ship lists; that is, the State affiliates and their chapters do not send to the national headquarters the lists of their members. So we cannot give you an exact answer to that. But a rough estimate would encompass upward of 40,000 blind men and women in this country.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. What would you say that was in proportion to the total number? Again, are you using the legal term "blind" or are you using the term of "blindness" such as you, yourself, are afflicted with?

Mr. TEN BROEK. I am using the legal term "blind"; that is, 20 over

200.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. I have 20 over 400 myself, so I would fall into that category.

Mr. TEN BROEK. Is that right? May I present you with a membership card, sir?

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. I think Mr. Matthews is 20 over 500 in 1 eye and 20 over 400 in another. So he, himself, is legally blind.

Mr. TEN BROEK. We need men of your ability and leadership, sir, in our organization.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. I am honored, Dr. tenBroek, that you would include me.

You say that the rough figure is 40,000. In that do you have any idea of the total number of legal blind, the 20/200 that there are in the United States?

Mr. TENBROEK. Yes. As a matter of fact, Mr. Wainwright, if you will look in volume 1 of our testimony, in chapter 1, you will see there, beginning on page 12, a series of tables which will show you something of the composition of the blind population of this country.

We had this statement prepared. A sizable research project was undertaken by Mr. Edward Hollander for us. Mr. Hollander has had 15 years of experience in statistics in the labor force, particularly dealing with the labor force, and is an economist and statistician. He undertook the preparation of these tables and he is present today. If there are any particular questions about them, they can be asked.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. I have pages 12 and 13 open in front of me. It gives the total of approximately a little over 300,000. I gathered this was prepared in 1956 and there is probably an increasing rate, so the total now might be somewhere near 400,000.

Mr. TENBROEK. We figured that in 1957 there were 340,000 and that in 1975 there will be about 450,000.

Mr. WAINWRIGHT. Thank you.

Mr. DANIELS. You referred to organizations of the blind organized in various States. Do you mean organizations which are organized under State charters or just voluntary groups which have banded together without any official legal status?

Mr. TEN BROEK. Primarily voluntary groups which have banded together without any official legal status, other than the official legal status given to voluntary groups which have banded together. But some of them are incorporated, some of our State affiliates and some of the local chapters are incorporated organizations. Most of them are not.

Mr. DANIELS. Referring, then, to the Baring bill, which proposes to give expression to representatives of organizations of the blind, is it your thought that expression should be given to each and any group

of blind people who desire to associate themselves into an organization, or would you recommend that they be legally organized under State charters or other charters?

Mr. TEN BROEK. I would say, sir, that the legal formality is not a matter of great importance. The matter of importance in the consultative process is for the administrator to be sure that he has organizations which speak for groups of blind people.

Obviously, there will be organizations which are establishedand there are lots of them in this country-which purport to speak for the blind, which say that they represent the blind. As a matter of fact, one of the complaints that we, the blind people, in our organizations, make against many of the agencies for the blind is that they hold themselves out as speaking for the blind.

To do so, of course, is a self-assigned task. What I am saying here is that the administrator would have to take precautions, of course, to see that he is not taking into consultation as representing the blind, groups which do not represent the blind. But I take that to be the normal process of consultation in administrative agencies all the time. They have to decide what agencies are of importance, what they represent, what their force in the community is, and so on.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Dr. tenBroek, since you have served as a professor for several years, and being in the position, as we mentioned a minute ago, of having to stand for reelection every 2 years I am sure you are accustomed to interruptions, and that you might suffer interruptions as we proceed with your testimony.

Can you do that?

Mr. TENBROEK. By all means. I prefer that, sir, because I want to deal with the questions that are in your minds as well as the statements that are in mine.

Mr. ELLIOTT. We have with us at this time, the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. George Huddleston, Jr., a Member of Congress from Birmingham, Ala., who has introduced one of the bills before the committee, a bill similar to the Baring bill, H.R. 14. Mr. Huddleston comes here desiring to present a very gracious lady from Birmingham named Mrs. Gordon Hardenbergh, who has been active in the national federation's work.

Would you allow us to interrupt you so that Mr. Huddleston could make a statement and present Mrs. Hardenbergh, and let her present her testimony, and then we would proceed with you?

Mr. TEN BROEK. I would be very pleased if you would, sir.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much.

At this point I have the privilege to recognize the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. George Huddleston, Jr., who will make a statement and present Mrs. Hardenbergh.

STATEMENT OF HON. GEORGE HUDDLESTON, JR., A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ALABAMA

Mr. HUDDLESTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee.

We in Alabama are very interested in Congressman Baring's bill, H.R. 14, so interested that a number of the members of our delegation have introduced companion bills, some of them identical to Congressman Baring's bill, and some of them with slight, minor changes.

We in Alabama are proud of our Alabama Federation of the Blind. It is an active, vigorous, virulent organization, working continually to assist the people in our State who suffer from sight disabilities.

We have with us this morning Mrs. Gordon Hardenbergh, the first vice president of the Alabama Federation of the Blind. Mrs. Hardenbergh has long been an active worker in this organization.

The Alabama Federation of the Blind is presently composed of nearly 300 blind citizens. It has already done untold good in our State, and made a magnificent contribution to the welfare of our people. Mrs. Hardenbergh is joined today by her son, Dr. Firmon Hardenbergh, who is presently a physician at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston.

Also with Mrs. Hardenbergh is Mrs. W. R. Patterson, who came up on the train with her from Birmingham.

The Alabama Federation of the Blind has four chapters today, the mother chapter in Birmingham, and other chapters in Talladega, Mobile, and Montgomery.

I enjoin the committee at this time to pay close heed to what Mrs. Hardenbergh has to say, because she is truly an expert in this field. Her comments will be of tremendous value to the committee as they go about the continuation of their hearings on H.R. 14 and the companion bills.

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, it is a real privilege and pleasure to present to you at this time Mrs. Gordon Hardenbergh, of Birmingham.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you, Mr. Huddleston.

May I say to Mrs. Hardenbergh that the subcommittee is very happy to have you, Mrs. Hardenbergh, and we will hear with great interest your testimony.

We are happly to have you, also, Dr. Hardenbergh. If you care to say anything as we go along, feel free to do so.

STATEMENT OF MRS. GORDON HARDENBERGH, FIRST VICE PRESIDENT, ALABAMA FEDERATION OF THE BLIND; ACCOMPANIED BY DR. FIRMON E. HARDENBERGH, OF MASSACHUSETTS EYE AND EAR INFIRMARY, BOSTON, MASS.

Mrs. HARDENBERGH. Thank you, Congressman Huddleston.

For the record, Mr. Chairman, I am Mrs. Gordon Hardenbergh, of Birmingham, Ála. I was president of the Alabama Federation of the Blind, Inc., for 2 years, having been elected to that office in November of 1956 and reelected in November 1957. I am now the first vice president. I was elected to this office in November 1958.

I have lived in Alabama all of my life, and in the city of Birmingham since 1917. I am a housewife and a mother. Since 1924 I have been totally blind and have continued to lead a normal life, participating fully in the civic and social activities of my community. Therefore, I feel that I am in a position to understand and speak about the problems of blindness with some authority.

The Alabama Federation of the Blind, Inc., was organized and became a part of the national federation in 1941. In essence, the Alabama federation was a local organization of the Birmingham blind

until 1955, when chapters were organized in Mobile and Talladega Counties.

The Central Alabama chapter, headquartered in Montgomery, was organized in 1956. At the present time, our State organization has more than 275 members, and plans are actively going forward for the organization of 2 more chapters.

The members of the Alabama Federation of the Blind think of themselves not merely as members of isolated local chapters or as members of our State organization, but as members of the national organized blind movement.

I attended my first national convention in 1953 at Milwaukee. In 1954, I went to Louisville, and in 1957 I was a delegate at New Orleans. I was also a delegate in 1958 at Boston.

Our national conventions are attended by hundreds of blind persons from all over the United States. The give and take and the exchange of ideas at our national conventions are key factors in the strength of our national organization.

Alabama offers an excellent example of the kinds of harmony which can exist between agencies established to serve the blind and organizations of the blind.

Our Alabama Federation of the Blind is an independent organization. It is not subservient to our State agencies. Our State agencies are not subservient to us. Rather, we respect each other and work as partners to promote a joint cause, the improvement of conditions for the blind. At times we differ, but these occasions are rare. This cooperation between us and our State agencies is possible because our State agency officials have not taken the attitude that the blind should not have a voice in programs affecting them. They have recognized that both they and the blind are benefited if the blind speak for themselves and speak independently.

Let me give you an illustration of two of the kind of cooperative efforts I mean.

In November of 1957, our State federation convention was held in Montgomery. One afternoon we held a subnormal visual aids clinic. Almost every person present with any light perception was examined by a group of optometrists to see if he could benefit from the use of telescopic lenses or other aids. Here is where our rehabilitation agency took over. They agreed to purchase all aids needed and, thus, several blind persons have benefited. We could not have done the entire job. Neither could the rehabilitation agency. It took both of us working together.

Incidentally, as a result of the wide publicity given this project by the press throughout the State, we now have established a permanent subnormal visual aids clinic in the university hospital in Birmingham. It is an integral part of the medical college department of ophthalmology, and is so designed to serve patients referred by doctors over the entire State.

The Alabama Federation of the Blind and the rehabilitation agency both working together are responsible for having established this clinic.

Here is another example: Our State school for the blind is located in Talladega. After I became blind, I transferred from public high school to the school for the blind, and I was a student there from 1925

to 1928. The buildings were almost 100 years old and were shamefully inadequate.

Forty-four of us girls slept on the third floor of a building which was, to say the least, a fire hazard. Seven of us slept in one room and 37 of us slept in another. There was one small bathroom for the entire #girls. We had no closets, no dressers, no privacy. These same facilities and conditions still exist. I am glad to say they are changing, however.

In 1957, a $3 million bond issue referendum was passed by our State legislature to be voted on by the people at the general election in December of 1957. Our State organization did everything possible to support this bond issue. Many of us had lived at the school and knew firsthand the conditions there.

The night before the election, December 16, three trustees of the school, the president of the school, one former trustee, and I, as president of the organized blind of the State, appeared on a 30-minute television program, urging the enactment of this bond issue. It was a united effort. The president of the school talked about the needs as they existed, and I talked from the point of view of the person who had attended the school. I also talked as a spokesman of the State's organized blind citizens.

After the television program, the president of the school and I were on a 2-hour radio program answering questions concerning the school phoned in by the listening audience.

The next day the bond issue was passed about 5 to 1. We will soon have a new school. Again, I do not say the Alabama Federation of the Blind is solely responsible. We are not. Nor do I think the school officials are solely responsible. We worked together in a common cause and we were successful. There are many more projects which I could mention that our State organization is undertaking.

We are trying to educate the public to the fact that blindness is not the terrible and limiting factor that most people thing it to be. We are trying to help our own blind people to come to a new realization of what they can accomplish with proper opportunity and training. We are trying to bring about improvements in our State programs for the blind. The lives of the blind people in Alabama are being made better by the fact that we have an Alabama Federation of the Blind. If our State agencies were afraid to see us organize independently or even at times criticize their actions, all programs for the blind in Alabama would suffer, and the advancement of the blind would be greatly retarded.

Some States have not been as fortunate as we. In those States, the agencies have clung to the outmoded concepts and ideas, and not only the blind but the agencies as well have suffered in consequence.

This is why we feel it is essential that the bills protecting the right of the blind to organize be passed. When the agencies for the blind are willing to recognize the right of the blind to organize, and when the blind and agencies work cooperatively together and consult about common problems, the results are beneficial to all concerned, and it can be done. We have done it in Alabama.

Thank you.

Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much, Mrs. Hardenbergh. I am sure that your fine work in Alabama has been an inspiration to the