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LOGAN, W. VA. (LOGAN COUNTY, HARTS CREEK DISTRICT OF LINCOLN COUNTY, AND WASHINGTON DISTRICT OF BOONE COUNTY)

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PARKERSBURG, W. VA. (WOOD, PLEASANTS, RITCHIE, WIRT,

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Labor force summaries-Continued

RONCEVERTE-WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. VA. (GREENBRIER AND
MONROE COUNTIES)

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POINT PLEASANT, W. VA., GALLIPOLIS, OHIO (MASON, PUTNAM, AND JACKSON COUNTIES, W. VA., AND GALLIA AND MEIGS COUNTIES, OHIO) 1950 POPULATION 107,994

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POINT PLEASANT, W. VA. (MASON, JACKSON, AND PUTNAM COUNTIES)

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[From the United Mine Workers Journal of December 1, 1955]

DOUGLAS' DEPRESSED AREAS ACT SHOULD BE ENACTED BY CONGRESS

One of the most critical problems facing the Nation today and one which is being given increasing recognition by responsible representatives of both political parties is the existence of pockets of depression in what otherwise seems to be an economy of plenty.

One can't blame official spokesmen of the Eisenhower administration for bragging that we have the greatest number of persons employed in the history of the Nation. But the fact is that there are still more than 2 million jobless and that the 65 million employed are the result of growth of the population and a fairly stable economy.

There should be more jobs. And there will have to be more in the next few years. There must be at least 700,000 new jobs available each and every year to absorb the normal growth of the population.

The hue and cry now being raised by many labor organizations over so-called automation-the automatic factory-is nothing new as far as the United Mine Workers of America are concerned. For more than a generation now mechanization of our coal industry has created technological unemployment in the mining industry.

In an overall expanding national economy-which ours has not been for the past few years-these men who lost their jobs to automatic mining machines could and would be absorbed into jobs in other industries. But they are not being absorbed. They are hungry and jobless.

The fact that our economy is not expanding as it should to create new jobs in new industries for those thrown out of work by technological advances in other industries is evidenced by the figures presented on November 14 by UMWA Vice President Thomas Kennedy to the Subcommittee on Foreign Economic Policy of the Joint Congressional Committee on the President's Economic Report. Those figures show that there are still 155,000 able-bodied coal miners without jobs.

Many of them never will regain jobs in the mines. This is a cold, hard fact which the UMWA has faced up to ever since its founding. The union always has taken the position that mechanization must be encouraged, with the men who stay in the industry sharing in the benefits of increased productivity through a higher wage scale.

But the union also takes the position that the technologically unemployed must be absorbed in other jobs in other industries. And the only way this can be realized is to create conditions that will lead to an ever-expanding economy. We do not think that so far the Eisenhower administration has been willing to face up to its responsibility in this matter.

The responsibility of the administration is clear. It is not a matter of debate. In 1946 the Congress of the United States passed an employment law. It was the intent of Congress to make the executive department of the Federal Government responsible for policies that would create conditions of full employment.

The very first recognition the present administration has given to this responsibility came only a few weeks ago when Dr. Arthur F. Burns, Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, presented a program to the President for the alleviation of unemployment in distress areas.

We hope most sincerely that this is a program and not just a lot of politics for an election year.

But we are naturally suspicious. An almost identical blueprint for alleviation of depression in distress areas such as coal regions--was presented in the form of proposed legislation in the past session of the 84th Congress.

It got little or no attention in the last-minute rush to adjourn in the late

summer.

The proposed legislation—which raises important basic issues—was prepared by Senator Paul H. Douglas, Democrat, Illinois, and introduced in behalf of himself and Senators Harley M. Kilgore, Democrat, West Virginia, Estes Kefauver, Democrat, Tennessee, Pat McNamara, Democrat, Michigan, Hubert Humphrey, Democrat, Minnesota, Matthew M. Neely, Democrat, West Virginia, James E. Murray, Democrat, Montana, and John F. Kennedy, Democrat, Massachusetts. It spells out a constructive program "to alleviate conditions of excessive unemployment in certain economically depressed areas." The bill, called S. 2663, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare and will be acted upon-we hope-in the next session of the 84th Congress convening in January.

Now Senator Douglas' bill and the newspaper publicity on Dr. Burns' program make the two appear to be similar in principle. Senator Douglas got there first but Dr. Burns got all the publicity because he got an endorsement from President Eisenhower for his program. That's not too important a point except that we think credit should be given where credit is due. What is important is that the legislation should not be allowed to become a political football in Congress. The unemployed are not interested in whether the Republican administration, which happens to be in office now, assumes its responsibility under the Employment Act or whether the Democratic majority in Congress takes the ball and runs with it. The problem is there; it's real and it must be acted upon one way or the other.

Called the Depressed Areas Act, Senator Douglas' bill states: "The Congress hereby finds and declares that the maintenance of the national economy at a high level of prosperity and employment is vital to the best interests of the United States and that the present existence of excessive unemployment in certain areas of the Nation is jeopardizinz the health, standard of living and general welfare of the Nation."

The bill would establish a Depressed Areas Administration within the executive branch of Government, Dr. Burns program also calls for such an agency. The bill defines a depressed area as an area with not less than 9 percent unemployment for at least 18 months or 6 percent unemployment for at least 3 years.

Many coal areas qualify.

The bill would empower the Secretary of Labor to make special studies to determine the facts of unemployment for the use of the Depressed Areas Administration.

Local industrial development committees would be set up by the Depressed Areas Administrator to prepare plans and cost estimates for the construction of industrial plants and commercial facilities to attract new industries. Local citizen groups and private and public lending agencies would help to finance the construction. The Depressed Areas Administration would be authorized to make loans where financing could not be arranged otherwise.

The bill would set aside $200 million in Federal funds to help finance the program.

Part of the program would include the construction of public facilities as needed by the States and their political subdivisions.

All Federal agencies that buy supplies or services for the Federal Government would be obligated to procure such supplies or services, wherever possible, from contractors in the depressed areas to help alleviate unemployment.

Tax relief would be granted to industries erecting new plants in the distress areas.

The Secretary of Labor would provide for vocational training for the unemployed so that they might learn new skills. The Secretary of Labor also would be authorized to enter into agreement with the States to provide supplementary unemployment compensation for 13 weeks to those undergoing training for new jobs.

In line with the surplus food legislation won by the UMWA in the last session of Congress, the Depressed Areas Act would authorize the Commodity Credit Corporation of the Department of Agriculture to process surplus commodities into a form suitable for home or institutional use and pay transportation costs. The sponsors of this well-thought-out bill are making plans now to hold public hearings to build up support for the bill.

The Nation's unemployed coal miners can only wish them Godspeed in this humanitarian program.

Senator DOUGLAS. We are very happy to have with us another sponsor of the bill, Senator Kefauver of Tennessee. We are very glad, indeed, to welcome you here, Senator.

STATEMENT OF HON. ESTES KEFAUVER, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE

Senator KEFAUVER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my colleagues of the committee. Thank you for the privilege of appearing before this subcommittee today in support of S. 2663, the depressed areas bill, of which I have the honor to be a cosponsor.

Throughout the past year, we have been told that we are going through a period of unparalleled prosperity, but do the facts of our national economic life justify such claims?

I think not. It is undeniably true that we have prosperity of a sort, characterized by soaring profits and heavily increased dividends. It is also undeniably true that this prosperity is characterized also by a continued steady decline in farm prices and farm incomes.

It is also undeniably true that although national output is higher than 2 years ago, jobs are not being found for the increasing labor force; 3 million more people were available for employment last August than in August 1943; 2 million of them found jobs; the other million swelled the ranks of the unemployed.

Should we be satisfied with the prosperity we are enjoying when an average of 2,674,000 Americans were unemployed during the first 11 months of last year? How truly prosperous are we when during September, the latest month for which figures are available, 2,156,000 of our people were on relief?

The administration, whose figures I am using, tells us that these numbers are down from the disastrously high totals of 1954, when unemployment reached a peak of 3,700,000. I say that so long as a single employable American is unable to exercise his natural skills in earning a decent living, so long as his family is consequently deprived of its full right to the pursuit of happiness, then this Nation should not be content.

The unemployment problem is further accentuated by the fact that its impact is concentrated in several areas. Several areas and sections are suffering from depressed economic conditions which are in striking contrast to the claim that the country as a whole is enjoying prosperity.

I have listened with interest to what Senator Kilgore has said and what Senator Neely has told us many times about conditions in West Virginia. We have similar conditions in the coal mining sections of the eastern part of my State of Tennessee.

The disastrous floods of the past year in New England and along the Pacific coast have further compounded the problem of some previously depressed areas and created new difficulties in areas which normally enjoyed good economic health. Although the problems of flood control must be dealt with in separate legislation, the bill under consideration will aid in repairing their ravages in terms of industries and employment.

As recently as last month, there were 19 major areas and 74 smaller areas classified by the Department of Labor as areas of substantial labor surplus. In plainer language, "depressed areas." It was precisely to restore these areas to full participation in our national economic life that Senator Paul Douglas introduced the legislation which you are considering today.

I am proud to have shared in its sponsorship with Senators Humphrey, Kilgore, McNamara, Murray, and Neely. I think this bill is well considered. Much thought has been given to solving these problems with which we are all concerned.

The tragedy of chronic area unemployment has many causes. The exhaustion of a natural resource or a falling demand for it, the decline in an entire industry, lack of industrial diversification, and the seasonal nature of existing employment, the closing of ordnance,

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