have any specific recommendation as to whether or not an agency should be set up with respect to the problems of the aged and aging on a local, State, or Federal level? Dr. FISCHER. Well, I think we can say that we believe that a Federal agency separate and apart should be established as the first step, and we believe that from that will derive the advantages which we think the aged require without the conflict, the interagency conflicts that are now hampering some of the programs that might materialize. Mr. DANIELS. Is it your thought that by reason of the lack of action on the part of localities and State governments, that the Federal Government should give it the impetus necessary to get this program on the road, so to speak? Dr. FISCHER. Very definitely. Mr. ELLSWORTH. We had testimony at one of the hearings from one of the deans of the college of optometry regarding the problem of glaucoma and indicating that the optometrists were in many small towns where there was no ophthalmologist and no method of detecting glaucoma through the usual medical manner, but that they had developed the electronic device for measuring glaucoma and could thus make it more readily available to the aged people. I wonder if there is any comment you have on this, or if anything is being done in this area? Dr. FISCHER. Well, the electronometer is a device that was designed at the Ohio State University School of Optometry. I am sorry-it was at the University of California School of Optometry that this device was first designed and it is now being produced, and the opinion has been given that it is the most effective way of determining glaucoma in its early stages. Now, glaucoma is a condition which is very, very difficult to determine and generally by most present methods by the time glaucoma is established it is pretty late in the day for that eye. It has lost considerable vision which can never be regained. In the other statement which I have there is a reference made to the use of this equipment in a mobile unit, and glaucoma, of course, has a much higher incidence among the aged than among the younger portions of the population, and therefore a good method of detecting glaucoma as early as possible is very important to the saving of eyesight of the older people. Mr. ELLSWORTH. Is it a faster method? Dr. FISCHER. It is not only faster, it is considered much more positive. Mr. ELLSWORTH. Apparently this is something practical. In other demonstration projects provided for in the Fogarty, and I think two or three of the other bills; is this something that might be practical to experiment with in communities of this size? Dr. FISCHER. I would say, Mr. Ellsworth, it is past the experimental stage. I think it is in the stage now where it could be used very affirmatively in dealing with the aged. Mr. ELLSWORTH. The Kerr-Mills bill is not in effect in New Jersey, as I understand it. Dr. FISCHER. Not at the present time. Mr. ELLSWORTH. There is legislation pending? Dr. FISCHER. There is legislation pending to authorize it. Mr. ELLSWORTH. Do I understand correctly the position of the New Jersey Optometric Association is in support of the King-Anderson bill? Dr. FISCHER. Yes, that is true. Mr. ELLSWORTH. Are there other optometric societies that have done this? Dr. FISCHER. I do not know, Mr. Ellsworth. The only thing I know is that the organization, the optometric organization in this State has consistently been in favor of this type of social legislation ever since the Truman administration. Mr. DANIELS. Has your organization passed a resolution to that effect? Dr. FISCHER. Yes, we have. Mr. DANIELS. Have the Members of Congress been made aware of the passage of such resolution? Dr. FISCHER. Not only have they been made aware of it, Mr. Chairman, but we have asked not only the members of the New Jersey delegation but all the members of the House Ways and Means Committee to use their good offices to release that bill to the floor of the House where it may have the benefit of debate, so that the public might know of it. Mr. DANIELS. Just one other question: I believe you stated in your direct testimony that about 100 percent of the aged have visual problems. Do you have a record to substantiate that statement? Dr. FISCHER. I don't have them with me. I am sure they could be supplied. Mr. DANIELS. What I mean is this, there are records. Dr. FISCHER. Yes. Mr. DANIELS. Do your societies maintain such records? Mr. DANIELS. And these problems are varied, I suppose, some are more serious than others. Dr. FISCHER. Some are amenable to correction, some are not. But as a person gets beyond the fifties, I am sure we all realize that our arms grow shorter. Now this is a visual problem. We cannot focus at the near points. So every person certainly beyond 50 has some order of visual problem. Mr. DANIELS. I would realize that because 3 months ago I went out and bought myself a pair of glasses. Dr. FISCHER. That may be just a physiological change. But there may be other changes in addition to that, and so that is very simple to say that people beyond the age of 50 are almost certain to have a visual problem. Mr. DANIELS. How often do you think these visual problems must be attended to? Dr. FISCHER. Well, in the older person it is our recommendation that they have an eye examination every year. We don't say to brush your eyes twice a day, see your dentist twice a year, but we do say to have your eyes examined once a year; this is preventive. Because, in the course of 1 year some type of pathological process might get underway in some of them, which are very slow moving, they give no signs subjectively to the patient until there is an inter ference with vision or something more serious so that an annual eye examination is highly recommended. Mr. DANIELS. In response to a question Mr. Ellsworth asked with respect to glaucoma, is that disease contagious? Dr. FISCHER. No, it is not. Mr. DANIELS. Is there any cure for it as far as science has been able to ascertain today? Dr. FISCHER. There is relief. The condition can be arrested and there can be some relief. I don't think anybody would talk in terms of a cure at the present time. Mr. DANIELS. If I am not mistaken, I believe Congress appropriated a very substantial sum of money last year for the study of new techniques and demonstrations in order to ascertain more about that disease. Dr. FISCHER. Yes, it is the most serious blinding disease extant today. There are some, quite a few blinding diseases and not too much has been done, unfortunately, about them, until the National Institute received some appropriations and now there is substantially more work being done to find the cause and arrestment, or cure of the several serious blinding diseases. Glaucoma is the most serious, most prevalent. Mr. DANIELS. Thank you very much, Dr. Fischer, you have made a very valuable contribution to the work of this committee. I am glad you have come here today and I understand you have a statement of some other person which you would like to file with us. Dr. FISCHER. I could file it or read it, whichever you prefer. Mr. ELLSWORTH. It might be read this afternoon when Mr. Bailey is here. Mr. DANIELS. Suppose you leave it with us and when the chairman arrives this afternoon we will let him use his judgment as to whether or not it should be read or filed with the rest of the proceeding. Dr. FISCHER. Thank you very much for this opportunity. Mr. DANIELS. I would like to note the presence in the audience of a class from the New Brunswick High School accompanied by the teacher of the class, Mrs. Sally Antheil. I wish to extend to Mrs. Antheil and all the students of the class a most cordial welcome to this congressional hearing in which this subcommittee is a general subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, which is studying the problem relating to the Federal Agency for Aged and Aging. The chairman is the Congressman from West Virginia, Congressman Cleveland Bailey who is unavoidably detained and I am acting as chairman in his absence this morning. So I do trust that you will enjoy sitting here and listening to the witnesses giving their views on this important and vital question which we are confronted with today; namely, the aged and the aging. are. Consider yourselves extremely fortunate to be as young as you The next witness will be Mr. Jack Volosen of New Jersey Council of Senior Citizens. Mr. Volosen, will you step forward and give your full name, name of your association on whose behalf you're appearing as well as your address, please. TESTIMONY OF JACOB VOLOSEN, APPEARING IN BEHALF OF THE NEW JERSEY COUNCIL OF SENIOR CITIZENS, LINDEN, N.J. Mr. VOLOSEN. My name is Jack Volosen, I am appearing here in behalf of the New Jersey Council of Senior Citizens. I would like, before I make any remarks Mr. DANIELS. Your address, sir? Mr. VOLOSEN. My address is 1401 Sunnyfield Drive in Linden, N.J. I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to be present today and to speak in behalf of my organization, the New Jersey Council of Senior Citizens. The New Jersey Council of Senior Citizens is relatively a new organization which came into being on October 24, 1961. The specific purpose for the organization was to bring together the senior citizens, the senior groups and individuals who were interested in and in favor of passage of the King-Anderson bill. This is our primary objective. However, we are also concerned with and have since then gotten into the other problems of the aging and we would like to make those known to the committee. We have during the past 2 months had many contacts with the division of aging of the State of New Jersey and we are in the process of attempting to accomplish or lessen the burden on older citizens in the State of New Jersey in respect to other problems that they encounter. We believe that the establishment of an agency on a national level as suggested in House bill No. 1014 would coordinate the activities more closely and would be the best vehicle, I believe, to concentrate on the problems of the aged. The Health, Education, and Welfare Department certainly has done much in this direction, but I believe that a single agency which was designed specifically to handle the problems of the aging might be more successful. The problems of the aging are many. There are financial obligations that are great, their economic obligations are great, their income naturally lessens and some of the things that we think can be done and ought to be done in this field are things that we have discussed with the division of aging in the State of New Jersey. We are presently in the process of attempting to establish in the city of Plainfield a demonstration center for older citizens. This is in conjunction with community groups and through the cooperation of the labor groups. I happen to be a member of a labor organization. The United Automobile Worker Mack plant in Plainfield is available for this purpose and the United Automobile Workers have agreed to turn over these facilities to a nonprofit organization which would be comprised of members of the community and the New Jersey Council for Senior Citizens would be represented in this group. The demonstration center or the center for senior citizens could be put to many uses to deal with the employment problems of the older citizens who have yet not retired, could also be used for the purposes of giving counseling on retirement and some screening on health problems of the aged. We know that this is a field that people today are becoming more and more interested in. However, even though the State of New Jersey has established a division on aging, unfortunately, within the past 2 weeks I feel that even the legislators of this State have to become more aware of what these problems are. They have to become aware of what the division on aging was created for even though it is outlined in the statutes. Because at this point where the budget for 1962 and 1963 has been prepared by the division, the subcommittee on salaries and appropriations has seen fit to recommend that part of the personnel of this division be eliminated at least for this budget year. I feel that in the establishment of a national agency, and this national_agency cooperating with divisions such as has been created in the State of New Jersey and nonprofit organizations, that together and collectively we can meet the challenges that we face in connection with solving or at least ameliorating the problems of our older citizens. I have not prepared a statement. I just came to make a brief statement and to state that we were in favor of such legislation. Mr. DANIELS. Thank you, Mr. Volosen. Can you tell the committee where the principal office of the New Jersey Council of Senior Citizens is located? Mr. VOLOSEN. Our office is located at 20 Fulton Street in Newark, N.J. Mr. DANIELS. Is it a statewide organization? Mr. VOLOSEN. That is a statewide office. Mr. DANIELS. Do you have any statistics as to the number of senior citizens in the State of New Jersey? Mr. VOLOSEN. Well, the only statistics insofar as the senior citizens of the State of New Jersey are concerned, they can only be based on the figures that were released by the State itself. And our senior population in the State of New Jersey is approaching 600,000. These are people over the age of 65. Mr. DANIELS. That is about 10 percent of our State population. Mr. VOLOSEN. Actually, I think in percentage points it was listed as 9.2 percent, which is the national percentage figure, I believe. Mr. ELLSWORTH. It is a little higher than the national percentage figure in New Jersey, as I remember it. What I mean is that the New Jersey averages a little higher than the national average. Mr. VOLOSEN. I stand to be corrected. Mr. DANIELS. Our State population slightly exceeds 6,000,000, so it would approximate about 10 percent. Do you know how many of those persons are unemployed? Mr. VOLOSEN. As I said, we are a relatively new organization and we have not been able to make the necessary surveys which would divulge this kind of information. But what we have been doing is to depend upon surveys that have been made by other organizations and the State division itself. Unfortunately most of these organizations are in the process of survey and actually at the moment I could not quote any such figure. Mr. DANIEL. For the record, when did your organization come into existence? Mr. VOLOSEN. October 24, 1961. Mr. DANIELS. Has your organization taken any position with reference to the Kerr-Mills bill or the King-Anderson bill? Mr. VOLOSEN. Our organization definitely has taken a position in favor of the King-Anderson bill and this, as I stated before, is our |