers among others. It can also attribute sustained cooperation of press and radio and many labor groups, notably the International Association of Machinists, to interest engendered through committee membership. Interest of organizations working in this field such as the American Federation of the Physically Handicapped has been of material assistance to the program. During 1948, the United States Employment Service reported that some 226,000 handicapped workers had been placed in jobs. Each October during which National Employ the Physically Handicapped Week is observed, more impaired workers are hired than during any other month. This proves that a promotional and informational campaign is successful and necessary. Through the year-around efforts of the Committee, the number of handicapped hired can be increased materially. All available statistics point up the economy of placing handicapped workers in gainful employment. They not only produce goods and services, but they pay taxes on their earnings and cease to be wards of the community or of the Government. Thus, the money spent on this Committee would more than be repaid many times over in increased taxes and better citizenship. An excerpt from the President's letter relative to the bill reads as follows: The work of this Committee has been highly commendable and I am sure that it has done much to encourage the employment of the physically handicapped. However, the Committee's operations have been limited as it has had little or no financial support except for the payment of the salaries of two employees for its headquarters office. who have been paid from the appropriation for the Department of Labor. H. Repts., 81-1, vol. 4- -12 I feel that a great deal of good would be done by making available to this Committee the small amount of money which would be required to enable it to more effectively carry out its functions. The bill would provide necessary funds to carry out a program of promoting employment of physically handicapped persons by creating Nation-wide interest in the rehabilitation and employment of the handicapped and by obtaining and maintaining cooperation from all public and private groups willing to cooperate. REFORESTATION AND REVEGETATION JUNE 6, 1949.-Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. COOLEY. from the Committee on Agriculture, submitted the following REPORT [To accompany S. J. Res. 53] The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was referred the joint resolution (S. J. Res. 53) to provide for the reforestation and revegetation of the forest and range lands of the national forests, and for other purposes, having considered the same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the joint resolution do pass. STATEMENT This resolution authorizes a 15-year program of reforestation and revegetation of national-forest timber and range lands. The Forest Service estimates that there are 2,200,000 acres of national-forest lands requiring artificial replanting and about 4,000,000 acres of its grazing lands which require revegetation. It has set up a program to accomplish this reforestation and revegetation in 15 years and the authorization proposed in this resolution is estimated to be sufficient to do that work. The resolution increases to a maximum of $10,000,000 a year in 1955 the authorization for reforestation on national-forest lands, and to $3,000,000 in 1955 the authorization for revegetation of range lands administered by the Forest Service. their full scope. Current appropriations for this work are about $1,300,000 a year for reforestation and about $800,000 a year for revegetation of range lands. A period of preparation, in the growing and procurement of seeds, seedlings, and equipment, will be necessary before operations reach Therefore, the authorizations for the first 5 years gradually increasing scale. The specific authorizations terminate in 1965. by which time it is contemplated that the work will be completed. Thereafter only such amounts-presumably smalleras will be necessary for incidental reforestation and revegetation are authorized. are on a |