A574 Whereas it is apparent that the United States Maritime Commission did, on February 5, 1947, issue instructions which will mean the end of coastwise, intercoastal, and some territorial steam services as of February 48, 1947; and Whereas these instructions by the United States Maritime Commission were given be- cause the Congress of the United States has thus far failed to act in extending the Mari- time Commission’s authority beyond March 1; and Whereas the President of the United States did, on January 21, 1947, state to the Congress of the United States the national economy and interest will be seriously prejudiced un- less shipping operations continue and unless the Commission is given additional time to dispose of the merchant ships left under its jurisdiction; and Whereas failure of Congress to extend the authority of the Maritime Commission be- yond the date of March 1 will inflict a serious social and economic hardship on this com- munity and on the Nation; Now, therefore, the city council of the city of Long Beach resolves as follows: SecTIon 1. The city council of the city of Long Beach hereby urges the Congress of the United States to immediately adopt such legislation as shall be necessary to extend the authority of the United States Maritime Commission to continue coastwise and inter- coastal water freight services to a period beyond March 1, 1947, in order that there shall be no interruption in the continuation of such services. Szc. 2. That the city attorney of the city of Long Beach is authorized and directed to transmit copies of this resolution to all California Congressional Representatives and to the California Members of the United States Senate. Szc. 8. The city clerk shall certify to the passage of this resolution by the city council of the city of Long Beach, and cause the same to be in three conspicuous places in the city of Long Beach, and it shall there- upon take effect. Seeking Solutions the American Way EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. J. CALEB BOGGS OF DELAWARE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, February 17, 1947 Mr. BOGGS of Delaware. Mr. Speak- er, under leave to extend my remarks, I include an address which I made before the annual meeting and banquet of the Chamber of Commerce of Newark, Del., on the evening of February 13, 1947. The address is as follows: Mr. Toastmaster, distinguished guests, and members of the Newark Chamber of Commerce, it is a real pleasure to be with you this evening and to renew many fine friendships and to make new acquaintances. I am very grateful to you for your kind invitation to participate in your annual meeting and discuss with you some of our problems. It would be disrespectful to proceed fur- ther, however, without recognizing that yes- terday was the anniversary of the birth of one of our Nation's most beloved and great- est leaders. I refer with all humility to the immortal Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln belongs to the ages and to all men of every age. He reflected in all his acts and words our American interpretation of wisdom, tolerance, and understanding. He had an uncompromising devotion to the fundamental of liberty and jus- tice. Had he lived to bind up the Nation's wounds, I am confident, “with malice to- ward none” that he would have resisted the pressure groups of that day and continued in his uncompromising devotion to the prin- ciples of liberty and justice in restoring real peace and prosperity to a war-divided country. As we meet here tonight during the period of reconstruction, after another great war, we know that we are all striving for the solution of many difficult problems, and from Lincoln’s great example we find guid- anoe and inapiration. Lincoln, even when he became President of the United States, had the ability to think in terms of the aver- age citizen’s welfare. In so doing, he was able to recognize the importance of great principles and their application to everyday life in the development of our country. It is my hope and belief that we today will further the best interests of all our people if we are able to recognise, through the great maze of confusion, the important and fun- damental principles upon which this coun- try has so swiftly developed and which are Bo necessary to our further progress. All of us, regardless of our business, rank, or station in life, want peace at home and abroad. We will work for peace in every phase of our life, but we cannot compromise those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which so become the dignity of each human individual. In matters of an international nature, we must have the strength and courage to main- tain ourselves as a free America, the hope cf liberty-loving people everywhere. In domestic affairs we have a more dif- ficult problem, because we are set upon by subtle subversive elements within our so- ciety, who, by their infiltration into many well-meaning organizations from all quar- ters of our national life, endeavor in the most uns manner to destroy from within the very basis upon which our great Nation has been built. In addition to these subversive elements, we have organizations of tremendous pressure whose private in- terest sometimes seems paramount to that of our national welfare. Therefore, at home during this coming year it is more important than ever that we reexamine the whole idea of our free American system and the funda- mental principles upon which it has been built. With those fundamental principles, plus the experience of the years, clearly in mind, we must measure our many and dif- ficult problems in our search for solutions which will mean the greater good for each individual citizen. There, as I see it, is the approach in these decisive times, Some of us are called small businessmen, some of us are called big businessmen; oth- ers of us are sometimes called agriculturists, while others of us are industrialists; some of us are sometimes called laborers, others are sometimes called other things. Neverthe- less, we all are fundamentally American citi- zens and as such we each know that the sum total of our national prosperity and well- being is no greater than the sum of our in- dividual well-being. Therefore, the difficulty in these times is reaching solutions which are proper and sound for us as citizens, regardless of the group with which we may sometimes be clas- sified. Or, to put it differently, the solu- tion to our problems which is satisfactory to us as a citizen should also be proper from our point of view as an agriculturist today, an industrialist tomorrow, a laboring man the next day, and so forth. As a Member of Congress, and from my association with many Members on both sides of the House Chamber, I am finding widespread evidence of an earnest desire to meet our problems along the lines I have just suggested. APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD I know that the chamber of commerce is comprised primarily of businessmen who are vitally interested in making their particular enterprises function successfully. This is only right and proper. I was a small businessman here in Newark where I owned and operated a restaurant while I was a student at the University of Delaware. It has been my privilege and pleasure to know and associate with many of your members. You have always had @ broad outlook recognizing the necessity for business and every other phase of our life to have an opportunity to prosper and grow. The ideals for which you strive here in Newark are the same as those sought by American citizens throughout our land. They are the opportunities for the private individual and for business to forge abead in our traditional American way. In government, there are obstacles in our way. First, there is the huge and over- burdening cost of operating our Federal Government, Second, there is the tremen- dous national debt. Third, there are the abuses of our American way which have de- veloped in recent years in government and in our industrial life. Fourth, we have the tremendous burden of high taxes. I mention these matters now, because there seems to be almost an unanimous opin- ion throughout the country that we can- not expect to move forward until some sat- isfactory solution to these problems is worked out. I can assure you that the Mem- bers of Congress are approaching these sub- jects with a careful, thoughtful, attentive attitude. While final determinations on these problems have not yet been made, the plans and policies being formulated are such as to enable me to say that I am con- fident that you may expect sound, fair, and forward-looking action on these important matters. I firmly believe that there is every reason for you to have confidence in your business and the opportunity for ite future Prosperity and development. I have just mentioned that the Congress is approaching the vital issues with which it is now faced in a careful and thoughtful manner. Many people, I think, have con- sidered this attitude as a form of procras- tination and unwillingness to come face to face with the real problems at hand. I be- Meve that when all the facts are known you will concur in my opinion that such a cautious approach to such questions as re- duction of taxes, national debt, and the oth- er many problems is much more to be de- aired than a precipitous one which might produce corrective measures in some areas while failing to bring about proper and need- ed revisions in others. For example, there is a strong current of opinion that an early and sharp reduction in individual and corporate tax rates will of iteelf best serve individuals and business en- terprise. On the other hand, strong evidence exists to support a contention by many qual- ified and authoritative sources that a sub- stantial reduction in the national indebt- edness would serve the of stabiliz- ing and reducing the high cost of living, in such a manner as to create more dollar value purchasing power, requiring greater produc- tive activity, and resulting in more profitable business operation, I cite this as a single example of the inter- relationship of so many of these problems and as a reason why the Congress is proceed- ing slowly, step by step, in a sincere effort to find a means of legislative action which will truly be most beneficial to the Nation and to the people. In a recent address in which he discussed the causes of our present state of affaira the Honorable Joserm W. Marrrs, of the House of Re) tatives, sald, “The answer is simple. implications are profound. ‘Taxes rose and the debt mounted beyond all
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD reason because the Nation abandoned, for a time, a fundamental principle laid down by the men who founded ou? Republic—the principle that this should be a government of laws and not a government by men.” It is generally recognized that the war ef- fort had a tremendous influence on the State of our Government. But the war is over now and it is essential to free enterprise and opportunity, that government be curtailed in the best interests of our people, making room for greater opportunities and the exer- cise of more individual initiative. In this connection I would like to say that many of us lately have placed too much emphasis upon what the Government can do. There are many instances all through our history where government has created favorable sit- uations to help this or that phase of our national economy get started so that we might have a more vigorous and healthy country, and in order that we might create more employment and better living for all of our people. However, it is fundamental that the private individual and private enterprise through vigor and initiative take every possible means to increase efficiency and productivity. Only through competi- tion in these respects can the full benefit of our progress be spread to all of our people. As we study many of the problems arising ‘out of- present circumstances, it becomes more and more apparent that we have over- looked the fundamental and basic structure of our Government here in these United States. We must naturally expect large combinations and monopolies if we are to tolerate a Federal Government which takes unto itself the centralized control and regu- lation of American life. The trend of the Federal Government in recent years has been monopolistic—to absorb every possible function of government, although it be a matter of State, county, or municipal con- cern. It is impossible for the average busi- nessman or the average individual to keep abreast of current directives and regulations promulgated in a federally centralized bu- reaucracy. It becomes imperative, there- fore, that once again we must look to our basic structure of government and see to it that each subdivision of government is per- mitted to carry out its functions and at the same time we must take such action as would prevent large national pressure groups from being able to concentrate untold power in the hands cf a few individuals. This brings up that fundamental prin- ciple: The people of our country gave to the Federal Government only such rights as were enumerated in the Constitution and re- served unto themselves all others. If we remember this in the solution of our present- day problems, we can and will solve these problems to the satisfaction of our people. I think Lincoln, were he living today, would be the first to recognize the necessity for this restoration of authority to the peo- ple, thus preventing the formation of mo- nopolies and large Nation-wide pressure groups, be they in government or out. He would want, I feel sure, the average indi- vidual to have an opportunity to compete on an equal basis with any other individual. He would want the people of this country to control for themselves their individual des- tinles and through their elected representa- tives the destinies of this Nation. I have only mentioned specifically a few of the many problems with which we are faced. I could not, in these brief remarks, even enumerate all of the many and varied matters confronting us. Therefore, hoping that I might to some degree give you con- fidence in the future, I have attempted to reassure you that all of these many and dificult problems will be met with a renewed application of the fundamental principles of our American way. That is, minimizing the importance of government and emphasising the importance of individual opportunities, In America, peace and progress will be found in full production, full employment, lower prices, better quality, more home rule and less bureaucratic dictation, more individual opportunity and initiative, and more atten- tion to human liberties and progress built upon individual freedom, courage, faith, and initiative. There are many readjustments which will have to be made, both in Government and in private enterprise. But with determina- tion, with energy, and with American know- how, we shall succeed in putting our country on the highroad to enduring prosperity, and peace, In conclusion, may I tell you again how grateful I am to you for the opportunity to share in this most pleasant occasion. Lincoln’s Cousin Moved South EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. BROOKS HAYS OF ARKANSAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Wednesday, February 12, 1947 Mr. HAYS. Mr. Speaker, Abraham Lincoln's birthday, insofar as speeches are concerned, belongs to our Republican friends but as some of them have so well said, Lincoln belongs not to one party or one nation but to humanity. In this extension of remarks, therefore, I wish to include an item which may be of some interest to students of the Lincoln fam- ily. It involves a first cousin of Lincoln, a Dr. Le Grand, the son of Thomas Lin- coln's sister. He practiced his profes- sion of medicine in Newton County, Ark., from just after the war until his death around 1900. The facts recorded here were supplied by my father who, as @ young school teacher, lived in Dr. Le Grand’s community in 1897 and often talked to him about his distinguished cousin. Dr. Le Grand was of “the Kentucky Lincolns” and was 10 years younger than his famous cousin. During the 1840’s he lived for a period with the Lincoln fam- ily in Springfield and pursued his medi- cal studies there. He served in the Union Army as a sur- geon, and at the end of the war he looked around for a peaceful place in which to live. It is significant that he chose a Southern State, and that he found friendliness and _ congeniality there; though historical accuracy forces me to add that he lived in a Republican community and that its political char- acter unfortunately persists till this day. He told my father that he chose his Ozark home because he wanted some- thing like his Kentucky background and that he liked the clear streams and tree- covered mountains. Dr. Le Grand was well received outside of the Republican circles. He probably attended Confed- erate reunions in later years, at least it was a common practice in parts of the South to invite onetime enemies to share the pleasure of these occasions. One of my vivid recollections of the Con- federate reunions of 40 years ago is that of “Uncle Fate” Breashers, a Union vet- eran, mixing with Confederates at Gravel Hill, Ark., and enjoying their hospitality. A575 Dr. Le Grand’s life among us was indicative of the interest that the people of the South had in Lincoln, and, from our perspective of later years, I should add that it was indicative of an apprecia- tion of Lincoln’s sentiment toward our people. In a previous extension of remarks, I quoted Lincoln’s statement “I have not suffered from the South, I have suffered with the South.” This was not in a let- ter, as my extension indicated, but was in a& conversation with George Floyd, of Quincy, Ill, One more reference, Mr. Speaker, to our interest in the Lincoln career and philosophy. One of the most valuable recent publications on Lincoln is by Prof. Roy P. Basler, of George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn. In his preface to Dr. Basler’s book— Abraham Lincoln, His Speeches and Writings—Carl Sandburg says: Basler’s years of final painstaking labors on this present book have been at the Uni- versity of Arkansas at Fayetteville from which place he wrote to his loyal and inde- fatigable Chicago friend, Ralph Newman, of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop: “I sup- pose that it would be a pleasure to teach Lincoln, Emerson, Melville, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain to college students any- where; but I doubt that it could be any more fun than it is in the South.” Dr. Basler has reflected in these lines the prevailing sentiment of the South toward Abraham Lincoln. The Merrimack Valley Authority EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. THOMAS J. LANE OF MASSACHUSETTS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. LANE. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the Recorp, I wish to include therein the following address I delivered over radio station WMEX, Boston, February 6, 1947, on the Merrimack Valley Authority: What first attracted industry to New Eng- land during the middle of the last century? The answer is the abundant water power of our rivers and streams. Look around you today. Most of our man- ufacturing cities are located on the banks of rivers, where the use of water pressure provided the first and cheapest energy to turn the wheels of industry. But the world has moved forward since the days when those cities were established. Industry has changed from the direct use of water power to elec- tricity generated by coal and oil and, finally, to hydroelectric power. New England has not caught up with the last advance, We still have the abundant water, but we are letting it flow past us to the sea and allowing some of its potential power to go to waste. Slowly but surely we are paying the price for our lack of vision and common-sense initlative. Let me list for you, a few of our losses. The Pacific Mills have moved many of their units to the South. Textron, Inc., is trebling its manufacturing operations but they are to be located in North and South Carolina.
A576 The Utica & Mohawk Cotton Mills are investing more than $15,000,000 in Seneca, 8. Cc. The Burlington Mills’ projects in North Carolina and Virginia will exceed $12,000,000 in coat. The Chicopee Mills has an enlargement program of more than a million dollars in the Cornelia, Ga. area. The du Pont Co. is building plants worth more than $15,000,000 in Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. The American Enka Corp., which Massa- chusetts needs, is spending $60,000,000 in Morristown, Tenn. Once upon a time, New England was & leader in textile manufacturing. That day 1s gone. The South is taking this industry together with tens of thousands of jobs, away from us. And the irony is, that we in New England have helped to finance this competition with the money we have paid in taxes. But that is not all. We shall lose other industries to the South and the West unless we learn to compete with areas which obtain their electricity from rivers at a cost far below that which we in New England now pay. To reverse this dangerous trend, I have introduced to the Congress a bill called the Merrimack Valley Authority Act. The purposes of this bill are to provide for unified water control and resource develcp- ment on the Merrimack River and surround- jng region * * * in the interest of the control and prevention of floods, the pro- motion of navigation and reclamation of the public lands, the promotion of family type farming, the development of the recreational possibilities and the promotion of the gen- eral welfare of the area, the strengthening of the national defense, and for other pur- poses. This project is to be patterned, on a much smaller scale, after the Tennessee Valley Au- thority, better known as the TVA. In 1933, the Congress created the TVA which was au- thorized to issue securities; to construct dams, reservoirs, powerhouses, transmission lines, and incidental works on the Tennessee River, its tributaries and its watershed. From this multipurpose program, the TVA is further authorized to produce, distribute and sell its surplus electric power to States, districts, counties, municipalities, and to cooperative and other organizations designed primarily to supply electric energy to their members at the lowest rates possible. It will be the policy of the Merrimack Valley Au- thority, like the TVA, to help make its power projects self-supporting and self-liquidat- ing. Regularly twice a year for the past several years we in New England have suffered from man-made stoppages in our coal supply. This has resulted'in a forced curtailment of light and a slow down in production. It has brought the fear of unemployment into many of our homes. And the prospect is that we may have more of these interruptions in the future. To say that we are tired of this constant war on our nerves as well as our livelihood is putting it mildly. In this cap- tive condition, shackled by the private-power interests at home and the fuel monopolies outside our region, we look about us for some means of escape. Inevitably, we must think in terms of the TVA. Comparing it with the proposed MVA, Con- greasman Savace, of Washington, observed: “I just want to say that the gentleman is certainly advocating something that can be of great benefit to his people. In Pawtucket, R. I, for instance, I notice that electricity which costs $90, the people in my State could buy for $17.50. So if the gentleman can help cut the rates to the point where his people can use more electricity for production, for farming, and for homes, he will certainly Taise the standard of living and the happi- ness of his people.” Congressman Gorg, of Tennessee, stated: “Before the TVA came, the average domestic consumer used 600 kilowatt-hours of elec- tricity per year. That cost an average of $35 per consumer. Now the average domestic consumer uses almost three times that much—1,780 kilowatts—and he gets this for 62 less.” These statements indicate that what the TVA did for the people of Tennessee similar projects can do for us. Claude R. Wickard, Administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration said, and I quote: “New England cooperatives are paying up to five times the rates being paid for power from the Bonneville Dam in the Pacific Northwest. “I wonder how long the power companies will be able to fool any considerable number of sensible New Englanders with their ex- planation that taxes paid by the utilities are the reason for this wide difference in rates. “In other sections of the country, electric power rates have been brought down wher- ever power installations have been made at dams built by agencies of the Federal Gov- ernment for the purpose of controlling floods and developing rivers, as well as generating power. “These dams have insured a more adequate source of power and at the same time have reduced the power costs to the people by many millions of dollars. The whole coun- try has benefited from the improved eco- nomic conditions of these sections. These benefits undeniably refute the claim that it is necessary to charge the people the high power rates which will provide taxes to in- sure the economic stability of the country. “This kind of hydroelectric program has been kept out of New England. Even where federally financed flood-control dams have been built, power installations have not been made.” We have paid too much attention to the propaganda of trusts and monopolies and have neglected our greatest natural asset— water power. In the past we even refused grants for hydroelectric projects from the Federal Government and allowed the money to go to other areas which are taking away our industries and cur jobs. But New England is stirring to the chal- lenge. Week after week the Boston Daily Record and the Boston Sunday Advertiser have been bringing the facts of economic life home to us. Their crusade to develop New England’s water power needs our support. Lacking any encouragement from us, the attitude of the Federal Government has been one of hindsight. Only under the pressure of emergency has it been moved to do some- thing, and that in a halting, piecemeal fashion. There is no over-all program to insure flood control; to solve the sewerage prob- lem; and. on the positive side, to utilize the wealth-producing energy of this river which is now going to waste. The destruc- tion caused by the flood of 1936 convinced the Federal Government that measures should be taken to eliminate this danger. But the Government thought in terms of flood control alone. The remedies effected bore no relation to other problems and other opportunities along this waterway. It was not until this year that the State government assigned a commission to study the conditions which have caused this river to be described as the dirtiest open sewer m the Nation. In its report to the legisla- ture, the commission gave these figures: The Merrimack River receives pollution amount- ing to 21,000,000 gallons daily at Lowell, 47,000,000 daily at Lawrence, and 12,000,000 daily at Haverhill. All shellfish areas in Newburyport Harbor had to be condemned, The commission recommended the establish- ment of a Merrimack River Valley sewerage district and the construction of intercep-= tion sewers and chlorination plante at Low- ell, Lawrence, Haverhill, and Newburyport, APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD at a total cost of $27,500,000. But the Merri- mack River would continue to be filthy and dangerous from the thousands of tons of human and industrial waste flowing down from the cities and towns of New Hamp- shire. We cannot have one approach to flood control, another to sewerage disposal, and a third to hydroelectric development. The Merrimack River runs through New Hamp- shire and Massachusetts. The people of any one community, or the people of any one of the two States concerned, cannot do the job. It is a matter of local, State, and Fed- eral cooperation, We need a complete and coordinated pro- gram to solve the problem as a whole and not by some of its parts. To promote the health, the safety, and the prosperity of the communities along this river, we need to establish a Merrimack Valley authority. It is time for us to wake up. Low-cost power is the heart of production. Too long have we depended upon coal and oil to run our industrial machines. This is a costly method, subject to transportation and han- dling charges and interruptions in delivery, over which we have no control. And all the while, in our own backyard, we have the means to provide our own light and power. We:must become river conscious for our. own economic salvation. These waterways belong to the people. They must be placed under a unified public control which will utilize them for the benefit of the greater number. I urge all consumers and all civic-minded organizations to rally to the support of the MVA in the coming session of Congress. Be- ginning with the Merrimack, let us make these idle waterways serve our homes, our farms, and our industries. With low-cost light and power, generated from the natural resources which we pos- sess, we can and will make New England great again. Fulton Lewis, Jr., Reports EXTENSION OF REMARKS oF HON. LAWRENCE H. SMITH OF WISCONSIN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. SMITH of Wisconsin. Mr. Speak- er, under leave to extend my remarks, I am including herewith a radio address by the outstanding commentator, Mr. Fulton Lewis, Jr., which was delivered last Friday night over radio station WOL. Mr. Lewis calls attention especially to the propaganda being spread against cuts in the Federal budget as proposed by the Republican Members of Congress. I commend it to every Member of this body. It follows: Well, the 103-man superbudget committee of Congress spent almost an entire day battling over the budget ceiling which is to control appropriations during the present aeasion, but the regular Republican high command, which has been insisting on cut- ting the President's $37,500,000,000 figure to $81,500,000,000 finally came out victorious, in the end. That's what the figure is tonight— $81,500,000,000-—and while the figure still has to be approved by the Senate and the House of Representatives, there is little doubt about that. The process is little more than a Pane from here on. The final vote was
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD The Democratic leaders held out to the bitter end, and then attempted to insert a provision which would have eliminated any tax reduction by requiring that all savings in the budget be devoted to amortization of the national debt, but that was ridden down by a heavy majority. There were several Republicans who were Playing along with the Democrats in their efforts to'prevent any cuts of the budget for the armed services, notably Senator CHAN Gurney, of South Dakota, and Representa- tive Wa.rr2 G. ANprews, who are the respec- tive chairmen of the Armed Services Com- mittees of the Senate and House. Senator Gurwxy particularly sang the eternal song of the Army and Navy that any reductions in their budgets will mean disaster to the na- tional defense—which ts strictly not true— and will weaken our position in international affairs, which also is strictly not true. It al- ways seems, however, that the armed services are able to take completely into camp the higher ranking members of their committees in Congress, because every time this same thing happens. In a few moments I'll give you a few items about the Army and Navy budgets which may enlighten you as to whether or not their budget requests can be cut to eliminate sheer profligacy and the utter throwing of money away without any real impairment of the size or effectiveness of the Army or Navy as such in the slightest degree. Of course, the truth is that no sane peraon in or out of Congress wants to cripple the Army or Navy, or even impair its effective- ness. But it also is very true that both serv- ices are still living in a sort of dream haze, of a dance of the billions, a financial Roman holiday, and apparently from performances to date they simply will not do their own house cleaning and get rid of their own waste- fulness and close up their own rat holes, which presents the unhappy alternative that Congress has to do s0. As a matter of fact, it comes with rather bad grace when you consider it seriously that the Army and Navy, which are crying so loudly about not being cut in their appro- priation requests, have offered nothing to Congress in the way of a voluntary effort to reduce expenditures that must be reduced. Between them they still have the fantastic total of more than a million full-time civilian employees—clerks and stenographers and messenger boys and photographers and mov- ing-picture operators, and heaven knows what all, more than a million of them, 25 percent more than it took to run the entire United States Government, including even the Post Office Department, in the 1930's, and even then it was agreed on all sides that there were twice as many people on the pay roll as there should be. In this session this afternoon efforts were made to limit the cut in Mr. Truman's figure to three and one-half billion dollars—which, as a matter of fact, is exactly the amount of padding which the White House had put into the budget, on the confident expecta- tion that the Republicans would lop off something just as a matter of principle. If that had gone through, the result would have been to set the budget ceiling at exactly the figure that the administration forces wanted it set in the beginning, so it really would have been no cut at All. But that failed by a heavy majority. Of course, these insistences that every item that is requested by the Army and Navy—the Army particularly—is sacrosanct, absolutely indispensable, and rust not be curtailed are not too convincing in the light of past ex- periences with the Army on such matters. If there were a background record in which the War Department high command had shown an approech of sincerity and good faith in attempting to control and eliminate XCIII—App.—87 waste in the past, it would be an entirely different matter. But there is no such past record, and, in fact, the past record is exactly the opposite. If you'll think back to Gen. Brehon B. Somervell—who, by the way, was persistently supported at every turn by Secretary of War Patterson—you'll remember that General Somervell said the same thing about the Canol project, and the Latin-American High- way, and the endiess other flascoes which took place under his command. Col, Theo- dore Wyman, Jr., “was a wonderful -officer, and could do no wrong.” When they got into arguments about the merits of a given project, and it was thoroughly proven on the record that they had been wrong in under- taking the project, the policy was to insist upon going ahead with it, anyway, and pour- ing more tens of millions of dollars of good money after the bad, solely to save face and to justify themselves. : Everything was always necessary and in- dispensable, and the same old story was chanted then that is being chanted now— that to make any cuts in appropriations would be to invite disaster. With that background, the only course Congress can take is to refuse to believe what the Army has to say on such matters and to make up ite own mind and decision as best it can. That's what this superbudget com- mittee did today, and the armed services has nobody to blame but themselves. As to whether, in reality, the Presidential budget estimates for the armed services can be cut, Jet’s take a casual look at a couple of them just for curiosity. The Army engineers, as you probably know, do the rivers-and-harbors and flood-control work and the reclamation projects of the Government, and have for many years past. Those are heavy public works—the sort of projects that are invaluable in recession times, to provide employment and help get the economic cycle turning a little faster, once again—priming the pump, as it was called back in the early thirties. It is work that is strictly in competition with home and business construction work; it com- petes in the labor market for the labor that is available; and in times when there already is a heavy inflationary pressure on the building and construction industry, it merely adds to that pressure. You might be inter- ested to know that the present budget, which the Army says cannot be cut, contains an item of $365,000,000 for the Army engineers, who do that work. Or would you be interested in knowing what the Secretary of War himself has re- quested for the operation of just his own office in the War Department during this coming year. This is another one that can- not be cut, you understand. This figure does not include any salaries, either for the Secretary himself or for any of his employees, It doesn’t include any post- age, because all of his mail is franked. It does include telephone and telegraph and a very smal! item for travel expenses, and it includes a little fund for extraordinary mili- tary expenses, whatever they may be in time of peace. I might mention that the Secre- tary of War has, in his offices, a total of about 1,000 employees. Just why he needs any such staff as that may be a mystery to you. That is purely the civilian staff of the Secretary's office, and it has nothing to do with any activities or any duty of the mili- tary side of the Army at all. And remember, it includes no salaries of any kind. What would you think a fair figure would be, in this War Department budget, for those expenses of the Office of the Secretary of War? Fifty thousand dollars, maybe, or a hundred thousand, or five hundred thou- sand, or would you think it might be a mil- lion? Would you think that $5,000,000 is fantastic? A577 Well, here's the figure, in black and white, at the bottom of page 828 of the Budget, which President Truman submitted to Con- gress; the office of the Secretary of War, $25,500,000. And believe it or not, the same item, listed in this budget for the same purposes for the present year—what would you think that would be? Certainly, the coming year being further away from actual wartime than the present year is, with a lessening of the duties of the Secretary of War generally, surely, the amount for this present year Must be more than the amount requested for the coming year—less than the twenty-five and one-half million. Well, it happens that the figure listed here for the present year is about $14,500,000, and still the Secretary Of War, Mr. Patterson, wants twenty-five and one- half million for the year to come. What do you make of that? No Lack of Colonels in Peacetime Army EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. WALTER NORBLAD OF OREGON IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, February 17, 1947 Mr. NORBLAD. Mr. Speaker, I call the attention of the House to an article which appeared on page 2 of yesterday’s Washington News and which is entitled “No Lack of Colonels in Peacetime Army.” The figures there presented form, in my opinion, a very fertile field for the budget makers to examine. In June 1945, when the Army was at its peak, there were 8,000,000 enlisted men, while on January 1 of this year that number had gone down to 1,070,000. This is a reduction of approximately 8to1. On the other hand, we find that the number of colonels has been reduced from 10,590 to 6.489 or a reduction of only 112 to 1. Almost the same thing is true of the lieutenant colonels who have been reduced on a ratio of about 2 to 1 and of the generals who have been reduced on a ratio of 2'2 tol. While we find the colonels being re- duced at a rate of only 114 to 1 and the enlisted men at a ratio of 8 to 1, we also notice that the number of lieutenants in the Army has been reduced on a basis of 842 tol. The same thing is generally true of the intermediary ranks with the reduction greatest in the lower grades and rising as the grade increases to colonel and decreasing only slightly in the case of the generals. One reason given for this dispropor- tionate decrease of rank is that “a peace- time force must be a nucleus for the or- ganization of a wartime agency. This requires a higher percentage of senior officers than in wartime.” This would seem disproved if we examine the figures for June of 1941. These were furnished me by the Library of Congress. At that time we had 89,500 officers of all grades and 1,441,500 enlisted men. That is a ratio of 16 to 1. Today that ratio be- tween officers and enlisted men is just half that figure. It is 8 to 1. It seems to me high time that the Army cleaned its own house and abandoned its
A578 apparent theory that inflated wartime rank must be maintained. I have no brief either for or against military brass and fully realize that we must have in our top military commands capable men of rank, just as we have top executives in our large corporations. However, I don’t think even our wealthiest corpora- tion could continue to long exist with a personnel cut of 8 to 1 while reducing its top executives on an average basis of only about 2 to 1. I fear that the mili- tary has become too fond of their stars and eagles to want to give them up, but I feel it is about time they were foregoing this luxury and economizing in their own front yard. The news article to which I refer reads as follows: No Lack or COLONELS IN PEACETIME ARMY Some officers on duty at the War Depart- ment say one trouble with the peacetime Army is “too many chiefs—not enough In- dians.” There are 6,489 colonels in an Army of 1,- 070,000 enlisted men compared with 10,590 colonels when the Army enlisted strength was at a wartime peak of 8,000,000 men. ONE COLONEL PER 165 MEN That is a ratio of one colonel to every 165 men. The wartime ratio was one colonel to every 755 men. The Army is struggling with the problem of getting enough enlisted men to meet its requirements without the draft. It has a “shortage of second Neutenants for duty overseas.” But there is no shortage of high-ranking officers. Here are the figures: Jan. 1, 1947 | June 1, 1645 Generals. 556 Colonels... -...-...--- 6, 489 Lieutenant colonels... 11, 415 ajors....2....-.-.2- 17, 650 Captains... 38, 302 Lieutenants........ 61, 164 Total officers. 135, 666 Enlisted men... 1,070, 000 The Army points out that a peacetime force must be a nucleus for the organigza- tion of a wartime army. This requires a higher percentage of senior officers than in wartime. There are also large contingents of overhead troops in a peacetime army which do not expand as rapidly as combat groups in wartime. Combat troops require only five colonels in a combat force of 15,000. The srmy at present is taking no action to cut down the number of high-ranking officers. A demotion program was suspended in June 1946 because of shortages in the Officer grade, Letter of Mrs. J. D. Bragg EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. WALTER C. PLOESER OF MISSOURI IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. PLOESER. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I include in the Recorp a letter I have received from Mrs. J. D. Bragg, president, Woman’s Division of Christian Service of the Board of Missions and Church Extension of the Methodist Church, as follows: WOMAN’s DIVISION OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE OF THE BOARD OF MISSIONS AND CHURCH EXTENSION OF THE MeTuopist CHURCH, New York, N. ¥Y., January 17, 1947. To Members of the Congress of the United States: Dear Srrs: I wish, at the request of our organization, to extend to each one of you our very best wishes as you have entered upon this momentous session of Congress. We realize that there will be many unusual problems which you will be called upon to face during the months ahead. As a Christian organization, with more than a million members, we are vitally con- cerned for the welfare of peoples, not only in the United States but in all parts of the world. We are eager for our country to con- tinue, even more effectively, to take ite place of leadership by every means possible to help establish the Christian principles which are necessary if we are to have permanent peace and good will among all men. We are eager to see (a) the United Nations strengthened in every way possible; (b) full cooperation in the early establishment of the trusteeship council of the United Nations and territories in the Pacific occupied in the re- cent war placed under the trusteeship council of the United Nations; (c) full support given to international, not national, channels to the interim relief program set up since dis- continuance of UNRRA; (d) speedy congres- sional ratification of our financial obligations for the International Refugee Association and liberalizing our immigration policies so that the United States might receive its propor- tionate share of refugees and displaced per- sons and integrate them into its normal life; (e) an adequate housing program for our own country so as not to further jeopardize the establishment of homes; (f) all provi- sions necessary for protection of rights and privileges of all our citizens. These are only a few of our concerns and even as we share these with you may we assure you of our deep appreciation for the exacting task which is yours and wish for you a most successful session of Congress. Yours very sincerely, Mrs, J. D. Braga, President. Editorial for School Paper in Bronx County, N. Y. EXTENSION OF REMARKS or HON. DAVID M. POTTS OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr.POTTS. Mr. Speaker, under leave granted to me to extend my remarks in the Recorp, I wish to make the comment that a short time ago I was asked by a Bronx public-school teacher to write an editorial for the school paper. I know that I was approached on the subject with the apprehension that I might think I was too busy or that there were more important things requiring my attention. Actually, I felt flattered at the invita- tion and I considered it a distinct honor and privilege to be asked to write an edi- torial for the boys and girls of her school and I hope it will not be the last time I shall have that pleasant opportunity. What could be more important than get- APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD ting home a meaningful message to the boys and girls of our great country, who in a relatively short time will have to carry on with the great problems which must be met. The editorial apnended hereto ap- peared in Dot and Dash, January 1947, the £c:1001 paper of Public Schools 87 and 15, Bronx. County, State of New York: When I was a boy, I went to public school in New York City, just as you are doing. I studied about Washington and Lincoln and many other great men in American history and was thrilled at their great deeds. I read about America being the land of opportu- nity; that its people cou'd get an education without tuition. All they had to have was a desire to learn. You are getting an education from the finest school system and the best teachers to be found anywhere in the world. Now that we are approaching the time of year when the birthday of Lincoln is ob- served, we would do well to ponder what he was able to accomplish in our land of op- portunity. You know that for a long time he had only one book and how well he studied it, reading and rereading it—not by a convenient elec- tric light which you and I have, but by the flickering light of a wood fire. He did not have the books on different subjects which, conveniently, you have. But he had the desire to learn and he did learn with much less than you have to help you. You krrow that he became a lawyer and a great orator and finally, in my opinion, the greatest President America has had. Very few countries offer that possibility— that from such a humble beginning, one could become President. In a lesser degree, I have experienced the blessings which America conferred upon Lin- coln and which she is ready to confer upon you if only you will do your part. America gave me my education in her public schools. She gave me the chance to go to high school in the evening when I had to work by day. She held open the arms of City College, that I might study there at night. She gave me the privilege of studying law at night and of doing postgraduate work in law, and of at- taining my boyhood ambition of becoming a lawyer. America is anxious to pass her blessings on to you to enjoy. From a humble beginning but with hard work every one of us can attain success in one fleld of endeavor or another. All America asks us to do is to work. I am grateful to the people of our congres- sional district for the privilege of represent- ing them in the same Halls where Lincoln, in Congress, represented his people so well. I remember that as I visit the Lincoln Me- morial here in Washington. That is America—the land of opportunity. Tribute to Frances E. Willard EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. EDWARD H. REES OF KANSAS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. REES. Mr. Speaker, it is appro- priate that we commemorate the life story of a great and distinguished Amer- ican today. We honor ourselves, we honor America, in honoring Frances E. Willard. Frances Willard was born in
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD the State of New York in 1839. She moved to Ohio, then to Wisconsin, and then to Tilinois. We are informed she was frail in health. As a matter of fact, it was during a serious illness, about the time she graduated from college, that she resolved to devote the remainder of her life to Christian work. Someone has said she lived 50 years ahead of her time. She fought for political franchisement, for equal opportunities and responsibili- ties for women in industry, in the home, and in politics. It was through her lead- ership that women were given a right to cast their ballot. She championed the rights of labor. She insisted that the most important factor in education was education for citizenship. She be- lieved in the union of the churches. She was an all-round civic leader. Miss Willard graduated from college when she was 20 years of age. She be- came a teacher. She resigned an im- portant professorship in a university and assumed the leadership of an organi- zation to combat intemperance, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Under the leadership of Miss Willard, this.organization became a world-wide power for sole justice. Her fame spread over the country. She traveled far and wide through the States on her lecture tours. She traveled in Canada and in Europe. In fact, she went to almost every civilized country in the world. Miss Willard organized the interna- tional WCTU, the first organization of world women for any cause whatever. That organization became a clearing house for women's activities throughout the world. She was president of the WCTU for 19 years, and 7 years presi- dent of the International WCTU. Miss Willard was not only a reformer, she was a woman of vision. She was a crusader of the highest type. In 1905 the great State of Illinois voted to place this marvelous statue of Miss Willard in the Hall of Fame in the National Capitol. It is the only statue placed in this hall in honor of a woman. Throughout the years, many eulogies have been delivered in honor of this great woman, but one of the finest statements made are the words of Miss Willard herself. These words appear on the pedestal of the statue: Ah! it is our women who have given the costliest hostages to fortune! Out into the battle of life they have sent their best be- loved with fearful odds against them. Oh, by the dangers they have dared; by the hours of patient watching over beds where help- less children lay; by the incense of 10,000 prayers wafted from their gentle lips to heaven, I charge you give them power to protect along life’s treacherous highway those whom they have loved. My friends, the American people do well everywhere to revere the life and the service of a noble woman, a great soul. As the pages of history turn from one generation to the other, the life and work of Frances E. Willard will stand out among the greatest in the history of America. I close with the words of Katherine Lent Stevenson, who wrote these lines in honor of Miss Willard: How great she stands! A mountain peak, her soul! An ocean wide, a river sweeping on with full free tide; A sacred shrine where holiest things abide; How great she stands! Stand, radiant soul! Here in the center of our Nation’s heart: Forever of ita best life thou'rt a part Here thou shalt draw thy land to what thou art; Stand, radiant soul! Rent Control in Louisville, Ky. EXTENSION OF REMARKS or HON. THRUSTON B. MORTON OF KENTUCKY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. MORTON. Mr. Speaker, during a recent trip to Louisville, Ky., the prin- cipal city in the district which I have the honor to represent, a matter was called to my attention which I think will prove of interest to the Members of the House. This is the very flagrant maladminis- tration of the Rent Control Act in the city of Louisville. In spite of all the pressure and publicity for some ad- justment in rent ceilings to give expres- sion to the higher costs of property maintenance, and in spite of recent di- rectives from Washington suggesting more liberal hearings and actions on hardship cases, the acting rent director in Louisville, Mr. Joseph C. Cantlon, is arbitrarily cutting rents on residential property throughout the city. His au- thority for making these reductions is section 5 (c) 1 of the Rent Regulations. For the most part, these arbitrary re- ductions are made without petition by the tenant and without inspection of the property. Mr. Cantlon seems to be un- willing to recognize the fact that there are differences in the value of property in any given neighborhood. He seems to be working on the theory that the low rental units in a neighborhood determine the rental value of all property within that neighborhood. For the sake of illustrating my point, I will give a few examples of just what is happening. At 1838 Grand Avenue there is a six- room residence with bath and furnace which has been renting for $45 per month since the owner died in 1942. On January 21, 1947, Mr. Cantlon ordered this rent reduced to $36 per month. At 1011 Walter Avenue, Mr. Cantlon has ordered a reduction from $40 per month to $27.50 on a four-room house with bath and furnace. At the same time, the OPA is approving $50 to $60 per month rentals for similar units being built at present. The owner of this par- ticular property has similar houses in the same neighborhood and in these cases the $40 rent is not being changed. In the case of an apartment at 433 Park Avenue, Louisville, an excellent location fronting Central Park, Mr. Cantlon has ordered a reduction from $65 to $45 per month. Another apart- ment in this same building is being re- A579 duced from $50 per month to $37.50 per month. At 432 East Chestnut Street there are three efficiency apartments of two rooms each. Under OPA, these apartments have been renting for $30 per month. Mr. Cantlon has ordered a reduction to $15 per month. At 2908 South Fourth Street there are two nice five-room apartments which have been renting for $45 per month. Mr. Cantlon has ordered a reduction to $37.50 per month. At 903 South Preston Street there are two identical apartments, one renting for $14.50 per month and one for $20 per month. The OPA has finally agreed to let the owner raise the price on the $14.50 apartment to $18 if the tenant sublets two rooms. At 2236 West Chestnut Street there is a house which has been rented for $40 per month. JIdr. Cantlon has ordered a reduction to $30 per month. It so-hap- pens that in this case, the tenant is sub- leasing at $67 per month, but this price is unaffected by the order. The enly sufferer is the property owner, and the ultimate tenant is not a beneficiary of the reduction. At 204 Fenley Street, the property has been rented for $85 per month under OPA approval for 2% years. On February 13, 1947, Mr. Cantlion ordered a reduction to $67.50 per month. I will not burden the Recorp with further examples. I feel that those listed above fully illustrate my point. Arbi- trary action of this kind is increasing the problem which we face in Louisville in the acute shortage of rental property. Landlords who do not want to sell, but who wish to retain their investment, are being forced to sell. Tenants who do not want to buy are being forced to load themselves with heavy debts and buy property in order to provide a roof over their heads. This unrealistic and un- imaginative approach to the solution of our most critical civic problem in Louis- ville is an example of what can happen when we have government by men and not by law. A High Dam Should Be Built Against Spending EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. WALTER C. PLOESER OF MISSOURI IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. PLOESER. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I include in the Recorp the following copy of my speech before the Mississippi Valley As- sociation’s annual meeting, St. Louis, Mo., on Monday, January 20, 1947: It has been my privilege to be asked by your association to speak this morning on the subject of flood control. I have enjoyed being your guest on other occasions. Your association has rendered a fine public service over many years. The opinions which I shall express here should not be interpreted
A580 as a party position, but rather my own. It is naturally my hope that your group can find reason to agree. The Nation today is in the midst of its most cructal financial period. The actual budget receipts for the fiscal year of 1946 were $43,038,000; the budget as proposed by the President calls for 837,500,000,000, and the Federal financial statement is heavily weighted with debt. During the past decade and a half, the American people have al- lowed themselves to be lulled into a false be- lief that public debt is neither problem or obstacle. Instead of being totally honest with ourselves, we have come to a point where we seem to lack a comprehension of the enormity of our fiscal problem—the debt of $270.000,000,000. The Presidential budget message for 1947 Tefiects either an utter disregard for the pending weight of our problem or a political unwillingness to deal with first things first. Our current prosperity, and our unparalleled standard of living can only be maintained or bettered by the people demanding of their Federal Government an immediate, realistic handling of our fiscal problems. The proposed budget shows an unwilling- ness on the part of the Executive to radically reduce Federal spending. It now becomes the full responsibility of the Congress to bring about the drastic reductions necessary. Spending must be reduced to a minimum— now. The frills of bureaucracy must be eliminated forthwith, and all of those serv- ices of Government, which are not essential to the maintenance of our free, competitive system of economy—or to the basic social welfare of the people—must be dispensed with. It is most important that we survive economically as a national unit. In the fiscal year 1948, which begins July 1, 1947, we should begin the drastic and the systematic reduction of the budget. Budget balancing is a prelude—the first step—but in order to reduce the debt we must do much more than balance the budget. We must have a surplus budget, and the very first application of surplus, or a goodly portion thereof, must be for debt reduction. Tax reduction is the third step. It has, how- ever, a very definite relationship to budget reduction in that if tax reduction is prop- erly applied, it can be an incentive to in- creased revenue and receipts for the Federal Treasury and thereby be some assistance to debt reduction. Since the actual end of hostilities, there has been a great flood of propaganda to con- tinue Federal spending. The spenders—both within and without official Government cir- clese—seem to heave a great sigh after the war and say, “Now is our time for a new spree.” They have visions of enormous pub- lic works, much of which may seem desir- able, but certainly not fitting for the future of a Nation which today operates its Fed- eral budget with an insolvent foundation. Today's slogan should be public works for immediate use only, and we should be keen- ly cognizant of the fact that we cannot afford public works which are not for immediate need and use. I have never objected—in fact I wel- comed—a shelf of projects which may be either needed or desirable for the future when we can better afford them. . Iam fully aware that the theory of a shelf or reservoir of public works for the mere sake of spending for the cure-all or correc- tion of unemployment periods was exploded by the failure of the Roosevelt era. The great resource, known as American ingenu- ity, must devise within our free system na- tional methods whereby industry, in the main, learns to bridge the unemployment gap with private funds. Effecting our economy, particularly in the great valleys, is the recurring threat of flood. Those who produce from the soll and seek to do it in the most fertile areas, have a keener realization of the ravages of flood than the highlanders who are not actually witnesses or victims. It is the common re- sponsibility of all the people to do that which is economically within their power to protect against the destruction of the fer- tile valleys and to further protect against the destruction of the millions of dollars of investment in industrial enterprises located in those valleys. Transportation on the rivers of America is also 2 major considera- tion in whatever methods we may devise against the ravages of flood. Within the Government we have a con- stant tug-of-war between two groups sup- porting different theories. One would think at times that some use flood control more as their excuse than their objective. Some support the theory of the creation of autono- mous units, corporations or authorities, which take into themselves powers superior to those of the States, or the various sub- divisions of the State, and powers superior to the private rights of the individuals, Such a plan resulted in the Tennessee Valley Authority—such a plan is advocated in the Missouri Valley Authority and others. Conversely, we have the continuing theory and belief that the rights of the individual and the rights of the sovereign States, and their political subdivisions should be pre- served and that whatever help is given by the Federal Government for the protection against floods, it must not be carried to the extreme nor done so by usurpation. There are those in both schools which advocate the building of great high dams, as the solution in flood control. Their programs are costly in the extreme and yet not proved to be economically feasible. I can at the present time think of one high dam which 1 would like to see bullt, which has to do with another type of flood control—that is a high dam against Federal waste and whoop-la spending. This dam should be built by public opinion and pub- lic action and not concrete. It must be a high dam of high purpose and firm regolu- tion for a solvent and successful Govern- ment. It would probably not permit the building of other uneconomic high dams to control watersheds. There is in contemplation at the moment a high-dam program which would seriously affect the State of Missouri and call for the inundation of thousands of acres of fertile farm land. High dams are usually con- structed for more than one purpose. Where such purposes are essential and do not bring with them economic losses, which are never shown in the Government's balance sheets, such dams can be desirable. But, in the main job of flood contro], mul- tiple-purpose dams are usually self-defeat- ing. For example, flood-control projects re- quire an empty dam and hydro projects re- quire a fulldam. As I have already inferred, high dams flood the best agricultural land of the watershed above them and by their very nature create unsightly mud flats and has- ards to health. High dams are not u-ually economically feasible. Of course, in most in- stances, their construction has been paid for by the Pederal Government and since no sat- isfactory accounting method has been de- veloped to show their actual profit or loss in dollars, the entire subject continues on a highly debatable plane. In many cases, the number of acres drowned out by impounded water and the loas of the crops formerly produced in the area are in excess of the acres protected or crops produced below the dam; they are all too frequently a detriment to wildlife. But, from an economic standpoint, we have a very good case in point, APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD In the TVA we have a total investment of dams, reservoirs, hydroelectric and fuel gen- erating stations and transmission facilities, as of June 80, 1945, of $736,693,279. The allo- cation of this investment, in accordance With the provisions of section 14 of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act, was $144,968,368 to navigation; 6150,951,945 to flood control; and the remainder, $440,772,966 to hydroelectric power. It is a matter of record that the allocation of navigation, flood control and power pro- grams, in the fiscal years of 1946 and 1947, have been made by the same allocation per- centages. Maintenance and depreciation of cost for the TVA have been allocated—40 percent to power, 30 percent to navigation, and 30 percent to flood control. Amazingly enough, the cost of operation is allocated one-third to each subdivision of the pro- gram, According to field surveys recorded by Army engineers, the accuracy Of which has yet to be disputed, the average loss for floods in the Tennessee Basin, covering a period of more than 20 years, was $1,7£0,000 annually. The largest flood of record in that period was when the losses approximated 82,600,000 Gamage to the city of Chattanooga. TVA ciaims their high dams have con- trolled floods in the Tennesse> Valley. Yet, Army engineers have found that there was only about 620,000 acres of land in the Ten- nessee Valley which was subject to occa- sional floods before the TVA was created. In accordance with TVA reports, the area per- manently inundated at operating levels by reservoirs constructed by the Authority, is 448,600 acres. This land is permanently out of use, and, in addition, there is an area of 327,800 acres subject to occasion] inunda- on. It is quite evident, from the reports of what happened in Chattanooga in January 1946, Just 1 year ago, that the TVA program has not yet accomplished flood control in the Tennersee Basin, after the expending of $150,000,000 to do so, and it is proposed that another 815,000,000 be spent by Army engi- neers for the construction of a levee system to protect Chattanooga against floods. So, after the allocation of $150,000,000 for flood control in the Tennessee Valley, under the autonomy known as TVA, it is still necessary to go back to the Army engineers’ original plan and build a levee around Chattanooga. It simply is not sound economics to spend $150,000,000 as the investment, to say noth- ing of the actual operating cost in a high dam flood-~control program to save an annual loss of 61,780,000. It simply is not sound economics to spend $150,000,000 as a high dam investment to protect against an annual loss of $1,780,000 and, at the same time, cause an additional permanent annual loss of crops formerly produced from the inundated area, of $13,500,000 annually. Instead of creating new wealth on such projects, we have de- stroyed it. It is by such examples that op- position to these high-dam programs grows. While a great deal of opinion has been ex- pressed, the statistics have been gathered to defend or propagandize in behalf of either aide of the question, it is my opinion that the long-range benefits in ficod control are more likely to be obtained by the construc- tion of small dams up in the watershed. This opinion is applicable to the flood-con- trol program, and I certainly do not propose it as a solution to other problems. For the next several years, it appears to me that the Nation, particularly in the Mid- dle West, would be much more prosperous under a small-dam program which we can afford. Such a program will probably lead us to new and vital experience, which wiK give us a far greater knowledge of what to do in the field of flood control.
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD American Veterans Who Were Prisoners of War Are Entitled te Payment of Individual Claims as Provided for in H. R. 1000 EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. JAMES E. VAN ZANDT OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE HOUSE OF REFRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. VAN ZANDT. Mr. Speaker, on January 14, 1947, I introduced H. R. 1000, designed to create a commission to exam- ine and render final decisions on all claims by American nationals who were members of the armed forces of the United States and who were prisoners of war of Germany, Italy, or Japan, for payment of its awards and for other purposes. This proposed legislation has been de- clared timely by various organizations and individuals who recognize the right of each prisoner of war to obtain justice on his individual claim. In support of this legislation a letter has been received from Col. George E. Ijams, director, national rehabilitation service, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Colonel Ijams for 27 years was Assist- ant Administrator of the United States Veterans’ Administration and predeces- sor organizations and is fully cognizant of the rights and privileges of veterans. He was appointed by President Truman in 194F as a member of a commission headed by Senator Mittarp Types, of Maryland, to visit the Philippines and study the destruction of property and the plight of individuals in that area. It was during Colonel Ijams’ visit to the Philippines that he came in contact with American prisoners of war who were returning to the United States from Jap prison camps. Colonel Ijams’ letter follows: VETERANS OF FOREIGN Wars or THe Unrrep Srarss, NATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICE, Washington, D. C., February 5, 1947. Hon. Jamgs E. Van ZAnnrt, House Office Butlding, Washington, D. C. Dear CONGRESSMAN VAN ZaNnpT: I wish to commend your action in introducing H. R. 1000 providing for the establishment of a Claims Commission to examine and render final decisions on all claims of American veterans of the armed forces who were held as prisoners of war of Germany, Italy or Japan, in World War II. Your bill wil) benefit veterans of our armed services who were subjected to indignities and torture, and who suffered disabilities while prisoners of war. The national re- habilitation service of the Veterans of For- eign Wars has received hundreds of letters from former prisoners, but to date has found it necessary to inform these men that our Government has not yet set up any organi- gation to which such claims can be presented, for consideration. The American people were shocked when they learned of the atrocious and inhuman treatment accorded thousands of our de- fenders who were forced to surrender. We knew that about 40 years ago a solemn covenant was entered into by most of the civilized nations of the world covering the treatment to be accorded to prisoners cap- tured in any future wars. We knew that our enemies in World War II signed this solemn covenant, and we naturally assumed that they would abide by its provisions. Even when we learned through the press that certain violations of the Geneva Con- ference had been reported, our people did not fully appreciate what those violations actually meant until we saw pictures of our liberated prisoners, many of whom were not only starved and beaten by an arrogant and inhuman enemy, but suffered physical tor- tures and in many cases death for the amuse- ment of a half-civilized people. You and I saw these men in the Pacific Istands shortly after they were liberated; therefore, it is quite natural that I should advocate the passage of your bill, and that you as a Member of Congress should intro- duce this splendid piece of legislation in the House of Representatives. Following the victories in Europe and Asia the Allicd Governments determined to prose- cute the perpetrators of these fiendish crimes on unarmed and helpless prisoners of war. Following fair trials many of the perpetra- tors of these crimes have paid the supreme penalty. Others will no doubt be convicted as the result of trials now being held. Thus have the Allies in World War II im- posed verdicts of criminal liability upon the perpetrators of inhuman treatment accorded prisoners contrary to the laws of civilized warfare. Having established the justice of criminal liability, should we not also estab- lish the principle of civil liability, and make certain that those who suffered disabilities as the result of inhuman treatment are com- pensated, and that widows and orphans of those defenseless prisoners who suffered tor- tures and death are also compensated for the loss of their loved ones. It would appear that we have in fact es- tablished the principle of civil Mability in the action recently taken by the American Gov- ernment in connection with the destruction of an unarmed American plane while flying over the territory of a supposed ally. Rep- aration for the death of these men was de- manded and received by the United States Government. This money was distributed to the families of those killed in this unwar- Tanted attack. If we were right in proceed- ing as we did against a supposed ally, cer- tainly we have all the more reason to apply the same principle of civil liability against our enemies. Fortunately, the bill which you proposed will cost the American taxpayer nothing. You have wisely provided that all awards made and all administrative overhead ex- penses of the Mixed Claims Commission shall be paid from the assets of Japan, Germany, and Italy now held by the United States Gov- ernment. And, in the event these assets are not sufficient, then any additional amounts required shall be assessed against the countries responsible for the inhuman treatment of our veterans. I feel confident the American people would approve the payment of awards to these for- mer prisoners if every dollar of the money for this purpose were charged to the Ameri- can taxpayers. But, realizing that we now hold the funds of the perpetrators of these crimes, I feel confident the American public will insist that this money be used to reim- burse those living men for disabilities suf- fered, and the widows and orphans of those who were murdered by a fiendish and inhu- man enemy. When your bill has been enacted into law the national rehabilitation service of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States will gladly represent those veterans and their dependents having claims against enemy countries without any cost whatso- A581 ever to the claimants, just as we now repre- sent hundreds of thousands of our war vet- erans in other matters before the various Government departments. Many months have passed since the un- conditional surrender of our enemies in Europe and Asia. It is certainly time for the establishment of a commission armed with authority to adjudicate claims of these un- fortunnte men, their widows and ornhans. Ample funds are at hand and in our posses- sion to make awards, and to pay all over- head expenses without any cost to the Amer- ican taxpayers. I sincerely hope that all the Members of Congress of the United States will appreciate the need for the speedy enactment of H. R. 1060. Very sincerely, Groacz E. IgaMs, Director. Social Gains EXTENSION OF REMARKS or HON. THOMAS J. LANE OF MASSACHUEETTS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. LANE. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the Recorp, I wish to include herein the following speech of Judge Elijah Adlow, of the Bos- ton municipal court, delivered before the New England Council on November 17, 1946: A passenger in a New York subway train recently was amazed to discover that a man seated opposite him was holding his news- paper upside down. He got up, walked over, tapped the man on the shoulder, and said, “Mister, you're reading your paper upside down,” and the man answered, “Do you think it’s easy?” Tonight I'm going to try to appraise cer- tain conditions in a world that appears upside down. I don't mind saying that the task isn’t easy. So many factors appear to be involved in the situation that it is hard to know where to begin. I am very much in the position of the man who once an- swered to a drunk charge in court. When I found him “not guilty” he became be- wildered, held up bis hand and said, “Let me recite a toast. There are a thousand good reasons why I shouldn't take a drink but I can't think of one of them right now.” Despite the baffling perplexities of the con- temporary scene, there is one aspect of it that stands out and is markedly conspicu- ous, and that is the widespread dissatis- faction with conditions. Everybody is un- happy. Rich and poor alike share in the current unrest. The period of the war was an era of hope. Everyone expected that calm and quiet would come with the advent of peace. It now appears that those hopes were groundless. More than a year after the ter- mination of hostilities the unrest is more acute than ever. Nineteen hundred and forty-six is truly a year of disillusionment, frustration, and disappointment. To further complitate the picture there are present a multitude of conditions which are ordinarily associated with prosperous times. Employment in the country is alleged to have attained an all-time high. The pros- perity which derived from the demands of @ countr, at war has not been entirely liq- uidated yet, and o generous public has spared nothing to smooth the way back to civilian Ufe for the returning veteran.
A582 What is noticeably lacking today is peace of mind. It is not without reason that a volume of this title is the current best seller. Aside from the intrinsic merit of the book itself, the very title suggests a condition for which everyone yearns. Modern man wants peace of mind. Now this is not the first time that man has been unhappy; nor is it the first time that a condition of general unrest has dis- turbed society. What provides the enigma of our era is that we have gloom without a depression, misery without want, and a widespread dissatisfaction with everything. Fifteen years ago conditions were vastly dif- ferent. There was widespread unemployment, business was bad, and there was a logical basis for the unrest which required no in- tensive investigation to discover. At that time all that people hoped to achieve was a return to normalcy, and the Government set out to help both capital and labor to regain that equilibrium ordinarily identified with normalcy. In some quarters the hope Was expressed that the recurrence of such catastrophes might be prevented or their consequences mitigated by the adoption of certain measures, and to this end the Amer- ican people undertook a drastic revision of our social and economic systems. The planners of a better order set out to provide for man’s future happiness and se- curity by dedicating the public to unprece- dented responsibilities with respect to capi- tal and labor, to the young, and to the old. They were given a blank check for the task and told to go ahead. As a result, the past 15 years have witnessed vast changes in the structure of our body politic. Most of these innovations have already survived the ex- perimental stage. No one can say that they have not been given a fair chance to func- tion. If anything their success has already been proclaimed by their sponsors who have Proudly branded them as social gains, and the slogan of our day has become, “Save the social gains.” It is to these social gains and their im- plications that I propose to direct my re- marks tonight. I appreciate thet there is a taboo on a frank discussion of all that they involve. The appraisal of them has hereto- fore been one-sided; they have been dis- cussed but rarely debated, and a tradition has already grown up which enjoins frank- ness. But truth can never be completely suppressed, Already the stirring restless- ness of the Nation has made itself articulate at the ballot box. This verdict cannot be ignored. It concerns neither parties nor per- sons; if the American people have changed direction, it is not because of men, but rather by reason of measures. These measures, and they have been spon- sored by Republicans as well as Democrats, represent a marked deviation from the tra- ditional American way of life. They are based on the concept that government owes everyone a living, and for the past 15 years neither effort nor money has been spared to make an actuality of this theory. In line with this concept an elaborate system of old-age pensions has been put into opera- tion; welfare measures have been radically liberalized; mother’s aid has been raised to & level which its original sponsors never imagined it might attain; and social secu- rity has been welded into our economic structure. Every conceivable contingency from which hardship or suffering might emerge has been provided against. At the same time labor's position has been markedly improved by the passage of the Wagner Act and other measures too numer- ous to mention. Higher wage levels, shorter workdays, and a variety of improvements in Conditions of employment were insured to workers through the direct action of the Gov- ernment which openly stood on labor's side in its struggie for a better Hfe. Notwithstanding all this, discontent is widespread and has been so for a long period. These claims of social gains appear to have validity so long as we confine our study of them to the vast expenditures which they involve. If the amounts spent by the public in their attainment have any significance, then they certainly have been a huge suc- cess. But social gains can never be meas- ured by their cost. We must look rather to the sense of security which they have in- spired and to the peace of mind which they have conferred. When we view the depressed morale and the general dissatisfaction to be found in the very groups immediately bene- fited by these social gains, their value is not 8O apparent. These measures were under- taken with a view to improvement of social conditions. But who can honestly contend that we have realized that improvement? There's a story of a woman whose husband was taken to the hospital. Every day she inquired about his condition, and the an- swer invariably came back, “He’s showing improvement.” But one day the woman was called and informed that her husband had died. Neighbors came in to comfort her in her grief, and to one who inquired about the cause of her husband’s death she answered, “He died of improvements.” The idea that money can solve every hu- man problem has enjoyed a considerable vogue for many years. If it could, we should now be well on the way to a realization of that blissful and happy society for which we all yearn. Unfortunately money alone can accomplish little. A disappointed litigant in my court once wrote me a letter and remind- ed me that “Man does not live by bread and mink coats alone.” My critic was right. There are elements of the spirit that con- tribute to the realization of a happy and use- ful life, and no fair appraisal of these ex- pedients can be made without considering their effect on the spiritual and moral foun- dations on which our society rests. When I was @ boy, it was a matter of pride among the most humble folk that they had never been the recipients of public welfare. To “live on the town” was considered a ca- lamity, and families would put up with al- most anything before resorting to it. A sen- timent rooted in self-respect gave them a strength to fight adversity on their own. I do not need to remind you of the many no- ble examples afforded by every community of families which solved their problems of ad- versity without public assistance. Equally impressive was the prejudice which people held against those who negiected their aged parents, and I distinctly remember the criti- cism leveled against those who sent their aged parents to public institutions. People might have been poor, but they never con- sidered themselves unfortunate except under circumstances where sickness or misfortune rendered them helpless. The greatest asset of every man was his pride, a pride rooted in self-confidence and self-respect. Another noteworthy aspect of our earlier days was the peace of mind that was gen- erally enjoyed despite the most trying condi- tions. The generation of our fathers was very realistic. It viewed life with philosophic detachment. It didn't expect miracles. It paid little attention to campaign promises. It knew that the concept of complete happi- ness was an empty dream, that life needed a little of everything, that tt had its joys as well as its sorrows, its light as well as its Garkness, its pleasures as well as its pains. And because it accepted the world as it was it found life more agreeable. Who can deny that, despite the amazing disparity in the standards of living of the present generation and that of our fathers, the old-timers en- jJoyed an infinitely greater measure of peace of mind than is evident at present? That capacity to make the best of life out of con- ditions in a far from perfect world was one of the attributes. of former genera- tions that ts not so evident today. The dif- ference derives from a transformation in the philosophic attitude toward life, ‘charging a 10-cent fare. APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD It took a great denl of effort to destroy man's capacity for optimism. The apostles of gloom have been working overtime in late years, Their campaign to spread unrest has been waged on a broad front, and the good as well as the bad has felt the weight of their assault, There is a story of an agitator named O'Leary who for years stood on a soap box in Union Square, New York, and de- nounced the rapid-transit companies for Finally the New York Legislature passed a 5-cent fare bill, and the habitues at Union Square wondered what O'Leary would do next. But that night O’Leary showed up as usual, climbed up on his soap box and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, things are worse now than before. This morning a poor man walked downtown to work and saved 10 cents; tonight he’ll walk home and only save a nickel.” This story is not as far-fetched as might appear. Were the aged ever as unhappy as they have been since a generous public pro- vided them with old-age pensions? Were the unemployed ever more bitter than they have been since a system of social security has been in effect? Have welfare recipients ever complained as much as they have since the provisions of our welfare laws have been liberalized? Some people may view these measures as social gains, but when the bitter- ness, the hostility, the class hatred, and the general gloom that have attended their ad- vent is considered we may well view them as a social detriment. Anything calculated to make people unhappy is a social loss. Equally unfortunate has been the effect of these measures on the attitude of people to- ward dependency. People have been taught to view public welfare as a routine service in the administration of public affairs. What is more, they have been told that dependency is honorable. Once upon a time people whc lived on the town paid this deference to the spirit of independence—they tried to keer their peculiar condition a secret. Today they do not hesitate to let the world know about it. With these people their right to support is vested, and the abuse received by our pub- lic representatives charged with administer- ing these welfare agencies is the best evidence of the attitude engendered by dependency. But most tragic of all has been the effect of these measures on those virtues identi- filed with temperance, frugality, and indus- try. There wus a time when the most hum- ble strove to set something aside for a rainy day. We can be thankful that many still do so today, but we must regret the vast array that has been taught to view their future as a public concern. Consider the extrava- gance of the high-wage war workers who heeded little the prospects of reduced earn- ings and lay-offs because they knew that social security or public welfare would pro- vide the means of existence. Consider also the multitude capable of work who at a time when ample jobs were available preferred to live on unemployment compensation. Hab- its of industry have suffered a staggering blow under the impact of a system that makes idleness financially attractive. And we must never forget that habits of industry once lost can only be retrieved with difficulty. When I was a boy, young men embarking on their careers were content to start at the bottom. As beginners their value to em- Pployers was limited, and their salaries were low, but they were content because they knew they had to learn. Today the provi- sions for unemployment compensation af- ford as much, if not more, than a beginner's job can pay. Is it any wonder that so many have marched in the ranks of that fraternity known as the 9-20 Club? And what about those who—the beginners—have through the medium of on-the-job training been paid the wages of experienced men? How happy will these men be when they will have to stand on their own and work for what they are worth. The problem of the returning GI has not been
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD solved by the GI bill of rights; it has been further complicated by it, and those who speak Of social gains should consider the de- bilitating effect of all these expedients on the spirit, the ambition, and the courage Of young America. Equally devastating has been the effect which the spectacle of all this has had on the millions of men and women who have resisted the alluring appeal made by public welfare and still stand on their own. Does anyone for a moment believe that they're happy about the idea of others languishing in idleness while they work? We must re- member that a large portion of the American people still cherish those time-honored con- cepts of independence and industry. They live simple lives, work hard, have bank ac- counts, and by precept and example struggle to instill in their growing families those vir- tues which will help them to face life's prob- lems with fortitude and hope. How cheerful can they be when a definite trend toward dependency threatens to undo all their work? How cheerful can the man who works be when the following newspaper item which recently appeared in a Boston paper is called to his attention? I quote from an interview with the business manager of the Boston Welfare Board: “There is no ceiling on aid to families with dependent children. Under the new budget families with five children or over will receive $175 a month or more, while in some cascs the allotment will reach as high as $290 per month.” These dependent families now receive a higher income than the families of thousands of workers. They receive more money than the families of policemen, of firemen, and of clerks. Is it any wonder that the people who work are restless, dissatisfied, and unhappy when dependents are trented better than they? Dependency can become attractive when there’s more money in it. It took a long time for the human race to acquire a consciousness of social respon- sibility which called on every man to do his fair share of work in the struggle of life. In our own time idleness was scoffed at as a form of parasitism and the complaints against the idle rich keynoted the unrest of the early part of this century. How much worse is the condition today when to the fairly exclusive fraternity of nonproducers known as the idle rich have been added that considerable group better labeled the idle Poor. It took a long time to establish the virtues of industry tn the social attitude of the peo- ple. It has been an tntegral part of the entire process of civilization. But when the wages of idleness become attractive there is a@ dangerous tendency for the werk to suc- cumb to the temptation. After all, it takes @ lot of courage, self-respect, and mdepend- ence for man to keep working when life is possible without it. Unfortunately, a great many have succumbed under the temptation. A recent dispatch from Wellington, New Zealand, dated June 27, 1946, appeared in a Boston paper under the heading “Easy cash is menace to Maoris—Social security keeps 100,000 from work.” The context of this article serves only to confirm what our own observation suggests. It recites, in part: “The existing situation is that many Maoris are refusing to work, ignoring their leaders who urge the clearing of land, sowing it for pasture, plowing, raising of sheep and cattle. They are content to receive the social-security hand-out each month. * * °* Other natives restrict their earnings to a level which will not interfere with social-security payments.” Despite our higher civilization and advanced culture there is an amasing resemblance in the resultant effect of these measures on human character wherever we find It. The cumulative consequence of all this has heen .to exalt dependency, to discourage thrift, and to promote idleness. There was a time when people were unhappy because they wanted work. Today many of them are miserable because they have to work. These people are the victims of a vicious philosophy that enjoys a vogue in our era. It is a phi- losophy that prefers idleness to work. It is a philosophy based on the false premise that all man needs to complete his happiness is an act of Congress and an appropriation from the Public Treasury. It is a philosophy based on the false theory that the way to avoid the evils of unemployment is by destroying the desire for employment. And because this philosophy has acquired the status of a cuit which has many devotees worshipping at its shrine, we have had to endure the consequent evils. Let no one delude himself about the delinquency that is rampant, the alcoholism that is on the in- crease, the gambling that 1s widespread, all these derive from conditions of idleness that are not only sanctioned but supported by public authority. Instead of helping people to help themselves we are accelerating the of moral collapse and spiritual decay. After all, life without useful work can be miserable. There is a story of a man who died, and when he crossed the threshold into the next world he was greeted by a liveried valet who took him in charge and served -his every want. For weeks he losfed around en- joying every luxury. But finally he tired of the easy life and expressed a desire to work. But the valet put him off from one day to another until the man in desperation asid, “Look here, if I can’t do any work, I'd rather be in hell,” and the valet answered, ‘“‘Where do you think you are?” The parable is appropriate. Life to be worth while must be useful. The useful man is a king in his own right. He is sus- tained by a consciousness of his own inde- pendence. Our parents worked harder, en- joyed fewer luxuries, and had less than we have, but the knowledge that they were in- dependent und self-supporting gave them a consciousness of well-being which enabled them to enjoy their work and to enjoy life. They had peace of mind in the true and complete sense. It is in this spirit of inde- pendence that the greatness of America is rooted. The founders of our country were no strangers to work. The pioneers who blazed the trails to the West risked all they had for the mere privilege of working s0 they might live. And the great builders and organizers whose talents helped America at- tain its present grandeur all started at the bottom on their own. Everything that is worth while in our American tradition derives from common sense, good faith, and hard work. The idea that these rheasures have con- ferred social gains is a myth. Not only has the experience involved great expenditures, but it has been purchased at the cost of a weakened spiritual and moral fabric of our society. But the damage is not beyond re- pair. Over a century ago the menace of parasitism in England forced a drastic revi- sion in the poor laws of that country. A change in policies of administration is sug- gested by conditions here today. Those who have been lured away from useful enter- prise by the something-for-nothing philoso- phy must be won back to the ranks of the workers. A revision of allowances should be effected so that the absurd financial advan- tages now enjoyed by dependents over work- ers will be removed. And, above all else, only the worthy should receive these benefits. This can be attained by an honest, compe- tent, and courageous administration of our laws. It takes a lot of courage to tell a man to go to work, but once public opinion is alerted to the dangers of the present trends there oan be no doubt that it will come to the support of our authorities in helping restore the virtues of industry and responsi- bility to their proper places in American life. A583 Tariff Reductions EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. THOMAS L. OWENS OF ILLINOIS IN THE HOUBE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the REc- orD, I include the following letter: Cuicaco, Itu., February 11, 1947. The Honorable THomas L. Owens, Member of Congress, House Office Butiding, Washington, D.C. Dear Sm: We are writing to you at this time asking that support be given to post- ponement of State Department action on further reduction of tariffs until the present Congress has an opportunity to consider re- lating developments since 1945, when the present act was extended. Postwar world conditions affecting international trade are just beginning to take form and tariff reduc- tions made now by the State Department may be contrary to current sound domestic economy. There exists a serious question as to for- eign sincerity toward the idea of interna- tional cooperation. Last October, when Clare Wilcox, spokesman for the Department of State, at the meeting of the preparatory committee of the United Nations Trade and Employment Conference, presented our pro- posal to representatives of the 17-nation as- sembly in London, there was no enthusiastic response. Since then, Great Britain has given no tangible evidence of dissolving the sterling bloc within 1 year as contemplated when the $3,750,000,000 loan was passed, nor is there any apparent lessening of the re- strictions under their policy of Dominion preference in trading. Recent British agree- ments with the Argentine restrict expendi- tures of trade balances to British sterling. Many developments point to forcign re- sistance toward tariff concessions favorable to the United States and it would seem that our offer of further tariff reductions should be reconsidered until the whole international situation muy be resurveyed by Congress for determination of sound instructions to the Department of State. As a bicycle manufacturer and a member of the Bicycle Institute of America, we have our continued existence at stake in this mat- ter. As an individual industry, we cannot possibly gain by any tariff change except an upward revision of existing duty rates on bicycle imports. Our market is here, in America; foreign markets are closed by com- petition of low-cost manufacturers, prin- cipally in Britain. The Bicycle Institute has presented a peti- tion to the Committee for Reciprocity Infor- mation protesting further tariff concessions that may be considered in the forthcom- ing reciprocal-trade-agreement negotiations. Through an elaborate brochure in which facts are presented in support of our con- tention, we point out that: 1. The industry has already been hurt by increasing imports encouraged by a 50-per- cent reduction in tariffs by the United King- dom Trade Agreement of 1939. No benefits to the industry have resulted from this agreement. 2. Purther tartff reduction now would force the American industry into liquidation. Twelve thousand jobs and $50,000,000 of spe- clalized plants and equipment would be lost. 3. Our in , in common with many others, is faced with cost competition from abroad with British wage and material costs half of comparable costs in America, At this time, Britain is doubling efforts to establish
A584 American consumer acceptance and distri- bution outlets in anticipation of a further lowering of tariffs. 4. The Bicycle Institute of America does not ask that foreign bicycles be excluded. The English lightweight type of bicycle with the light frame and narrow tires is no threat to American manufacturers as our market prefers a heavier, double top bar, balloon- tire bicycle not produced abroad. We learn, on good authority, however, that British manufacturers are prepared to invade Amer- ica with the heavier, standard type and tariff concessions would hasten this. If we lose our domestic market to the British, the American industry will be destroyed. Our petition to the Committee for Reciprocity In- formation contained a plea asking for tariff protection for the American type of bicycle by raising the present effective rates to apply to this type and to establish quotas limiting the volume imported. Copies of the Bicycle Institute brochure are available on request or one may be examined along with complete transcript of the hear- ing before the Committee for Reciprocity Information, in the files of the Tariff Com- mission. Any effort you may extend toward protect- ing the interests of this long-established American industry and the Jobs of your many constituents employed in our plant, will be appreciated. Yours truly, ARNOLD, SCHWINN & CO., W. J. Fritz, Secretary. Citizens Demanding Budget Reductions and Payments on National Debt EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. FRED L. CRAWFORD OF MICHIGAN IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Speaker, un- der the unanimous consent given me, I submit the following observations on several national issues which I made in @ recent address: ° There are two primary forces which enter into this genera] picture of management of the national debt. One is the natural, nor- mal economic forces; the other is the politi- cal forces wrapped up in the present Con- gress, wrapped up in the forthcoming Presi- dential campaign. What are the political forces? What will the politicians do during the next 12 to 18 or 24 months which will disrupt the sound policies which the Secre- tary of the Treasury would like to follow? I wish I could crystal-gaze and give you an accurate answer to that question. What will the politicians do? But at least the politi- cians and the political forces are concerned about the tax rate and the total tax burden. The President comes up to Congress and he says, “We need $37,500,000,000 to run the Federal Government from July 1, 1947, up to June 30, 1948.” The present House and Senate majority say that is too much. Some think !t is 87,600,000,000 too much; some think it is €3,000,000,000 too much; and some think it is $4,000,000,000 too much. Let me submit this simple question to you. Take any home that has been loosely managed, economically speaking; take any little proprietorship, partnership, small, medium-sized, or big corporation that has been managed loosely for 1, 10, 15, or 20 years, and the time comes when you have to change business management; do you know of any situation where bringing in good business management could not reduce the expense of that home or that little busi- ness or medium-sized or large business at least 10 percent, and at the same time in- crease the efficiency? I happen to be one of those who sincerely believes—I believe it with all my heart and soul, and all of the economic ability that God Almighty permitted to be born into my soul and body and “think tank’—that we can reduce a $37,600,000,000 budget from 10 to 20 percent and increase the efficiency of Government of the United States. I be- lieve that. And I do not think we should lose any time in proceeding to do it. I think every consecrated man and woman in this country, in politics or out of politics, public servant or private citizen, should throw their shoulders behind that kind of movement. : Why do 1 say that? Since January 1, 1940, we, the people of the United States, through the enunciation of our President, through acts of our Government operating through the agencies of the State Depart- ment and otherwise, through the acts of Con- gress, have entered into some 12 or 15 very far-reaching, deeply involved, basic interna- tional agreements. I will mention just a few of them. First, we had the enunciation of the “four freedoms.” Then came the Atlantic Charter; there followed ‘the declaration of the United Nations; we brought into opera- tion lend-lease with its general concepts, which has brought upon the taxpayers of this country—taxpayers and bond buyers—a bill in excess of $50,000,000,000, which bill is embraced within this debt figure I have mentioned. It 1s still there. We have the United Nations Rehabilita- tion Administration, we have the Interna- tional Food Collaboration Program which is still operating, and which, as you remember in 1943, it was agreed would follow the operations of UNRRA. We have the United Nations organization with all of its involvements, with all of its costs, with all of its confusion. We have still got to go through all the woods incident to that operation. We are just starting in. We have the Bretton Woods agreement, wherein, if it is to succeed, we taxpayers and bond buyers must primarily finance not only the capital structures for the future oper- ations of the currency stabilization fund; which was created for the purpose of stabiliz- ing the international currencies, so as to facilitate the movement of goods across in- ternational boundary lines. The other part of that operation is the capital structure and the operation of the International Credit Bank. ‘ After you set up the capital structure of a bank, something else has to be done. If the bank is making dollar loans to the various countries of the world, running anywhere from five billion up to twenty billion dollars per annum, that means to say, you, the Amer- ican citizen, must be thrifty in the first place; invest your savings in the debentures issued by this bank in the second place, so as to enable the bank to extend these dollar- credit loans to the nations of the earth for the purpose of developing the natural re- sources of those nations, expanding their old enterprise, and building new enterprise. . As the world’s creditor nation, you are brought into the picture through the Bretton ‘Woods agreement to export your savings in the form of capital to other countries of the world in the form of long-term investments; so if Bretton Woods is to operate to any great extent, you, the American people, will have to buy those debentures. Don't understand me to be up here making a sales talk to the effect that you should buy those debentures. Iam not doing anything of the kind, I pointed all this out when the APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD hearings were going on on that proposal, and I said to our top officials, “Who is going to buy the debentures? That is when you will run into difficulty with the Bretton Woods agreement.” I might say, “Who is going to be president of the International Bank?” Yes; who is going to be? Do any of you want the job? They are looking for applicants. Frankly, I think you will have to sit down and rewrite the entire rules of procedure of the Inter- national Credit Bank before you can get any- body to take the job of president and carry it out. That is a problem we have got to think about. Here is the British loan of $3,750,000,000. Where is that money coming from? That is ® direct transaction of the Treasury and you, the taxpayers and the bond buyers, have to furnish the Treasury the dollars with which to finance that operation. We come on down to the International Trade Organization. That is a part of the Bretton Woods agreement. That is a part of the British loan agreement, It is a part of all these other international things. They are all tied together like a bundle of sticks. They constitute very-substantially the writ- ten word of what we will call the foreign policy of the United States. How many of our people out through the sticks and the Territories and the congressional areas have assimilated and comprehended what is in-~ volved in these international agreements to which I have referred, as related in this debt and as related to the tax burden that we have got to meet incident to the servicing of the debt and paying off the principal sum? How many on the Hill have comprehended these involvements? How many in the Gov- ernment departments understand it? How many of our people in the Foreign Service know why they are in these foreign countries on the pay roll which is financed by you, the bond buyer and the taxpayer? Those are problems that I think we have to discuss in minute detail in forums such as we have here today. You have a chance to come down here and absorb some of these general reactions and thought-stimulators, and I think it will be your duty to take them back to your respective communities. Get copies of these various agreements, sit down with your neighbors and friends and your club associates and say, “Listen, here is an agreement which you and I must go along with or repudiate or pay off or work out of in some way. Did you know we had this Proposition on our front doorstep?” And get a right up-to-the-minute and down-to-earth comprehension of these things. This all ties into the general tax picture. Should we at this time, with the national income kicking along at the rate of about $170,000,000,000 per annum, reduce the in- come tax? You don’t have to answer that. Should we reduce or completely remove the capital-gaing tax? There are arguments on both sides. I don't mind telling you that about 80 percent of the letters which come to my desk, written by intelligent people, top- level people, in my district and out of my district, are against reducing the income tax at this time. I am simply telling you what the correspondence is saying. What it will be 90 days from now, I do not know. What do they emphasize? They say, “Let's hold taxes where they are, cut Government expense, get this budget balanced, and take the surplus and pay it on the principal. We do not want to live under this debt forever.” That is what the correspondence is running at the present time, fully 80 percent of it that comes to my office. I don’t know what the other fellows are getting. I-am getting very fine letters from very fine people, But the party in power in the House and the Senate has said, “We are going to reduce the income tax." I will make a guess with
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD you that the reduction will run on the aver- age somewhere between 5 and 10 percent. Your guess is Just as good as mine. I will be surprised if on the level, all the way across, it runs more than 10 percent. I am talking about reduction in rates. There may be an increase in exemptions so as to make that more beneficial to certain groups. What are you going to do about corpora- tion taxes at the present time? There isn't 20 much being said about that because they fig- ure that the corporations are getting along fairly well. Mr. Bob Nathan, you know, thinks that they are making excessive profits. With that, I would have to disagree. I think the Nathan report is an intellectually dis- honest presentation to the American people, because if anybody on earth knows the gen- eral picture, Bob Nathan should know it, and if he knows American enterprise, he knows you cannot capture profits away from the American industrial system and reflect it in increased wages, That is not the way you get increased wages, and Bob Nathan knows it. I think it is a terrible thing to have promoted that philosophy at this particular time, But shall we, the American people, impose &@ greater burden on the Secretary of the Treasury with respect to the management of the debt by hammering for decreased taxes and leaving the budget just about balanced, and saying to him, “You have got to go out and refinance these maturities without any material reduction in the principal sum per annum,” when the national income js kick- ing along at about $170,000,000,000 a year, when the Governors of the Federal Reserve Board continually tell us that the potential inflationary base is in excess Of $225,000,000,- 000, and when we have in the portfolios of the commercial banks of this country ap- proximately €96,000,000,000 worth of Treas- ury issues? That is something that all of us must better understand. It goes directly to this question of reducing taxes. Let’s take the labor laws for just a mo- ment. What are we going to do in situations 1iKe portal-to-portal pay? Here is my friend, the corporate enterprise manager. I speak for organized labor and I go to him and say, through the Nathan report, “You can afford to give me a raise of 24 percent because your profits have been running so high.” Ten days later I bring a suit against him for $25,000,000 for portal-to-portal pay, back pay, retroactive, which when appied to his capital structure takes all of his profits away for the entire year 1946. I bring $4,000,000,000 worth of suits against the entire corporate enter- prise structure that I said was making too much profit and wipe out all the profits I eaid they were going to make. You see how senseless the whole thing becomes, how ut- terly destructive it becomes in the light of these international agreements and obliga- tions and burdens to which I have referred, Are the people of the United States going to carry through with these agreements or are we going to repudiate them and take the economic and social consequences? We are going to have to decide that. We, the Ameri- can people, will have to decide it. Personally, I am a strong advocate for ma- terial alterations in present labor laws, set- ting up the rules of the game so that there will be comparable responsibility on both aides of the agreement, with the elimination of all wildcat and all jurisdictional strikes, with the tempering down of all mass picket- ing to a point where the general welfare is protected, the removal of monopolistic power of organised labor, and the giving of some rights to the 75 percent of the people who are not spoken for by organized-labor leaders, making unions responsible to their members ao that I, a local cdntributor to a union treas- ury, have a right, and so that the loca! of- ficials of that union must report to me on an annual basis, from certified public accountant audit, exactly what they did with the funds which I helped to contribute through the assessment they made against me. I could enlarge on this by 15 or 20 more basic points, but I am not going to take the time to do Charles Augustus Otis EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. GEORGE H. BENDER OF OHIO IN THE HOUSE. OF REPRESENTATIVES Wednesday, January 29, 1947 Mr. BENDER. Mr. Speaker, on Jan- uary 28 a civic testimonial dinner hon- oring Charles Augustus Otis was held at the Carter Hotel in the city of Cleveland. Charles Augustus Otis comes from a Jong line of able pioneers who played an important part in the development of New England and who later brought leadership to the Western Reserve. Wil- liam A. Otis, his grandfather, was a di- rect descendant of Samuel Otis, who held the Bible upon which Washington took the oath as President. William A. ar- rived in Cleveland in 1836 and immedi- ately became a leading commission mer- chant. When iron was dicovered he be- came the pioneer iron master of Cleve- land, and his business interests broad- ened to include railroad development and banking. His son, Charles Augustus Otis, Sr., succeeded his father in the iron business, set up the first forge in Cleveland, and introduced the open-hearth process of making steel. He found time to give ad- mirable service as mayor of Cleveland and advanced many worthy enterprises. Charles Augustus Otis, Jr., was born on Wood Street, July 9, 186€. His interests, since graduating from Yale, have been many. For several years he enjoyed partnership with his lifelong friend, Dan D. Casement, in the Unawect Range, which was one of the last frontiers of the real cowboy life of this country. When he returned to Cleveland, he formed the firm of Otis & Hough, agents in iron and steel and later stockbrokers. On July 11, 1894, he married Lucia R. Edwards, and their two children are Wil- liam Edwards and Lucia Eliza. Mrs. Otis was the daughter of Col. William Ed- wards, for many years a civic and busi- ness leader, and sister of Gen. Clarence R. Edwards, West Point graduate, with many military achievements to his cred- it, culminating in leadership of the famous Yankee Division of World War I. He helped to organize the Cleveland Stock Exchange and was the first Cleve- lander to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Twice president of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce, Otis brought to the organization a new en- thusiasm that resulted in a greatly in- creased membership. He purchased the Cleveland World, the Cleveland Leader, and the News and Herald, thus developing the World, which became the Cleveland News. For several years he served as presi- dent of William Edwards & Co., the wholesale grocery business founded by his father-in-law, and later he became A585 vice president of Carling’s, Inc., which Position he now holds. As a dollar-a-year man, he gave dis- tinguished service to the War Industries Board, under the chairmanship of Ber- nard Baruch, and his city has profited over the years by his service on business, civic, and social committees. His love for all that entertains and improves his fellow man, his affection for horses and dogs, his fondness for sports and the theater have made him Popular at home and beyond the city’s borders. He has the reputation of knowing more prominent people in all walks of life than any other Clevelander. For nearly a half century his wit and humor, his good fellowship, his personal enthusiasm, and his genuine friendliness have won for him the title “Cleveland's best«-known citizen.” Included among the tributes to Mr. Otis at the civic celebration was a testi- monial by Louis B. Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press, which follows: LOVED BY SO MANY The place Charley Otis holds here tonight in our hearts and jives will never be filled by other than this peerless human being before us, “Mr. Cleveland” himself. Long may he continue to fill that place! Back in 1938, long before the glowing rec- ord of the great Sesquicentennial cochair- manship was written by Cleveland's honored guest of this evening, the Press ran a tribute to Charlies A. Otis, herewith reprinted. It was written from the heart by Ben William- son, then of the Press, now associate editor of Time magazine. It bears witness to what we all know, that Charley Otis was “Mr. Cleveland” for years before he added the glamorous achievement of the Sesqui chair- manship to his other laurels. The mighty civic milestone of the Sesqu! is now “something added.” If we could fire another gun, it would add a ringing note to all that went before. Tonight we thank Charley Otis with all our hearts for the endless hours and the tire- less work he put into making the celebra- tion of Cleveland’s one hundred and fiftieth birthday a great success, But our tribute— the tribute of his fellow townsmen here to- night—the tribute of the Press and those who comprise its organization—goes even deeper. It goes to the man, the warm, lively, colorful, happy personality about whom Ben William- son wrote—Charley Otis, the great Cleve- lander whom we salute tonight. Our tribute goes to great years lived, and great years ahead. To the golden years that he has shared with his wife, his fine, warm- hearted partner, Lucia Otis. May their years together be forever golden and many more. Many men have been honored by Cleve- land, but none in our memory quite as Charley Otis is being honored, because he is personally loved by so many citizens of this goodly city. Address Before Welcome-Home Banquet, Veterans of Greek Extraction EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. THOMAS J. LANE OF MASSACHUSETTS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. LANE. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the Recorp,
A586 I wish to include herein my remarks at the welcome-home banquet. World War II veterans of Greek extraction, Lynn, Mass., Sunday, February 9, 1947, as follows: From Plato's republic to the Republic of the United States; from the Greek word “deemos” to the American word “democ- racy"; from Thermopylae to the Battle of the Bulge, all of us who are assembled here tonight owe more to the ideas and inspira- tion we drew from ancient Greece, the mother of all civilization, than to any other people in all history. For the Greeks were the first to fight for human freedom. Over 2,400 years ago, they stood up againat the Mussolinis and Hitlers of those times and beat back the tide of tyranny which was sweeping over the world. Boys and girls in high schools and col- leges today, reading of the glories of those ancient times, feel a sense of Kinship that Melts tire and distance. And when they leave their studies to assume their place in the world, they are better citizens be- cause they are molded by the truths first found in that remarkable little country called Greece. Truly Americans and Greeks of today are brothers—not by the accident of birth but by “hat higher relationship of mind and soul and devotion to the same ideals. We know that in peace, no less than in war, the fight to make life better goes on. Tonight we welcome home those who fought against the most destructive of all tyrants. We welcome them in two ways. First, as fellow-Americans, who did the hard part of the job for us. And secondly, be- cause they are Americans of Greek origin, who are justly proud not only of their ancient history but of the amasing courage and un- quenchable passion for liberty which characterizes the Greeks of today. We who have lived through this most terrible of all wars, will not forget those dark days in early 1940, when the Fascist menace seemed unbeatable. Freedom-loving men all over the world began to lose heart. Even in our own country we were discouraged be- cause a few men started to talk about “do- ing busines with Hitler.” Even great and once-proud nations bent the knee before the modern antichrist. All that was worthy of dignity in the life of man seemed lost. And then the sagging spirits of men every- where were electrified. Mussolini, the pirate Goliath, sent his armored forces against the tiny David that was Greece. And a miracle happened, a miracle brought about by that divine quality which we call the spirit of man. Faced with overpowering material force, the small legions of Greece fought with their hearts and their heads. Fighting man to man in the mountain passes as did their ancestors at Thermopylae, they routed the Fascist invaders. The sawdust Caesar re- treated in humiliation and confusion. It was then that the world woke up. True—Hitler in his fury swarmed over Greece with his tanks and planes and his masses of men, but it was too late to save the face. Greece was physically conquered for the time being, but she had ‘opened the eyes of the world and shamed it out of defeatism. Tiny Greece stood up and fought and suf- fered and showed the world that Fascism could be licked, And from this gallant and inspiring stand, came the turn of the tide. If little Greece could do it, was there any excuse for larger nations? The answer was none, From that period forward, civilized men everywhere, when the going was tough, said to themselves “Remember Greece.” That example gave them the faith and de- termination to fight through to victory. The price was high. Ten percent of Greece's population was sacrificed to slow down the sweep of barbarism and spark faint hearts elsewhere with fresh hope and courage. The war has ended, but peace has not come to Greece. It is tragic that after 5 years of heroic resistance against the Axis Powers this country should become a focal point in the struggle for position between Soviet and British interests. The great efforts that must be made to rebuild Greece have been delayed by this interference. Civil war has broken out—aided and abettéd by foreign interests. Greece occupies a strategic place along the borders of that great inland sea— the Mediterranean. But geography alone is not the reason for this contest. There are forces in this world which can never rest while Greece stands as the symbol of human dignity and freedom. These foroes are even now trying to bore from within, stirring up unrest, preventing rehabilitation, trying to break by propaganda that spirit which has never been broken by physical power. It is time for the big powers to stop med- dling in the internal politics of Greece and let the people of that nation govern them- selves. Help Greece financially—help her with food and clothing in order that she may get on her feet again as a self-sustain- ing member of the family of nations—but stop using Greece as a pawn in the vicious game of power politics. . The Greeks were experimenting with self- government when the big powers of today were savage tribes. If left alone, they will decide what is best for them, as they have always done, developing the finest qualities in each citizen for the greater good of the group. In fact, the Greeks could well give some lessons in the real, and not the ficti- tious, meaning of dsmocracy to some of these nations which are trying to exploit them today. I repeat, the intriguing powers must get out of Greece, and in the process of getting out make certain that the Dodecanese Is- lands in the eastern Mediterranean are re- turned to her. In origin, in language, and in custom these islands have been Greek since the dawn of history. Greece wants them, not only in name but in fact, clear of foreign agents and foreign propaganda. The return must be complete. Why do I speak of these matters at this banquet held in honor of our war veterans? It is because they know that the battle is only half won. The physical fighting is over, but the men who have come back are determined to work for victory in peace as well as in war. We cannot go back to the old way of doing business, because it was that old way which helped to bring on the war, The men and women here tonight are resolved that their children will not be called upon to pay in blood and agony for the mistakes of their parents. Our veterans know from their own experience that the doctrine of every man for himself won’t work, The one memory of their service that they cherish above all is that they came to know their buddies, to help them and be helped by them, and through this to have a greater regard for one another. Is it any wonder that our veterans miss this when they return to civilian life? They see the people back home absorbed in their personal interests, blind to the larger area of cooperation which must be developed if our democracy is to survive. For the surest way to invite communism is to commit all over again the mistakes of yesterday. That we must not do. There is a struggle going on in the world today which in time may have more far- reaching effects than the war iteelf. The struggle is between American democracy and Russian communism. This confilct does not have to be decided by war, In the long run it will be decided by one fact and one alone—which system works best. We can lose freedom—the last, best hope of earth—by our indifference. The moment APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD we take it for granted, that moment we begin to lose it. And so, the struggle in peace goes on, the everlasting fight to conquer ignorance, in- tolerance, poverty, and disease, and the effort of each man, made in the image of God, to realize the best that is in him, for the sake of others as well as for himeelf. To succeed in this, we must give every man a chance. There are encouraging signs that some of our leaders have learned that when all peo- ple work and have decent incomes, the whole ‘Nation prospers. This is what we mean when we speak of economic freedom, the new free- dom which we must strive for from this day forward. But we shall not get it by sac- rificing the freedoms of thought and speech and expression, which, to the eternal glory of Greece, she first gave to the world. h Veterans of World War II, we need your elp. Mindful of the lessons you learned the hard way, we ask you to give the folks at home the benefit of your experience. Teach them the need of pulling together. In this call to mobilize for the tasks of peace, we depend on you, the veterans, to show the way. For you are awake to the fact that people must prosper together. No man in this modern world can find security for himself at the cost of insecurity to others. In this spirit we welcome you home. As relatives or friends, we are glad that you have come back safely to us. . The redeeming comradeship which you found in war we must save and develop for the constructive work of peace. . With common goals clearly sighted, to which all of us can give our faith and will and energy, we shall go on with the job of building a better nation in a better world. Trade Associations: Their Relation to Monopoly and Government EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. ESTES KEFAUVER OF TENNESSEE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr, KEFAUVER. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I wish to in- clude the address made by me at the first annual meeting of Potash Soap As- sociation, Cleveland, Ohio, on January 14, 1947. The address is as follows: The purpose of your association, as I un- derstand it, is to work for the welfare and development of the potash-soap industry, which is composed of small soap manufac- turers. I am always interested in lending my support to an association which has as its objective the development of small firms in any line of business. It is frequently and truly said that small business is the back- bone of the economic life of America. We need small business. They are essential to our freedom of enterprise and our demo- cratic way of life. Without the millions of small enterprises throughout the Nation, the spirit of private ownership and individual adventure would be stified. The commu- nity life of our small towns would give way to planned regimentation. Competitive trade and service would soon disappear. I have no argument with big business as such. Growth is the hope of every small business. In our country most of our large enterprises have had smal! beginnings. Nev- ertheless, in order to keep a healthy balanced situation in any industry, it is important that
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD there be a number of small businesses which can operate on their own, uncontrolled by larger segments of the trade. They are es- sential to the public interest in keeping prices and services on a truly competitive basis The present trend toward concentration of production and distribution of goods into the hands of fewer and larger corporations constitutes one of the gravest basic issues of our times. It threatens the continued exist- ence of free and independent enterprise, the traditional American way of doing business. The attitude that small business alone is responsible for its own welfare is not realis- tic. Our economic system today is much too complex for any one part of it to operate independently. Each vein in the great arterial structure which leads to the heart of our business economy is necessarily de- pendent on the function of the other. The interests of all, from the biggest manufac-, turer to the smallest retailer, are closely bound in a vast network. The welfare of small business is an im- portant responsibility of both big and little business, of the whole economic com- munity—of the Government itself. There should be the understanding that the small business of today may well be the big busi- ness of tomorrow, and that the big business is dependent on many thousands of healthy small businesses to support it. Small enter- prise protects our economic freedom. If it were to disappear to any great extent huge trusts and monopolies would unavoidably arise to replace it. Strict Government con- trol would be necessary to protect the wel- fare of the people and eventually Govern- ment operation would ensue. PROBLEMS OF SMALL BUSINESS The problems of the potash soap business are in most respects the same problems with which other small businesses are confronted. I feel that small business generally is enter- ing a new phase in the postwar period which is bright but fraught with some dangers. Without particular reference to the soap in- duatry, we in America must decide very quick. ly what sort of a country we want to live in. This Nation was founded and built by men who believed in individualism. It has grown ‘under a system carried on largely by individ- ual capital. The increasing concentration of economic power may some day doom free en- terprise. The present trend of great corpo- rations to increase their economic power is the antithesis of meritorious competitive de- velopment. It is no accident that we now have big government, big Jabor unions and big business. The concentration of great economic power in a few corporations neces- sarily leads to the formation of large Nation- wide unions. The development of the two necessarily leads to big bureaus in the Gov- ernment to deal with them. Local economic independence cannot be preserved in the face of consolidations such as we have had during the past few years. The control of American business is steadily being transferred from local communities to a few large cities in which central managers decide the policies and the fate of the far-flung enterprises they control. Millions of people depend helplessly on their judgment. Through monopolistic mergers the people are losing power to direct their own economic welfare, When they lose the power to direct their economic welfare they also lose the means to direct their politi- cal future. Let’s examine what has happened to our free competitive system in the last few years. According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission, three companies control 78 per- cent of United States production in copper. Tm lead mining, four compantes control 80 percent. In farm implements, six companies control 80 percent of manufacturing. In dry ice, two companies control 70 percent. In rubber tires, four companies sold nearly 90 percent of all tires sold during 1943, In the soap business you independents are operating in the face of a potential substan- tial monopoly. According to the staff report of the Small Business Committee, 80 percent of the soap business is controlled by three large companies. The staff of the Small Business Committee making a special inves- tigation into the soap business found that seven companies control about 90 percent of the business. The balance of the business is distributed among approximately 1,200 soap producers in the United States. Soap is essentially a simple commodity that can be made in anyone's kitchen and it would seem difficult for this concentra- tion to have much to do with the success or. failure of the small independent soap man- ufacturer. And yet, in this business where one manufacturer can make soap about as good as his competitor, the concentration is still dangerous to the small independent because of the control over the sources of raw materials. The large businesses in the industry are in a position to make agree- ments with other manufacturers and with wholesalers and retailers which adversely af- fect the small soap manufecturers. The large companies are acquiring related lines of mer- Chandise which gives them a preferred sales position. The big three in the soap indus- try may not use any monopolistic practices. But the power te do so is certainly present and one should be in a position to protect his industry if that power is used. T am glad to see that your new Potash Soap Association organized with the determina- tion to see that your own segments of the soap industry has strong representation. It is essential to the protection of your own interests that you have an organization through which you can present your own viewpoint on any issues that may develop because you are certainly confronted with one of the strongest combinations which Could use its position to create a monopoly, Iam certain it is your desire to strengthen the position of the small soap manufactur- ers and to make sure that the industry does not become the victim of economic concen- tration. The formation of an active, vig- orous association which will give your in- terest a voice is the first necessary step. The set-up of your organisation as stated in your published program offers these protections. It stresses the importance of getting be- fore Oongress and governmental agencies complete and accurate information on issues affecting your group, a secretary-manager to deal with your problems within your indus- try: assistance in dealing with technical problems; statistics of market trends, to mention a few. It is interesting to note the extent to which your organizers have gone to keep your new association truly democratic. Your bylaws safeguard the individual member's right and interests in any policy decision that is made. This is effective in eliminating from your organization the possibility of controlling cliques that so often dominate trade asso- elations. It is unfortunate for their indus- tries and also the trade-association move- ment in this country that some associations continue perennial directorates who domi- nate actions and policies. There are asso- ciations with large memberships where cer- tain companies representing lees than 5 per- cent of the numerical membership have re- tained their seats on the boards of directors from 10 to 20 years. This put such an asso- ciation in a class similar to that of a pro- prietary organization, Big business would be very wise to help democratize trade associa- tions of which they are members. Some are doing so. Another feature of your new association is & definite limit on the amount of money any A587 member may contribute in any one year. The fact that the top membership fee is relatively small relieves the management of your association of any temptation to give preference to any member. Reasonable limit on contributions helps to correct this tend- ency. Your organizers were wise in adopt- ing this policy. An association that is devoting its time and energies to helping you and others in your particular field deserves your wholehearted support in both money and time. Your in- terests can best be served through coopera- tion and working together. One distinguishing feature about small business today is that it is not collectively vocal. Trade associations can be an effective remedy for this. Where an industrial giant can claim national front-page space to voice its grievances, small business is not able to command a similar presentation of its needs to the public. So they frequently go unheard and unheeded. Through unity you achieve strength and can command a hearing. GOVERNMENT IS CONSCIOUS OF IMPORTANCE OF SMALL BUSINESS AND ITS PROBLEMS Small business problems are manv and complex. Here are some of its principal difi- culties. I list them briefly: 1, Lack of access to adequate initial capital and long-term financing. 2. Inability to cope with involvements of governmental red tape and regulations. 8. Lack of adequate managerial, scientific, and technical skills. 4. The burden of high unit costs attendant upon small-scale operation, especially in manufacturing. 5. Cost of extensive research and develop- ment activities. 6. Victim of discrimination in the procur- ing of materials and supplies and unfair com- petitive practices in times of plenty. 7. Because of tax laws, inability to create adequate financial reserves to weather busi- ness lulls. Small business uses its more limited capi- tal to better advantage than its big business competitors. This is shown by the propor- tionately larger volume of sales compared with working capital available. Yet in spite of this, studies reveal that small business suffers from undercapitalization and has more difficulty obtaining business loans or equity financing than the big competitor. The cost of money is relatively higher to small busi- ness than to large. Its members are usually regarded as poorer ricks, for lenders too often base credits on bricks and mortar security rather than on the proven ability and integ- rity of the enterpriser. This tends to give big business an undue advantage. These barriers prevent many small businesses from making a start and cause fewer to succeed. Private groups under Government encourage- ment are creating credit pools. This is one answer to the financing problem. The Department of Commerce offers many aids which are of great benefit to emall enter- prises. Their services are of great benefit. They advise smal] businesses where raw mate- Tiale can be secured, of markets for products, and places to secure subcontracts. The De- partment has plans whereby small businesses can secure export contracts. To further as- sist, the Department has recommended to Congress that it be empowered to carry out the following program: 1, An immediate and well publicized cam- paign to dispose of surplus plants to small business concerns through use of high prior- ity and liberal financial assistance. 2. More liberal use of priority powers to purchase machinery and machine tools for Tesale to smal! business. 8. Acceptance of old machinery or scrap- ping the same in part payment for surplus equipment,
A588 We feel tuat the Small Business Commit- tees of the Cenate and the House have been of substantial assistance to small independ- ent business and that these committees should be continued in the Eightieth Con- gress. If associations like this one make their feelings known in this matter, I am certain that such approval will aid substan- tially in securing continuation of the com- mittees, The welfare of small business must have the cooperation of the executive department, the Congress, and of associations such as this one. By working together we can ac- complish much. We can erect a sound basis upon which small manufacturers can expand, profit, und contribute to the welfare of the consumer and of the country generally. I hope we can enter this period with such cooperation. National Congress of Parents and Teachers EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. CLIFFORD DAVIS OF TENNESSEE IN THE HOUS® OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. DAVIS of Tennessee. Mr. Speak- er, under leave to extend my remarks, I have the pleasure to include a statement made by Mrs. Mabel W. Hughes, presi- dent of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, on the fiftieth anniver- sary of the organization of that splendid congress. The national congress now numbers over 4,000,000 members in 27,000 local parent-teachers’ associations. It was founded on February 17, 1897, by Alice McLellan Birney and Phoebe Apperson Hearst. With two such outstanding women at its head, the movement toward organized protection of the rights of children could scarcely fail to reach new levels of conception and _ execution. Many changes have taken place in the field of child welfare, and many of these changes have been brought about by this organization. On today, February 17, that organiza. tion is celebrating its golden jubilee an- niversary. At the first convention 50 years ago many men and women promi- nent in the affairs of the Nation at that time participated in the first meeting. Among them were Mrs. John G. Carlisle, wife of the Secretary of the Treasury; Mrs. Daniel Lamont, wife of the Secre- tary of War; and Mrs, Judson Harmon, wife of the Attorney General of the United States. Mrs. Grover Cleveland received the delegates at the White House. Up until the war years the officers of the organization were subsequently re- ceived by the President of the United States and his wife at the White House. The golden jubilee convention is being held this year in the city of Chicago in June. It is hoped that President Tru- man will find it possible to attend that meeting and to address it. Mrs. Hughes, the national president, is from my congressional] district. For many years she has been interested in this great program, first as a teacher and then as a mother. She is a woman of great personal charm, fine intellect, and possesses vision and is endowed with unlimited energy and industry. We are proud to have her as a Tennesseean. We are still happier to share her influence and usefulness to the Nation. Well did the members of the national congress select her as president; equally respon- sive to this high honor will be her con- tinued service to the youth and to the teachers of this great country. Her statement follows: On the 17th day of February we shall have . cOmpleted our fiftieth year of service as an organization widely known and res in America. And on our fiftieth birthday we car. surely pause not only to praise our predecessors but to recall with pride our own accomplishments as well. On this founders day it is especially fitting that we look to the future as well as to the past. In terms of what has already been done, let us ask ourselves what there is yet to do. To begin with, there are many people who do not know the purposes of the PTA. And there are still others who must be taught more about the way in which those purposes are achieved. From time to time I hear comments— usually from persons not familiar with the work of our organization—implying that our local associations are not doing as good a job as they should. In an organization as vast as ours—one whose membership is a cross-section of the American people—it would of course be quite foolish to expect that our 27,000 units would have equal at- tainments. Human nature being what it is, there are bound to be certain shortcomings in leadership, certain mistakes in judgment, certain failures among chosen projects. Yet imperfections here and there do not and cannot alter the excellent over-all picture of parent-teacher achievements to which we can point with justifiable pride. Because our organization does not con- centrate its energies upon seif-giorification, we shall no doubt always receive some crit- icism from the uninformed. Perhaps there are times when we should not be quite so modest. Without ostentation we might well embark on a dignified campaign to acquaint the public with the many, many worth- while activities of PTA's in communities all over America. Let us review together a few of our contributions to the welfare of chil- dren and young people in the past 50 years. In this way we may be helped to tell the parent-teacher story to those who have not heard it. ON BEHALF OF THE SCHOOLS Few schools having congress PTA’s lack concrete evidence of members’ interest in the comfort and convenience of those who use the school plant—pupils, teachers, ad- ministrators, and adults of the community. Local unite have helped to supply motion picture projectors, sanitary equipment, recre- ation facilities—even clothing and school supplies for underprivileged school children. But this is only one short chepter in our ambitious tale. Recently many magazines and newspapers have.given publicity to the teacher shortage as well as other timely problems of educa- tion. To some it may seem that America is Just beginning to wake up—but who start- ed the awakening? For years the national congress has worked to secure legislation on behalf of the schools, to increase teachers’ salaries, to keep professional standards high, to improve the status of the teacher as a person in the community, to retain for the benefit of children the lands granted by the Federal Gavernment to the various APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD States. (See the February issue for an ac- count of what the Washington congress re- cently did to protect State school lands. Watch, too, for the “PTA Frontiers” article in the February 1947 issue of the National Parent-Teacher, describing how our Oregon State branch secured passage of the basic school support fund bill in that State. We have not merely talked about these things; we have helped to translate them into reality. Genuinely concerned about the teacher shortage, many State congresses have taken steps to improve present critical con- ditions. The California congress, for ex- ample, has done an outstanding piece of work in encouraging high-caliber students to en- ter the teaching profession (see the October 1945 National Parent-Teacher). First estab- lHshing a scholarship fund of $50,000 to he used for the education of teachers, California augmented the fund by $30,000 this year. ~Iilinois and Massachusetts have sizable scholarship funds, and Connecticut and Pennsylvania also offer aid to selected stu- dents in teacher training colleges. The Geor- gia congress is supporting a bill to increase teachers’ salaries. Hawaii is striving to im- prove the standards of teaching. And Idaho is working on legislation to provide a teach- er retirement system. So we could go on, naming State after State. Indeed, it is difi- cult to cite a single congress that is not working in one way or another to improve our public schools. CONCERNING PARENT AND FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION Parent education, long one of our main concerns, is so deeply ingrained in the whole pattern of parent-teacher work that it seems to permeate every project. Each year thou- sands of local associations, both urban and rural, foster the development of an enlight- ened American parenthood. It might even be said without exaggeration that one can scarcely retain parent-teacher membership without receiving some form of liberal edu- cation. Our congress publications, particularly the National Parent-Teacher with its eminent study courses, bring to parent-teacher .sad- ers material tailor-made to their require- ments. Published study courses, I might add, are no new or untried venture for us. As early as 1924 the Child-Welfare Magazine, ancestor of our present publication, carried a serles of home-study courses in cooperation with Columbia University. That same year the congress adopted the Childre.:'s Foun- dation study course, The Child: His Nature and His Needs, as the basis for a series of 12 outlines, which were published each month beginning in January 1925. Clearly can we see @ consistent thread of parent education throughout our early his- tory. Today there is scarcely a single au- thority in the range of parent-teacher inter- est who has not contributed to these courses. Nor is there one who falls to acknowledge the value of such study to the country at large. Incidentally, since we mention the Na- tional Parent-Teacher, may I say that the publication of a magazine of such excel- lence—one that is read by more than 300,000 persons montbly—is in itself an achievement worthy of note. Especially is this true when one realizes that the magazine is promoted wholly by volunteer parent-teacher workers and supported on a $1 subscription rate, en- tirely without advertising. The monthly meetings of each PTA are themselves a forceful means of deepening our understanding of the needs of youth. But the parent-teacher movement is far more than a once-a-month event. The activities of each local association go on continuously by means of committee meetings, participa- tion in local projects, and smaller study groups that meet to discuss parents’ prob-
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD lems, current ideas on child growth, and various matters of civic, national, or inter- national interest. Then there are the special conferences and institutes, the short courses at college and universities, and our weekly radio broad- cast, “The Baxters.” All these give to parent- teacher members a definite personal enrich- ment, which is in turn refiected in their deeper responsibility as citizens of a democ- racy. YOR THE GREATEST GOOD The parent-teacher organization supports those objectives, national und international, that are for the best interests of the Nation and its children. Working in cooperation with other civic groups, it has supported tax measures that have raised school standards im counticss districts. Parent-teacher lead- ers are in the foreground of campaigns for protective child-labor laws, for maternal- welfare legislation, for Federal aid to the schools, for housing statutes, und for innu- merable other tangible goals directed toward the betterment of the family. Although this support is centralized at the national level, its strength comes directly from the 3,910,106 local members who actively exercise their rights as citizens. The very existence of an organized parent-teache: as- soctation in any community tends to restrain those who might be hkely to exploit chil- dren or their parents. There is really no way of knowing fully how much insecurity or how many hardships have been averted be- cause our PTA's have striven consistently for the greatest good of all. Then think for a moment of what we have done to foster world understanding, to edu- cate the public about the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals, the San Francisco Conference, the United Nations organization, and UNESCO. But remember, too, that our Job is far from done, that we must continue to strive for an enduring peace. A better world tomorrow depends upon the parents and teachers of today. Only if they are well informed and earnest will they be able to pursue a course of action that will ensure the building of a peaceful and prosperous world for al] man- kind. STRESGING SAFETY In this field it is also interesting to specu- Jate on how many lives we have saved, how many accidents we have prevented. We know they are legion, for safety has long been prominent in our program. At parent- teacher insistence, school safety patrols hive been organized, safety ordinances enforced, school bus regulations improved, school courses in safety urged. Though the list is too long to be completed here, we can be ab- solutely sure that we have made America a safer Nation in which to rear our children. REGARDING HEALTH One of our best-known health projects is, of course, the summer round-up of the chil- dren, but often even its story goes unberald- ed, although the idea has been takcn over by many State health departments. Through the efforts of our PTA’s in the last 20 years 1.748,227 preschoo! children have had a medi- eal check-up before entering first grade. We cannot say exactly how many of the defects discovered by these examinations might have gone undetected for years, or how many chil- dren might have been retarded in school be- cause of poor eyesight or hearing handicaps. But again we know that if such statistics could have been gathered together, the health debt owed by the Nation to our Congress parent-teacher assoctations would truly be trergendous. ‘Realizing the importance of dtet to health, our PTA’s were the first groups in America to sponsor school lunches that would give pupils the benefits of a hot meal during the noon hour at school, From one section of the country to the other, parent-teacher mem- bers once more did not merely talk about the need for school lunches; they rolled up their sleeves, donned their aprons, and went to work helping to prepare and serve the food. Soon other local, State, and Federal agen- cies entered the picture, until today millions of ehildren are receiving school lunches daily. Now, in many communities the PTA may give only indirect aid to the school-lunch project, because that is all that is needed. Neverthe- less, in the beginning it was cur interest and our example that gave impetus to what is now an accepted feature of the Nation’s schools. Moreover, we still lend practical assistance to other phases of schcol-lunch support. The Federal school-lunch bill was passed last yeur, largely because prrent-teacher members worked so diligently for its enactment. And every harvest season still finds many a local unit canning jars of foods for school lunches. In 10 States, for instance, our associations last year ptented and cultivated 2,141 gardens, processed 921.731 units of focd, and con- tributed 225,000 hours of volunteer work, Who, we wonder, can possibly say we are not doting enough? Radio Address of Hon. Edwin Arthur Hall, of New York EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. EDWIN ARTHUR HALL OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. EDWIN ARTHUR HALL. Mr. Speaker, under leave granted to extend my remarks in the Rxcorp, I include the following speech made by me over sta- tion WNBF, Saturday evening, February 15, 1947: Dear friends of the Triple Cities and my congressional district, the delightful results I obtained from my announcement last week that a list of the names of those who are persecuting me would be mailed to every voter tn this district were really astonishing. They suggest that perhaps it would be ac- complishing more to withhold this list a few days longer f0 it would be more complete. They suggest that more people might come forward voluntarily as a few already have and try to put the shoe on to see if it fits. But I imagine some of those folks will be concerned with things from now on that should worry them a lot more than their in- tolerance and irritation over me. Troubles are apparently setting in for many newspuper publiehers all around us. A few days ago I talked with a Congressman from up-State New York. “Frankly,” he said, “I don't know what I'm going to do. I can’t get any publicity back home because all the newspapers in my home city are closed down because of s strike. I don't even dare to die. Just think, no one would see my obituary.” “You certainly have a problem,” I an- swered, “favorable publicity is something every man needs to stay in Congress. But you'll have to find other means, just like I've had todo. You'll have to keep in touch with your folks in a dozen different ways as I’ve had to. Naturally, you can’t depend on your newspapers if they're out On strike. People can't read about you if you de- pend on a newspaper, when it isn’t being published.” Yes; our newspapers are certainly facing quite some problems these days. God for- bid thst such a situation be visited upon the Triple Cities. A589 Another report came to me that news- print is becoming scarcer and scarcer, I suppose that gives rise to the statement some publisher made last week that many newspapers would be forced out of business unless some solution is found to make up for this dearth. T assume this newsprint shortage will not affect Triple Cities newspapers as I have had no appeals for help from them as I d:d a few years ago when wartime limitations were being imposed on paper and newsplint. If, however, any such tragic circirmstances euch as my friend tn Congress is now facing, namely having his newspapers closed fer one reason or another ao that he canuoct let his people back home know what he 1s doing, if, as I say similar tragic circumstances should affect your own Congressman, you must depend upon this prcegram tc keep you informed of what I attemot to do in Wash- ington, what bills I introduce and what re- marks I make. This prugram will serve you in such an emergency just as it serves you now. Let me thank you for the fine letters you write me praising the way I conduct this procram. After all, why not? It is a program dedi- cated to you, and to the service of all of you, As you Triple Cities readers did not have the chance to see my recent speech to Con- gress in print calling for a 25-pound svgur bonus to every American housewife, I will read it herewith: “Myr. Sperker, I rise at this time to sug- gest to the House a bonus, not to veterans this time, not to any one else but to the individual American family. I should like to instruct the Secretary of Agriculture and the Director of the Office of Temporary Con- trols to reexamine the possibility of giving a special bonus of 25 pounds of sugar over and above any regular 1947 allotment per capita to each American housewife so that she can do more baking in the home, giv- ing her children and her family; the chance to consume more nutritious und palatable food. “So far we have done nothing but shadow- box with the sugar shortage. Speaking for myself, I think the time has come to give the people we represent a break. Why de- prive them of a standard of living that has made Americans the happiest people in the world? “I would not propose this if I did not know that more sugar will be available for domes- tic use this year than at any time since before the war. We can well afford the extra distribution, especially since no family today has enough sugar on hand. “This sugar bonus will show the folks back home this Congress is on the job, looking out for their welfare. and interested in see- ing a well-nourished, strong and healthy Nation, capable of taking the lead in bring- ing peace and progress to the whole world.” Portal-to-Portal Suits EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. KARL M. LeCOMPTE OF IOWA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. LeCOMPTE. Mr. Speaker, the Ottumwa (Iowa) Manufacturer’s Asso- ciation is a community organization in one of the industrial citics of Iowa. Re- cently this association adopted a resolu- tion on the subject of portal-to-portal
A590 suits that I desire to call to the atten- tion of the House membership. Under leave to extend my remarks in the Con- GRESSIONAL REcorD, I desire to include therein this resolution: Whereas the widespread filing of portal- to-portal suits on the part of employees has reached such an extent as to endanger the very foundation of American business, which would, in turn, be to the ultimate detriment of American labor; and Whereas such suits, if successful, in any degree, would place upon management a burden which could not have been foreseen, The Ottumwa Manufacturer's Association, the membership of which includes all manu- facturing interests in this community, here- by resolve that this association should, and does hereby, appeal to the United States Sen- ators elected from the State of Iowa, and to the United States Congressman elected from this district, to assert their utmost in- fluence in taking any and all possible legal steps to secure the enactment of legislation curtailing and eliminating, insofar as pos- sible, the prosecution of cases already filed, and preventing the filing of such similar Cases in the future, particularly where em- Ployees have been, and are, or may here- after be, working under written contracts governing the terms and conditions of em- ployment and the rate of pay therefor. Respectfully submitted. OTTUMWA MANUFACTURER'S ASSOCIATION, Luioyp WINGrEr, President. Preparedness for National Defense EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. CARTER MANASCO OF ALABAMA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. MANASCO. Mr. Speaker, I am including in my remarks a letter received from Mr. F. Lloyd Wassell, of Westport, Conn., bearing on the question of pre- paredness. Three sons of Mr. Wassell gave their lives in World War II for the protection of our liberties. If we follow Mr. Was- sell’s suggestions, in all probability no other American mother and father will be called upon to give the lives of their loved ones for our protection. When we start cutting the appropriations for the Army and the Navy, let us not forget that the lives of 350,000 American boys might have been saved in World War II if our country had been adequately prepared. The letter follows: Frsruary 1947. Hon. CartER MANASCO, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. My Dear Mr. MANasco: The above are photos of my boys, and I am speaking to you as their Representative and that of millions of other boys who gave their lives for you and me and in thousands of cases because of our inefficiency and pure selfishness. You or your predecessors failed to provide proper police protection, and as is always the case, hell broke loose. One of these or all three of these boys might have been your sons, or might be your sons 6, 10, or 20 years from now. Bear that in mind as you read the following results of you or your ‘s or selfish- neas in connection with our national safety. Bud (F. L., dr.) was the first to go at Avon Park, Fla. Reputedly, a fine filer, a fine pilot instructor on the early B26 (commonly called “widow makers’), he brought in a B-26 on its belly without a scratch on the crew. On Sunday, February 28, 1948, he was killed—one plane cut off the tail of another in midair. Whose fault— yours and mine for not providing in the years 1920 to 1940 adequate amounts for training of personnel and proper equipment. The reasons given were necessary speed-up with too little training. Are you going to let this happen again because of lobbying of selfish interests from all walks of life? I heard a so-called educator lobbying over the air against military training. He spoke of refusal of educational funds where they did not have ROTC and of such military training belng proposed by our Army per- sonnel to build a military hierarchy to get us into the next war. He did not mention his own selfish interest or his own com- munistic leanings and teachings under the guise of education. Personally, Iam a Republican, a great be- liever in college education, a believer in high- er pay for educators and teachers, and especially if we can weed from our entire edu- cational system communistic windbags of this type who have taken the education re- ceived at the expense of taxpayers of a free democracy to undermine that democracy in the minds and thinking of our younger gen- eration. Frank Lloyd Wassell, Jr., might probably be here today with many thousands of other fine upstanding patriotic, democratic, right- thinking young men who should be our fu- ture leaders. He loved life, the people around him, his home, and his country. You are representing these young men, and especially the youngsters they left be- hind. In the names of those men and re- gardless of your political affiliations, examine what we have suffered in the past through our failure to provide means of self defense. We know what happened twice in the past. We do not know what the future holds, but we know that criminals do not attack in broad daylight from the front. They attack in the dark and from the rear, In later letters I will give you two addi- tional true stories from the lives of my two other boys whom you will have to represent since they are not here to represent them- selves. I firmly believe that President Truman is first an American, and second, a Democratic Party President. As an American thinking in terms of the protection of its interests through compulsory military training, he should be given the unselfish and nonpo- litical backing of every Member of Congress. Remember those who gave cannot speuk for themselves. Sincerely yours, F, Ltoyp WASSELL, Freedom for Lithuania EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. MITCHELL JENKINS OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Monday, February 17, 1947 Mr. JENKINS of Pennsylvania. Mr, Speaker, when Lithuania won her free- dom in 1917 the world had reason to be- lieve that her subjection to Russia was a thing of the past never to be revived. The great rejoicing among Lithuanians in this country and everywhere was un- APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD clouded by any fear of a qualification upon the sovereignty of the new nation, surely not so soon as October 10, 1939. Those who know history know that Lithuania was once the greatest power on the continent of Europe, her might extending from the Baltic to the Black Sea. When she joined with Poland it was not conquest which dictated the union, but a voluntary desire and a freely en- tered contract which arranged for the marriage between the two great liberty- loving states. From the middle of the sixteenth cen- tury until the Russian conquest Lithu- ania maintained her individuality, cul- ture, and national idealism. Through- out the period of Russian rule the beacon of freedom was never lost from view, and when freedom did come in 1917 Lithu- anians in Russia and in this country greeted it eagerly. To them it meant the resurrection of the great state of Min- daugas, Gediminas, and Vytautas. Sub- sequently Lithuania had by war with the Bolsheviki struggled to acquire Memel, and engaged in long drawn out conflict with Poland over Vilna. Other troubles too filled the years of Lithuanian inde- pendence, but these were cheerfully borne and remedied. The important fact always was that Lithuania at last was free. She could choose her government and she could regulate her own affairs. Once again Lithuanians breathed the sweet air of poltical independence. One of the most remarkable aspects of the period between 1918 and 1939 was the way in which the newly created Bal- tic states were able to establish them- selves and set up independent and work- able economies. Among these states Lithuania made a most outstanding rec- ord. Not only did she redistribute her agricultural land and set up an excellent agricultural system, but she made no- table advances also in textiles and man- ufacturing generally. Trade and com- merce flourished. Banking and currency regulations were enlightened and mod- ern. The constitution worked. In education Lithuanian institutions after 1917 contrasted sharply with the sketchiness of those under Czarist Rus- sia. Welfare measures were modeled up- on those of the Scandinavian countries and Lithuanian law and courts made notable progress. In short Lithuania was making long strides forward in na- tional independence and growth, Lithuania, however, had one serious handicap—her geographical location on the borders of both Soviet Russia and Germany. Thus, when these two powers in 1939 divided eastern Europe into spheres of influence, Lithuania was placed in the Soviet sphere, and in 1939 was forced to yield her nationa] interest and welfare to Russian strategic inter- ests. At first it was believed that occu- pation by a limited number of troops was all that Russia would require, but dis- illusionment was not long in coming. In June 1940 Russia sent her military forces and political agents into the country and converted it into a new Soviet repub- lic—the fourteenth. As if that with its ensuing socializa- tion of the princtpai forms of corporate wealth and property were not enough,
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD there came in June 1941 the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi forces during which time Lithuania was included in the ad- ministrative area of Ostland. And on top of all this, as if the country had not already suffered enough, it was “‘liber- ated” by Russian forces who fought the Germans: and drove them out of the Jand—but what a land. For 5 years fire and sword had been supplemented with mass transfer of Lithuanians—thou- sands to the interior of Russia, other thousands sent into forced labor in Ger- Many. The ghastly story of these hard- ships can never be known in detail. The firing squad, the noose, the ship added their share to the tragedy. Hundreds of thousands perished or were lost. But even that is not the full tale of woe of this heroic country. Today Russia and her agents are back again. The Lithuanian people and land are once again the fourteenth Soviet republic with Russian members in the cabinet. An iron curtain of press cen- sorship shuts out all news of the na- tional tragedy. Few Americans outside those of Lithuanian origin know this chapter of human suffering. It has been obscured by more dramatic and highly publicized suffering elsewhere. But, let there be no mistake about where the United States stands. We have never condoned these acts. Sum- ner Welles said in 1940 that the “devious processes whereunder the political in- dependence of the three small Baltic re- publics [was] deliberately annihilated” were opposed to our ideas of free gov- ernment and the right of states, no mat- ter how weak, to handle their own do- mestic affairs. That was our policy then. That is our policy now. Other Secretaries have said so more recently. We refuse to recognize the predatory destruction of Lithuanian independence as valid. We still regard Lithuania as an independent state. On this anniver- sary of Lithuanian freedom we look for- ward to the day when we shall see Lithu- ania resume her admirable progress in self-government. The United States Under the Republicans EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. B. W. (PAT) KEARNEY IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. KEARNEY. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I include herein continuation of article in a series entitled ‘“‘The United States Under the Republicans,” by Edwin K. Gross, which appeared in the Morning Herald, Glov- ersville, N. Y.: Protective tariff was for many years the keystone of Republican prosperity policy. The tariff prevented the products of cheap labor abroad from flooding the United States and destroying our higher-price, higher- Wage system. Nevertheless, Republicans fathered recip- rocal trade agreements, which, advanced again by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, were a major program of thc Democratic Roose- velt’s administration. When the McKinley tariff bill was passed in 1890, a reciprocity provision was included, as a result of the influence of Secretary of State James G. Blaine, and several treaties were at once negotiated. In 1892 the Repub- lican platform pointed to the success of the Republican policy of reciprocity, but the Democrats won the election and the panic which came in 1893 was charged to a lack of confidence in the pending tariff legislation of the Democratic administration. McKinley said in support of the tariff: “We lead all nations in agriculture, we lead all nations in mining, and we lead all nations in manufacturing. These are the trcphies we bring after 29 years of protective tariff" Gradually, however, he became the great champion of reciprocity. The 1896 Republican platform, on which McKinley stood for President, stated: “Pro- tection end reciprocity are twin measures of Republican policy, and go hand in hand. Democratic rule has recklessly struck down both, and both must be reestablished.” In his second inaugural address, in 1900, McKinley, after having negotiated a number of new treaties, asserted: “Reciprocal trade arrangements with other nations should in a liberal spirit be carefully cultivated and pro- moted.” In what became his farewell sd- dregs, at Buffalo on the eve of his assassina- tion, McKinley declared: “The period of ex- clusiveness is past. Commercial wars are up- profitable. Reciprocity treaties are in harmony with the spirit of the times.” Lincoln’s administration created a system of national banks. When it was proposed after the Civil War to repudiate the national debt, the Repub- licans stood for payment according to the spirit of the contract. “The national debt, contracted as it has been for the preserva- tion of the Union for all time to come,” they said in their 1868 platform, ‘should be cx- tended over a fair pertod for redemption.” Grant vetoed an inflation bill, which would have considerably increased the large volume of legal-tender paper money, at that time not being redeemed by the Government. This veto set the face of the Government toward specie payment and honest maney. The Grant administration restored the goid standard in 1679 in the midst of a world-wide depression, and our business began to boom as applications for United States bonds came from ail over the warld. The ability of the American Government, thus demonstrated, to fulfill unprecedented financial obligations of war enhanced its credit; revenue mounted even while Grant reduced the burdens of taxation and the na- tional debt, and for a decade the Treasury had a surplus. With Hayes and McKinley their later spokesmen, the Republicans waged a winning fight for sound money again in 1876 and 1896. ‘When the Treasury reached an annual sur- plus of $100,000,000 the appropriations of Congress for the first time exceeded a billion dollars. The Democrats were loudly critical. Speaker Reed explained, “This is a billion- dollar country.” A succession of Republican leaders cared generously for disabled war veterans by pen- sions. The Lincoln government established a De- t of Agriculture and granted land to the States for establishment of agricultural colleges (to teach agriculture and the me- chantcal arts). Farm area greatly increased, the farmer's use of machinery was enoour- aged, and by the 1680's and 1890's farm sur- pluses were being sent abroad to pay for our importa. A591 Giving emphasis to the conservation of natural resources, Republican Presidents Harrison, McKinley, and Roosevelt withdrew millions of acres of forests for reserves, and Government reclamation of dry lands was begun under Roosevelt. When it was discovered that “embalmed beef’'—the stinking left-over refuse of the Chicago packing houses—was seuit to our sol- diers in the Spanish-American War the Pure Food Act was enacted under Ruoseve!t for- bidding interstate commerce in adulterated fuods and providing for rigid meat inspection. With Taft as President the Children's Bu- reau was added to the Government machin- ery, the 8-hour day was granted to all Gov- ernment employees, the sixteenth amend- ment authorizing an income tax (for the more equitable distribution of wealth) was enacted, and the seventeenth amendment for the election of United States Senators by popular vote rather than by State legislatures was initiated. The progressive Republicans, whose leader- ship evolved into Theodore Roosevelt's Pro- Gressive Party in 1912, advocated a system whereby the farmer could obtain credit more easily, stricter antitrust laws, social insur- ance, laws to protect workers against sickness, old age, and unemployment, minimum wages for women, laws to prevent or control child labor, and woman suffrage. When the Republicans were again in charge during the years of 1921-33, a whole Series of meusures for assistance to farmers Was enacted, with Credit extended by the Government anc organization of agricultural Cooperatives encouraged. The first old-age pension law was enacted when Republican Harding was President, and 17 States also had such laws before the Dem- Ocratic New Deal came in. The number of child workers wus reduced by two million between 1910 and 1930, with most of the decrease being accomplished during Republican years. Congress adopt- ed in 1924, with the approval of Coolidge, a resolution amending the Constitution so that Federal authorities could regulate or abolish child labor; though the act was not ratified by enough States, some of its aims were later realized in other ways. Immigration was put on a quota basis by the Harding administration. Harding's Congress placed the national finances on a unified budget basis which at last applied the principles of business to the regulation of the Government's income and outgo. Coolidge’s administration reduced the cost of government by systematic paring. Tux tates were cut four times. He was the greut exemplar of economy in Government. (The Democrats had attempted to beat him in 1924 with a corporation lawyer as their nom- inee.) Between 1922 and 1927—Harding-Coolidge years—the purchasing power of American wages was increased at the rate of more than 2 percent annually. In the Department of Commerce, then headed by Hoover, ingenious techniques were developed for the improvement of industry. Corruption, which reared its ugliness aftcr World War 17 as after the Civil War, is not the sin of a party, but rather a sin of the human race. Grant had said: “Let the guilty be punished.” Heads fell in the Cab- inet as Coolidge gave support to a Demo- cratic investigation and exposé, his admin- istratiqn started lawsuits in the courts against those accused of fraud—and oil re- serves stolen by private concerns were restored to the Government. The Coolidge who as Governor of Massa- chusetts during a strike by Boston police had telegraphed the president of the American Federation of Labor that “there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody,
A592 anywhere, any time” signed the Railway Labor Mediation Act of 1926—progressive legislation for mediation of labor disputes. His Republican Congress gave to longshore- men and harbor workers the benefit of com- pensation for injuries, A stringent anti-injunction law, the Norris- LaGuardia Act, underwriting the principles of collective bargaining, was passed in 1932 un- der the sponsorship of two Republicans, Sen- ator George W. Norris and Representative Fiorello H. LaGuardia, and signed by Presi- dent Hoover. An economic storm which whipped across the earth beat against Hoover as one of many millions of innocent victims. A few times in history men have been really bigger than events, but almost always events are bigger than men. Franklin Roosevelt, too, sought to stem the upheaval. Both fought valiantly, each according to his own philosophy. But no President and no administration have yet liquidated a depression. Six and a half years after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been first in- augurated, and notwithstanding good deeds, the unemployed in the United States still numbered 10,000,000—and until after a new world war had been in progress for some time. Hoover, like Grant in his own time and Cleveland in his, had no more to do with the causes of depression than had the Doorkeep- ers of Senate and House. ever moved into action more promptly and efficiently than did Hoover when the big bull market crashed in 1929; no President had ever before undertaken so much as did Hoover to relieve the distress of the poor, to help business revive, and to provide work for the unemployed. Hoover promised a reduction in taxes. He held conferences with business leaders who gave him their pledge to maintain pay rolls and pay envelopes. He recommended to Con- gress a large-scale construction of public works to take up the slack in employment. He urged the governors of the States to press for similar remedial measures in their legis- latures. And he attempted to build up the shaken morale of business. Moreover, Hoover approved legislation ex- tending Federal credit to States and munici- palities struggling with unemployment and poverty. He thereupon became the first President to make Federal funds available for unemployment and welfare relief. Hoover constantly emphasized the fact that the American depression which followed the stock-market crash was in large part psychological—which F. D. R. denied during his 1932 campaign but admitted in his first inaugural address when, simply repeating Hoover's premise in other words, he said: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Hoover recalled that the Nation had passed through no less than 15 major depressions within a century, and said: “We have come out ofeach * * * into a period of pros- perity greater than ever before.” Hoover recommended, and Congress adopt- ed, two great proposals for interfering in the natural course of free enterprise and period- ical depressions: The creation of the Recon- struction Finance Corporation to relieve the frozen credit of financial institutions and to make loans to banks, insurance companies, trust companies, railroads, and other indus- tries in financial difficulties; and the estab- lishment of the Home Owners’ Loan Corpora- tion, to aid people in peril of losing their homes under foreclosures of mortgages. The life of the RFC as a Government lend- ing institution has been extended by Frank- lin Roosevelt and Truman. Its value has thus been acknowledged for 15 years since its founding by Hoover. Democratic tactics in the Democratic-con- trolled House were principally confined to obstructing and harassing Hoover. The Democrats proposed no constructive meas- ures to overcome the depression. They were But no President ° a party without a program—and when Frank- lin Roosevelt went before the Nation as Hoover's opponent he was a man without a program. All they gave was denunciation. Within months after his inaugural F. D. R. had junked many of his planks. For in- stance, in experience he discovered that the economy which he promised when he as- sailed Hoover for extravagance was impos- sible in a Nation in need. The Democrats in 1932 did nothing to help & proposal by Senator VANDENBERG for bank- deposit insurance, which became a first meas- ure of Franklin Roosevelt’s administration. The Democratic Roosevelt declined Hoo- ver's invitation for a joint statement of re- assurance to the country by the outgoing and incoming Presidents in the election-to- inaugural interlude, and panic ensued and the entire banking structure tottered. Although unreal values had crashed on Wall Street, the Nation foolishly could not appreciate that it still had as many resources as before; it no longer believed in itself, and, truthfully, it failed itself while Herbert Hoo- ver became worn in the service of his coun- try, tolling through the long days and nights, herculeanly seeking to reverse the tide of fear psychology. Hoover's greatest mistake was in getting himself elected to the 1929-33 Presidential term; the man he defeated, Alfred E. Smith, must have felt like a person who misses a plane and the next day reads that it crashed, It was no more possible to stop the psycho- logical pendulum on its downswing than it had been for the Federal Reserve Board to stop it on its upswing. Fate had inflicted on Hoover, philanthro- pist and man of avowed social sympathies, the unkindest cut of all. His enemies, slinging their mud upon the person of Herbert Hoover to this day, raving about “Hooverism’s bread lines and apple- selling ex-servicemen,” have depicted him as an incarnation of the Head of Hades, Ben- venuto Cellini, Jay Gould, and Benedict Arnold. But there is a Herbert Hoover who by the facts here reviewed is given a faithful por- trait for posterity. He deserves nothing less, this President who labored and sweated, yet never accepted a salary for his 4 years in the Presidency but turned the money due him back to his country. The man who vacated the White House when the New Deal moved in was to have the satisfaction of prophetic vision. The ad- dresses of his losing campaign for reelection and his utterances thereafter as our only living former President are clear-seeing Clas- sics, forewarning of the evil which was to be sown by the New Deal philosophy. In the course of politica] turns the New Deal, too, was to experience repudiation, but the stature of the last of the Republican Presidents until 1949—the stature of Herbert Hoover—rose while the New Deal declined, and there came a time when Franklin Roose- velt’s successor, Truman, summoned Hoover to a new service to humanity in a survey of the world’s postwar food needs. You have been reading only some of the highlights of Republican action in behalf of prosperity and equal opportunity; for pro- duction, employment, high wages, improved working conditions; to help the worthy needy; for a happier society, Although under the Republicans we have not been ushered into heaven, which must remain awhile, our promise of future reward, we on the earth of the United States have in the aggregate enjoyed great living standards. Do the historical facts identify the Repub- lican Party as one of reaction, depression, and disaster, or is it not nearer the truth to say that the American people have not only substantially prospered, but also outstand- ingly among the nations of the world, be- cause of the Republican Party? APPENDIX TU THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD St. Lawrence Seaway EXTENSION OF REMARKS HON. CLARENCE E. KILBURN OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, February 18, 1947 Mr. KILBURN. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks, I submit an editorial from the Detroit News, citing an additional reason for building the St. Lawrence seaway, as pointed out by Sec- retary of the Interior Krug in his recent annual report. Also an editorial from the Star Journal, Minneapolis, Minn., regarding new support for the St. Law- rence seaway from General Marshall, Secretary of State They follow: SEAWAY VITAL TO OUR INDUSTRIES Secretary of the Interior Krug, in his re- cent annual report, pointed to an additional reason for building the St. Lawrence sea- ‘way—the prospective exhaustion of reserves of high-grade iron ore on the Mesabi Range. Krug made the point in connection with his recommendation of a billion-dollar sur- vey of remaining mineral resources, whose dwindling threatens American industrial su- premacy. It is not merely the prosperity of the East North Central industria) district but our whole industrial preeminence as & na- tion that has been built on the water-borne meeting of Mesabi iron ore with Appala- chian and Illinols coal and Mmestone. It was the fortunate location of these basic resources on the Great Lakes chain that gave this country cheap steel, its primary advan- tage over other industrial nations. Coal, iron ore, and limestone, the in- gredients of iron and steel manufacture, are found in close conjunction at only a few points on the earth's surface. The Alabama steel industry is located at one of those points, but the resources there are not large. Eighty-five percent of American steel is made from Mesabi ore, carried by low-cost water transport to the neighborhood of the Tllinois and Pennsylvania coal deposits, The prospective exhaustion of the higher- grade Mesabi ores means costlier steel in and not-distant future, unless these ores can be supplemented at low cost by purer ores brought in from abroad. There is no lack of such ores conveniently located with reference to ocean transport. The largest deposit in the world, of one of the purest of iron ores, is found in Brazil, within an easy, down-hill haul of ocean ports. This deposit now is being developed with American capital. There are others in Cuba and Labrador. But these foreign ores must be brought cheaply to American centers of steel manu- facture, if America is to retain the com- petitive advantage of cheap steel. That is what the seaway, by admitting low-cost ocean transport to the Great Lakes, will do. This is by no means the only way in which the seaway's contribution to over-all na- tional efficiency will help to keep this Nation ahead of rivals in a competitive world. But the depletion of the Mesabi ores foreshadows 8 crippling handicap of sufficient imminence to underscore the demand for early com- pletion of this project, already too long de- layed, VOTE THE SEAWAY NOW! The St. Lawrence seaway is getting new support. General Marshall lists it among the things the State Department wants from Congress, Senator VANDENBERG suggests tolls