17. "Technological Innovation: Its Environment and Management," report of the panel on invention and innovation, Robert A. Charpie, Chairman, to the Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Government Printing Office, January 1967-- 18. Progress reports by the Cabinet Committee on Small Business: A. Aug. 7, 1956___. B. Second progress report, Dec. 31, 1958 19. "Small Business as a Social Institution," by Kurt Mayer, Social Re- 20A. "Small Business and the Community-A Study in Central Valley of 21. "Small Business and Civil Welfare," by Dr. C. Wright Mills and 22. Business Failures 1920-75, tabulations by Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., and Administrative Office of U.S. Courts-- 23. Editorials relating to the role of small business: A. "What Future for Small Business?" editorial, the Washington B. "Small Business and Jobs," editorial, the Cincinnati Post, 24. Bibliography on small business in the United States, 1969–77----- B. Senate Report 95-65_. C. Announcement of White House Conference, statements by D. Title V of H.R. 11445 E. Senate Report 95-827, excerpt relating to Title V.. Page 262 352 369 383 395 540 549 593 596 597 599 661 661 663 669 673 678 PREFACE In November 1977, the Senate Select Committee on Small Business first published "Small Business and the Quality of American Life" as a committee print. Our purpose was to collect the basic research studies and commentaries published during the past 30 years on the economic, social, and political value of smaller enterprise. The main thrust of these two dozen major works is that small business has imaginatively contributed to a higher quality of life, and that it has an even greater potential for doing so in the future. The Introduction called attention to the problems undermining that potential. It noted the urgency of the committee's proposal for “a national strategy to encourage small business enterprise which will deal with (these manifold) problems and their solutions." The committee's hope was (and is) that such an "enterprise strategy" could be developed through a White House Conference on Small Business. The Conference would "focus the Nation's best thinking upon both the problems and opportunities." In March 1977, the Senate approved Senate Res. 105 requesting that such a White House Conference be held. On April 6, 1978, President Jimmy Carter announced that a White House Conference on Small Business would be convened. His message follows this Preface. The Conference will be an historic first-the only time that the attention and resources of Government and the small business community will be brought together at the White House level to address in a comprehensive way the problems of new, small, and independent firms and the conditions needed to improve their status. In the committee's view, this anthology of basic research materials, analyses, the commentaries can help prepare the Conference participants for the various discussions of past, present, and future policy matters. Of particular value are the two reports of the Cabinet Committee on Small Business created in 1956 and chaired by Arthur Burns, then chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. These reports have been useful since their publication. The President's proclamation and executive order as well as legislation authorizing the budget, personnel and technical foundations of the Conference, and the reports thereto are also included for background information for the Conference. The White House Conference on Small Business provides a magnificent opportunity to help provide a positive climate for preserving the free enterprise system which has brought to this country such great rewards. It is hoped that the availability of the materials in this volume will advance the work of this Conference and the cause of smaller business in the decades to come. GAYLORD NELSON, Chairman. ANNOUNCEMENT OF WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON SMALL BUSINESS BY PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER [For Immediate Release: Office of the White House Press Secretary, April 6, 1978] THE WHITE HOUSE The White House today announced that the President will call a White House Conference on Small Business, to be held in Washington during the fall of 1979. The week-long conference will bring together several hundred representatives of small business from across the country, to be selected during regional meetings. They will hold discussions together, and with Administration officials, to exchange ideas and develop recommendations to submit to the President. The Conference was announced by A. Vernon Weaver, Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and Senator Gaylord Nelson (D-Wisc.), Chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee. The President acted on a Senate resolution and at the request of Weaver and Nelson. Senator Nelson was instrumental in the resolution's development and its passage in the Senate. Weaver praised the contributions of both the Senate Small Business Committee and the House Small Business Committee, chaired by Rep. Neal Smith (D-Iowa), for their continuing efforts on behalf of small business. In a letter to Senator Nelson, the President stated that "such a conference can help us identify the many special problems facing small business and design an agenda that addresses them in a constructive way." (VII) |