The Associated Blind of Massachusetts has worked long and hard for this reappointment and were responsible in great measure for the ultimate action of this reappointment. Blind men and women of all the States should have the same opportunity, Mr. Chairman, to organize and be consulted by the professional workers for the blind, as they have in many States and especially in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I sincerely hope this subcommittee, Mr. Chairman, will act favorably on these bills. I believe the programs for the blind in the Nation will benefit greatly with the administrators of these programs, consulting with the representative organizations of the blind on the formulation, and administration, and execution of programs designed to benefit the blind. For the views of the blind of America to be of worth, they must be arrived at freely. No blind person should be denied nor dissuaded nor prohibited from joining with others, possessing a similar disability. Mr. Chairman, and members of your subcommittee, your favorable action on these bills will, of course, assure this. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for giving me the privilege of testifying here this morning before your committee. Mr. ELLIOTT. May I express my thanks to you, Mr. Lane, for your kindness in coming this morning and testifying in behalf of your bill, H.R. 187, which is an identical bill with the one introduced by myself and by Mr. Baring of Nevada, and several others that are pending before the committee. Would you, Mr. Lane, endorse as well another group of bills that are before the committee that provide for the setting up of a commission to do a thorough study on the problems of the blind with a view toward working out such legislative programs as may be advisable to expand opportunities for the blind throughout America? Mr. LANE. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, for calling those bills to my attention. May I go on record as in favor of those, because I think action is long overdue to help and assist these blind people. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you very much. Mr. LANE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very, very much. Mr. ELLIOTT. The Chair is now happy to recognize the gentlewoman from Illinois, Mrs. Marguerite Stitt Church. STATEMENT OF HON. MARGUERITE STITT CHURCH, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF ILLINOIS Mr. ELLIOTT. Mrs. Church, we are happy to have you appear before our subcommittee. We regret the conditions are not what the people commonly call optimum these days, but I know the message you bring will be very fine and very helpful to us, and we thank you for coming. Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I thank you for letting me come. I wonder if you would let me add one word. As I sat here under conditions which you claim not to be the optimum, it occurred to me that perhaps meeting under such conditions was the greatest evidence that we could give of our interests in the subject which we have under discussion. I have felt inspired by the gathering, and very much urged on to meet the need. Mr. ELLIOTT. Thank you, Mrs. Church. Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I greatly appreciate the priviledge of appearing before this subcommittee in support of my own bill, H.R. 4793, which seeks to create a temporary Advisory Committee for the Blind. Knowing that there will be present many experts who wish to testify on the need for such legislation, my own testimony will be brief and succinct. The briefness of my testimony, however, is no indication of the depth and strength of my conviction that action of this nature will bring untold advantages to the blind and to the community. For many, many years I have been personally sympathetic to the problems of the blind. Although, Mr. Chairman, I did not include the fact in my statement. I felt here this morning, I would like to add the word that my own mother was blind during a considerable portion of her life, and her own courage and her own ability to make a full life for herself despite that handicap, has led me to feel that any paltry effort I might make would be, indeed, a mere expression of what is in my heart for the people who are so handicapped. It was, however, during the 82d and 83d Congresses, when I became so closely affiliated with organizations and individuals working in behalf of the blind, that I became fully aware of the steps that must be taken both to aid and to turn toward productive living those citizens handicapped by blindness. As a result of their cooperation, in the 83d Congress, at long last, the measure which I had introduced, the so-called fireworks bill, to ban the bootlegging of fireworks into States where the sale or use thereof was prohibited by State law, finally was passed and became Public Law 385. That law was a preventative measure against blindness. H.R. 4793, on the other hand, has been introduced in the hope that, from the committee study proposed, methods and measures might be developed which would prove beneficial to those already blind. As undoubtedly pointed out in previous testimony, there are, at the Federal levvel, numerous laws involving the blind, and a great many different agencies engaging in the administration of such laws. The same situation holds true in regard to various States and local communities. This wide variety of laws, as well as the great number of agencies involved, leads inevitably to duplication of effort, confusion, and inefficiency; and the actual benefits received therefrom by the blind are accordingly less than could be expected from the amount of labor and expense involved. H.R. 4793 would establish a temporary National Advisory Committee for the Blind for the purpose of investigation and study of the entire field of existing Federal, State, and local activities related to the granting of services to the blind, including the history and development of such activity. Such Committee, within a 2-year period after enactment of this legislation, would report to the President and to the Congress the results of their investigations and study, together with recommendations on how to achieve greater coordination of and more effective results from programs for the blind; how to attain maximum benefits for the blind; and other matters deemed appropriate by the Committee. The bill calls for a Committee of nine members in order to avoid the unwieldiness that might prove detrimental if the Committee were too large in number. Also, the expenses involved with a larger ComImittee would be much greater. Each of the nine members must be already familiar with work for the blind and shall be appointed by the President as follows: (1) One individual from the executive branch of the Federal Government. (2) One individual from the Senate of the United States. (3) One individual from the House of Representatives of the United States. (4) One individual from among officers and employees of the State governments. (5) One individual from a national association of professional workers with the blind. (6) One individual from a national organization of the blind. (7) One individual from a national research organization for the blind. (8) One individual from the field of education of the blind. Since the introduction of this bill, Mr. Chairman, it has come to my attention that many who share my interest in this problem feel that one member of the Committee should be an optometrist. If this committee so decides and amends the bill to substitute 11 members for the 9 presently specified in H.R. 4793, and with further provision that 1 of the 11 shall be an optometrist, I shall gladly accept the amendment. May I express the hope that the subcommittee and later the full Committee on Education and Labor will report out the measure to the House with recommendations for its prompt enactment by the Congress. Mr. ELLIOTT. Mrs. Church, I thank you very much for that fine statement in behalf of your bill, H.R. 4793, to create a temporary Advisory Commission for the Blind. I would like to ask this one question: Should we decide to increase the number of the Committee from 9 to 11, and include an optometrist as the 10th one, do you have suggestions as to whom we might include for the 11th? Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I am glad you asked that question. It occurred to me that perhaps to give the President the latitude of appointing one without direction might bring on to the Committee somebody of whom we might not think as falling into a specified field, but it might even be somebody, I suppose, from the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, but I didn't care to tie it down by putting a further restriction in the bill. Mr. ELLIOTT. You think it is important that the House and Senate be represented? Mrs. CHURCH. Mr. Chairman, I think there is an advantage in having a liaison between any committee that makes a study and the House and Senate that enacts legislation that may be called for. I have found in previous experience, for instance, that when the Hoover Commission recommendations came into the Committee on Government Operations, it was very valuable to have both Mr. Holifield and Mr. Brown who could trace the history of why something was asked. I think also, if I may say this with humility and modesty, that there is an advantage in putting a Member of the House and Senate on such a committee in that it might be possible to avoid certain pitfalls in the recommendations, because of the legislative knowledge and processes of those people who would be so appointed. Mr. ELLIOTT. The gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Lafore. Mr. LAFORE. I have no questions. I just want to thank Mrs. Church for an ably presented statement and a very informative one. Mrs. CHURCH. I thank the gentleman. I hope it expresses mainly my chief interest in seeing that this subcommittee which has proven its interest already will help us get further benefits for the blind. Mr. ELLIOTT. May I again thank you, Mrs. Church, for your kindness in presenting a very able statement. Mrs. CHURCH. Thank you for letting me come, Mr. Chairman. Again may I say I am glad the subject is in such able and sympathetic hands. Thank you. Mr. ELLIOTT. Mr. Phil Landrum, a Member of Congress from the State of Georgia, called me a while ago and told me that his subcommittees, or the two subcommittees on labor matters over which he customarily presides, will be in session shortly. He has a witness from his State that he would like to present to us. May I ask, in an effort to accommodate Mr. Landrum's time, that he present his witness. Then, Phil, if you care to, you can go ahead and we will hear the witness after you have presented him. STATEMENT OF HON. PHIL M. LANDRUM, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF GEORGIA Mr. LANDRUM. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At the outset may I state that I know of no Member of Congress in whose hands I would rather see the welfare of the blind citizens of our States, than the gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Elliott. Not only is he extremely sympathetic to all worthy causes affecting the welfare of our people in education and other phases, but he is particularly well qualified in other respects to be the principal advocate of this legislation on the floor of the House of Representatives. The respect he holds among his members will, I am sure, inure to the benefit of all those for whose benefit these bills have been introduced. The gentleman whom I come to speak to the committee about, who is from Georgia, is a former chairman of the Georgia Public Service Commission, presently a member of the Georgia Public Service Commission, and, for a longer time than I can recollect, has been prominently identified with the public affairs of our State of Georgia. He not only gives unyielding of his time to those suffering from blindness, as he, but he gives all of the balance of his time to the affairs of all of our citizens of the State of Georgia. I might say that none of them have suffered because of his service. He has been one who is able to look into the future on the needs of many of our utilities and transportation agencies, and all phases of our economy have benefited because of his service. You people are particularly fortunate to have him come here this morning and speak not only as to the particular provisions of the various bills before you, but to speak especially in the field of the needs of the blind people, and those needs as associated with the general economic needs of all of the people. It is a very happy privilege, and a distinct honor for me to be able to present my fellow Georgian, the Honorable Walter McDonald, to this committee. Mr. ELLIOTT. May I reply to what Mr. Landrum has said by saying that this subcommittee deeply appreciates his interest in the matters before the subcommittee, and, particularly, with respect to the two classes of bills that affect our blind people. We are happy to have you, Mr. Walter McDonald, testify for us at this time. I have had occasion to hear of the fine work you have been doing in Georgia over the period of many years. You, as a member of the : Public Service Commission of Georgia, certainly exemplify what many of us contend, that blind people are capable of accomplishing. We want to do whatever we can to see that, speaking for myselfhe and I am sure for every member of the subcommittee-we want to do whatever we can to see that opportunities for the blind are extended and developed in such a way as to be a maximum benefit to all the blind people of America. STATEMENT OF WALTER R. McDONALD, PRESIDENT, GEORGIA FEDERATION OF THE BLIND, DECATUR, GA. Mr. McDONALD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my friend, Mr. Landrum. As has been stated, my name is Walter R. McDonald. My address is the State Office Building, 244 Washington Street SW., Atlanta, Ga. Mr. ELLIOTT. How long have you been on the Public Service Commission? Mr. McDONALD. Since January 1, 1922, when I was elected for a 6-year term, and I have been reelected each succeeding 6 years. I was elected again just last year for another 6-year term. Mr. ELLIOTT. You have been elected so long that I can hardly calculate the number of terms. How many terms have you been elected for? Mr. McDONALD. I have been elected for six 6-year terms. Mr. ELLIOTT. And you have served, I am sure, longer than any member has ever served on the Public Service Commission of Georgia, or perhaps any other State. Mr. McDONALD. Yes; I have. I think I have the record of the United States. I served in my State legislature for three terms before going on the commission. After getting out of the University of Georgia I practiced law in my hometown of August actively. I might say a little further by personal accomplishment, if I am not extending a bit, I am past president of the National Association of Railroad & Public Utility Commissioners. That is the national association of State and Federal regulatory agencies. Since 1937 I have been reelected each year as president of our regional group, the Southeastern Association, and I had a part in organizing the Southern Governors' Conference and served as execu tive secretary in the beginning years. Since its beginning in 1937, I have served as its director in the freight-rate section. |