Some might draw from this the inference that a Federal domestic "Peace Corps" is needed, or some other highly publicized Federal assistance program to get the job done. We prefer another approach.

Too often overlooked is the role that voluntary, cooperative groups all over this country are now playing in helping people to help themselves.

Many of the problems of the economically depressed areas result not from inadequate resources but from the misuse or inability of people to utilize these resources effectively for their own and society's needs.

One nonprofit, nonsectarian, voluntary national organization dedicated to the concept of helping people help themselves is the 14-year-old Board for Fundamental Education, composed of businessmen, educators, and professional people. Significantly, it was chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1954 and annually reports its activities to the Congress.

Its purpose:

"To provide guidance in planning activities which will encourage willing people to help themselves to develop their capacities more fully, to utilize their potential to the maximum degree, and to lead richer, more productive lives that will be of benefit to themselves and to their community."

Through the board's efforts, a civic action group was organized in 1957 under E. L. Kirkpatrick in Wirt County, W. Va., after traditional sources of income had dried up. Through the community's own initiative, a ski manufacturing plant (started through a $35,000 local investment) was established; a plant nursery employing 200 people was started; and various local organizations cooperated in building a recreational area and in developing a program for youth. These activities grew out of a program stimulated by the Board for Fundamental Education involving individual development through courses in fundamental education. Community volunteers put on adult workshops, seminars, and learning programs. Today, Wirt County is an area of growth instead of stagnation, development instead of disintegration, hope instead of fear. The knowledge and experience gained in more than a quarter century of work at Flanner House, Indianapolis, Ind., in helping adults acquire the basic tools of learning have now been applied by the board staff and cooperative educators in such areas as Overton and Pickett County, Tenn.; Hawkins, Tex.; Ashland, Wis.; suburban Duluth and White Earth Indian Reservation, Minn. Anaconda Co. is helping unemployed coal miners from the Appalachian region relocate in metal mining jobs in Montana. The big majority of those relocated have switched easily to "hard rock mining" and they are now among the most highly regarded-and highly paid-miners on "the richest hill on earth" in Butte, Mont. This is a sterling example of a private, voluntary program to help solve the employment problems of persons in the Appalachian region.

The people of Braxton County, W. Va. formed the Braxton County Redevelopment Corp., a private, locally owned and organized corporation. They analyzed the resources of their county and concluded its chief asset was an abundance of low quality timber. The redevelopment corporation raised over $400,000 from local sources for investment in the West Virginia Forest Products Co. so as to construct a wood processing plant. The plant uses a new method which makes particle board from low quality timber. Imported technicians train the local workers who are recruited from the ranks of the unemployed as aptitudes permit. The company employs more than 400 persons. Now, Braxton County has an industry in which the people take pride because they built it themselves.

Local leaders in Chicago became aware that from 25,000 to 30,000 southern Appalachian emigrants had moved into a 2- by 5-mile area of uptown Chicago. These emigrants were having difficulties adjusting to an unfamiliar urban environment. The local leaders donated $25,000 so that a Chicago office of the Council of the Southern Mountains, Inc., could be established to help these people. The Council of the Southern Mountains Inc. is located in Berea, Ky. and is well acquainted with the people from the Appalachian region. The Chicago office gets in touch with emigrants either before or after they arrive in Chicago. Information is provided as to available housing, job opportunities and training opportunities. Skills are analyzed and classes are held on techniques of securing employment. Businessmen are urged to accept them and to give them a chance to prove their worth by employing those who qualify for available jobs. Many families have been helped by the council's Chicago office.

Nautilus Industries, Inc., located a new plant in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania to manufacture home appliances. The local work force was composed of natives of the area, experienced only in coal mining, many of them

chronically unemployed. Gerald L. Cohen, founder and president of Nautilus. a native of the area, had the conviction that such former coal miners could be trained for metalworking jobs such as paint sprayer, shear operator, buffer repairman, press operator, welder, assembler, packer, finisher, and inspector. A company-sponsored training program was established. It consists of a careful selection process which places great stress on motivation, personal responsibility. and good work attitudes; mechanical aptitude tests in welding, assembly, and press operations administered by the State employment service: and an on-thejob training program with members of the company supervisory force as instructors. The training program has resulted in a skilled, productive work force. A typical example of transition from coal miner to skilled metalworker is an employee who spent 29 years in coal mining and had been out of work for 2 years before coming to Nautilus. Now, he is a skilled stamping press operator. The community of Freeland, Pa., where the plant is located, and the State of Pennsylvania are high in their compliments about Nautilus Industries, Inc., and what it has meant to the people in that area.

The three latter examples have been taken from the file of case studies of the STEP program of the National Association of Manufacturers, designed to promote widespread knowledge of sound solutions to employment problems. The STEP program collects and publishes case studies analyzing successful solutions to difficult employment problems. The case studies are grouped as follows:

I. Case studies on company employment problems:
A. Selection.

B. Company-sponsored training.

C. Retraining.

D. Redirecting.

II. Case studies on community employment problems:

A. Self-development.

B. Community sponsored training.

C. Job development.

D. Relocation.

Companies or communities having one or more of these employment problems can request case studies outlining how other companies or communities, facing similar problems, worked out satisfactory solutions. The case studies are sufficiently detailed to enable the determination of whether or not a similar program, perhaps revised to fit local circumstances, would be helpful.

There are various other examples which can be culled from the files of foundations, universities, labor organizations, chambers of commerce, and business sources, which illustrate graphically the achievements of business, professional and labor union leadership in "turning around" communities that have become psychologically as well as economically depressed.

Properly conceived self-help programs might well be given greater public prominence in dealing with the problems of Appalachia and the STEP program of the National Association of Manufacturers is an effort in that direction.

Businessmen generally are not complacent about the problems existing in the pockets of poverty; neither are they agreed that any speedy solutions exist for the complex problems found in such distressed areas. However, the National Association of Manufacturers believes that lasting solutions will not be gained through massive Government spending programs, and the proposed Appalachian Regional Development Act is one of these.

Nevertheless, as concerned citizens, we feel that more light should be shed on the true nature of the problem, and that unstinting effort is needed to bring into the mainstream of economic and social life those citizens who have experienced great privation, for whatever cause.

A great deal more work is going on in this field than is generally recognized. Your committee, and other congressional committees, could perform a signal public service by spotlighting this phase of our national endeavor-much of it rooted deeply in the fabric of American life and heritage.

TABLE I.-Employment changes in Appalachia, by major industry groups,

1950-601

1 Based on tables C-8 and C-9, Report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission, 1964. TABLE II.—Distribution of employment in major industry groups, Appalachia,

1 Based on tables C-9 and C-11, report of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission, 1964.

Senator RANDOLPH. I wish to thank you, especially Senator Cooper, as well as all members of this committee, for sharing in these productive hearings.

We have had information and we have received recommendations which will be helpful when the committee goes into executive session on January 27.

Thank you very, very much, those of you who have shared as our

listeners.

This hearing stands adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 1:15 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.)
(Subsequently the following statements were received:)

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

Maryland's Sixth Congressional District is particularly proud of its heritage of local and individual initiative. Three of our five counties fall within the Appalachian region. For the last decade, this section of western Maryland has been plagued with the reality that they were experiencing deficient economic expansion. Many of the industries in the area were slowing down or shutting down. Unemployment was high and the people were struggling to make ends meet. In 1961, it was determined that the people had to take a stand and begin a program to bolster the economy of the region. In January of that year I proposed a western Maryland economic conference to draw together representatives from the various interest groups involved in the problem, for the purpose of study and discussion in the hope that the exchange of ideas would bind these groups together and yield a fuller understanding of how to combat depressed industry and unemployment.

The results of this conference, above all, showed the need to retain and emphasize local initiative. As I said at the time, "We are going to do this job right in our hometowns." But, in addition to this, it demonstrated the need for a program such as is proposed here today, to coordinate the various local efforts with State and Federal programs. Through this conference, we were able to establish a liaison between the counties concerned and to make a united effort. It is now necessary to establish a program to mold local, State, and Federal efforts into a regional drive to uplift the economy of an entire section of our country.

I think it would be wise at this point to insert a note of caution. This program, if enacted, will be of such broad scope that it will include 11 States and more than 15 million people. Projects will be proposed based on abstract economic theories, which is necessary when you are considering people by the millions and localities by the thousands. But when proposing solutions in this manner, there is always the tendency to forget that we are dealing with individuals whose most immediate concern is their own community interests. This program cannot possibly succeed unless those individual and local interests can be preserved to the highest degree. If the time should come when personal and community initiative is transferred to the State or Federal Government, the most vital resource of the area will have been destroyed. "Favorable economic climate" can never be properly applied to a region of the country or even to a State. It is nothing more than an aggregate of personal achievement translated into the fulfillment of local economic potential. It is still individuals that need employment and it is still individuals who will be increasing their talents and skills in order to accept new jobs. It is still the towns and villages that will provide the sites for new industry, and they will do this by proper utilization of resources and by installation of all the facilities that will help business expand.

STATEMENT OF HON. CLAIBORNE PELL, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the opportunity to submit my views regarding S. 3, the Appalachian regional development bill.

My cosponsorship of this legislation derives from a longstanding interest in the philosophy underlying regional development planning. Too often we think

in terms of direct Federal-State efforts, ignoring many times the artificial nature of boundary lines.

Regional planning, with its emphasis on developing areas with common problems and overlapping needs, must eventually replace outmoded concepts of isolated efforts. Cooperative ventures joined in by the States and, where necessary, the Federal Government, can solve important problems that need an integrated effort.

My interest in the Appalachian bill is to see a well-conceived and vitally necessary program put into effect. This plan hopefully will set the framework for other necessary regional development plans-and one need only glance at the national problems of unemployment and economic distress, of dwindling natural resources and unconserved lands, to recognize the task that lies ahead.

New England, which for generations had enjoyed a high climate of prosperous industrial advance, widespread trade, important commercial fisheries, and specialized agricultural activities, has been experiencing, in more recent years, serious economic problems which are regional in nature. Because of this, a wellstructured regional development plan could aid New England in regaining the levels of prosperity of the past, and in forging ahead to new levels in the future. Enactment and implementation of the Appalachian program will certainly set valuable guidelines for these future efforts.

STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. LOUIS W. PRENTISS, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED), EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICAN ROAD BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, on June 23, 1964, I testified before this committee on behalf of the American Road Builders' Association to present our views in support of the construction of modern primary highways as a means of advancing the economic and social progress of the Appalachian region.

Little needs to be added to the testimony presented on that date. We pointed out that highway building will not, in itself, remove the economic troubles of the Appalachian region. But, we added, modern highways are the essential catalyst without which no comprehensive program of economic aid can fully succeed. We noted that the State highway departments, under existing programs, properly give priority attention to building roads in the areas where the immediate demands of traffic exceed the capacity of existing highways. Thus, special programs are needed to provide highways in those areas which, because of the lack of economic growth, cannot meet the traffic criteria to justify new highway construction to meet traffic demand.

We amplified these statements by citing supporting studies and statistics which demonstrate the role of highways as economic catalysts.

We further pointed out that the proposed highway program not only will contribute substantially to the permanent economic betterment of the region but also will provide an immediate economic tonic through the employment generated by the highway construction itself.

According to a study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, highway construction generates 216 man-hours of employment per $1,000 of construction contract value.

The highway industry is ready to move into this new program without delay. The accelerated national highway program begun in 1956 has reached its approximate peak level of construction activity, but the industry has ample reserve resources in manpower and equipment to undertake the new program efficiently and immediately.

Highway contractors are working at levels substantially below their capacity. The construction equipment industry can fill orders for new equipment with no delay. Materials producers stand ready to do their part. Thanks to great technological advances in the last decade, the highway industry has a greater capability for efficient and economical production than at any other time in history.

So we welcome the diligence with which this committee is advancing this legislation and pledge our cooperation in making the program effective.

Mr. Chairman, we are again most appreciative for the opportunity to present the views of the American Road Builders' Association.