Senator HUMPHREY. As I understand your testimony, first of all the Federal Government owns sizable areas of lands in the district. Mr. PATTEN. Eighty-two percent of the State of Arizona is national forest or Indian reservation which is not taxable.

Senator HUMPHREY. Which depletes the sources of revenue.

Mr. PATTEN. Particularly in school districts where there are forests. You take 82 percent of any State and make it tax-free, and a heavy burden is placed on the other 18 percent.

Senator HUMPHREY. Then you have an increase in school bonded indebtedness of 633 percent?

Mr. PATTEN. That is the maximum of one school. Some of them have bonded themselves out of proportion, but it varies with different schools. In that community there is a possibility of a permanent economy. But in these that do not have as good a permanent economy back of them, based upon cotton or an air base, or something like that, there is difficulty in building the schools needed.

Senator HUMPHREY. In other words, you are concerned about the lack of stability of some of these economic assets, for example, what may happen to your cotton production if there is a curtailment of the quota, and what may happen to this Air Force facility in case it should be cut out; jobs would be taken away and the community left without the ability to man its schools.

Mr. PATTEN. Another thing. If we do not get the Boyce Canyon Dam built in central Arizona to supplement the water supply the entire economy is going to fall apart.

Senator HUMPHREY. It sounds as if you have difficult problems there.

Mr. PATTEN. That is why we are so desperate on the central Arizona project which directly or indirectly affects our schools.

The farmers on established farm acreage now do not know how long they are going to be there. We do not have enough irrigation to take care of the properties, the water level keeps going down, and the point is reached where some of those farmers have to pump water 250 feet. It is rather expensive to pump unless there is cheap power. We have to have cheap power for the water, and we need both. If we can get

this it will take care of our schools.

Senator HUMPHREY. There are some areas then where Federal Government activity is really needed.

Mr. PATTEN. That is right.

Senator HUMPHREY. I am sometimes impressed by the argument that the Federal Government is encroaching too much in some of the States' areas, but it seems that on every committee I am on, somebody has a problem: Unless this river is dammed up, the lands reclaimed, or a harbor developed, or unless they have a school, they are just going to be in tough shape.

Mr. PATTEN. Of course, the encroachment occurred when the Government took the 82 percent of the land, and we are now trying to get even.

Senator HUMPHREY. I am very happy that you could come this morning, and we appreciate your contribution to the hearing.

Mr. PATTEN. Thank you.

Senator HUMPHREY. I see we are privileged to have our distinguished friend from West Virginia here, Senator Neely. We are happy you could make it, Senator Neely, and we will be glad to have you proceed.

STATEMENT OF HON. MATTHEW M. NEELY, A UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA

Senator NEELY. Mr. Chairman, everything has a genesis, and S. 287 is certainly no exception. It was born of the hope that our children may be given an opportunity to obtain the essentials of at least an elementary education; it has been fostered by a fervent desire to erase one of the darkest stains upon our national life. For in this great democracy, to which the whole world looks for leadership, there are literally millions of American children of elementary and secondary school age who, although required by law to attend school, are herded into school buildings so obsolete, overcrowded, and inadequate as to endanger their lives and limbs and render it impossible for them to obtain the priceless heritage of an adequate education. Although we give lip service to the view of Horace Mann that "the foundation of every State is the education of its youth," we are, within the next 10 years, faced with such a shortage of proper school facilities that, unless some corrective action is taken immediately, an estimated 8 to 9 million children will be deprived of the opportunity to obtain elementary education. In an authoritative study on the Forty-eight State School Systems, just published by the Council of State Governments, appears this summary of findings (p. 108):

School plant deficiencies which were rather serious before the war in many States and communities have become much more acute during recent years because of deferred construction and rapidly increasing enrollments. In 1937-38 the average school plant value ranged from approximately $100 per pupil in three States to more than $500 in two States. By 1947-48 the range in average value per pupil had increased rather than decreased.

Estimates submitted by 42 of the 48 States indicate that at least 298,895 new classrooms and related facilities should be constructed in those States during the next 5 years. The amount estimated by all States except Virginia for school plant construction during this period is $7,595,120,000. Information from other sources indicates that the estimates submitted by a number of States are probably too conservative.

Bureau of Census estimates indicate that in 10 years there will probably be at least 7,500,000 more children in grades 1-12 of the public schools than are now enrolled. To provide facilities for these children, to provide for additional kindergarten and junior college needs and to replace obsolete and inadequate facilities will probably require about 450,000 additional classrooms during this period. It would seem, therefore, that at least $9,000,000,000 and probably as much as $11,250,000,000 will be needed for school plant facilities within the next 10 years. This does not include the amount which will be required to pay interest and carrying charges on the school bond issues which will be necessary in many situations.

The study by the Council of State Governments tells part of the shocking story of our Nation's school needs in terms of cold, undramatic statistics. Let us pause for a moment to translate some of these dry figures into things that we can actually see. Here are a few pictorial examples of some of the abominable conditions that exist in this country with respect to elementary and secondary school buildings. (These exhibits were prepared by the Federal Citizens Committee on Education, a lay group advisory to the Commissioner of Education):

And here are the exhibits:

Here first are pictures of schoolrooms in my native State of West Virginia. I wish the chairman particularly would look, for instance, at this shack that is in the middle of this picture.

Here is a building that is being used for school purposes in my State at the present time.

Here is a room that indicates the conditions of one of the better schoolrooms, that is, better in comparison to the first to which I have invited attention.

Here is one that indicates a means of escape should there be a fire in this two-story school building. These outside ladders indicate the hazards the children would have to take in order to escape from that second floor in case of fire.

But you will note that before you get through with the exhibits these facilities in West Virginia, inadequate as these pictures demonstrate them to be, are almost palatial in comparison to what will appear on some of these other charts.

Next are some California school plants which manifestly should be replaced. It is impossible to translate into the spoken word the revelations made by these pictures, but I ask the chairman to note the facilities such as this to which I now am calling his attention, the hazards to the health of children who are obliged to use this sort of facility to meet the demands of nature daily. It tells its own story here better than words could possibly describe it. It is a disgrace to the civilization of any State or any great nation to maintain or permit such hazards to the life and the health of the growing children of this Nation as these pictures show.

Next, Mr. Chairman, is a picture that portrays conditions in Arlington County, Va., just across the Potomac River from the Nation's Capital. These again speak for themselves.

Particular attention is invited to the heating plant shown on the lower left of this exhibit. And under this is printed: "This heating plant is in a deep cellar under a combustible school building.'

Is there any parent here who would want a 6- or 7-year old child of his or hers to be exposed to a hazard like that, confined in a schoolroom of combustible material above a heating plant like that from morning to night? I think not.

Next your attention is invited to exhibits showing schoolrooms for both white and colored children in the State of South Carolina. I hope, Mr. Chairman, that you will observe the overcrowded condition of these classrooms. You will notice that in both the white and the colored schools the children actually, so far as their positions with reference to one another are concerned, look more like sardines in a can than children provided with a decent place in which to try to acquire an education.

The exhibit to which we now invite your attention shows some conditions in the State of Georgia with reference to schools. This particularly has reference to Screven County, Marion County, and Savannah. I have no intention of slandering the State of Georgia, but I submit, Mr. Chairman, that there are buildings shown here that are being used for school purposes which in half of the States in the Union would not be permitted to be used for the care and keeping of wild animals.

We might just as well face the facts. There are many, many other States in the Union in which there are isolated cases in which conditions are just as frightful as they are in the State of Georgia. I am not pointing out this exhibit because I mean to indicate it is the worst,

because it is not. I am using it, though, as an impressive exampleimpressive from the standpoint of the examples we are showing here through these various charts-that something must be done by the Federal Government if the present generation of children is to be expected to develop into the kind of citizenship that the United States Senate and the House of Representatives and all the other agencies of government are supposed to be interested in giving to this great Nation and the world. That is the most priceless of all blessings.

You will please look at these pictures, Mr. Chairman, which reveal conditions in Prince Georges County, Md., the State which largely surrounds the District of Columbia.

I think this outhouse especially should be noted. And the crowded condition of the school shown in this photograph. This school is occupied by colored children exclusively.

Then here are other pictures which show overcrowded condition of schoolrooms for white children. For instance, here are pictured 52 fifth grade children in this room, and how large do you suppose it is? It is 28 feet long and 22 feet wide, and there are 52 children in it, struggling and striving for an education.

Will you also notice in this second picture from the top on the left— (reading):

This is the only drinking and washing facility for a combination elementary and high school.

That is in the State of Maryland just across the line from the District of Columbia in which the Nation's Capital is situated.

And look at the library which is doing double duty in Prince Georges County as a schoolroom, doing double duty for a library and also for use as a classroom because of the lack of indispensable facilities that make it possible to give these children a chance.

The last of our exhibits shows conditions of school facilities in the State of Alabama. I ask you to look at this cabin at the upper right of this exhibit and let your conscience be your guide in answering the inquiry: Would you be willing to stable a horse or an ox in Minnesota in that shack? I feel you would not.

And look at this schoolroom. If we had no legend to tell us what this building is for, no one would ever think of guessing that it could be used for any purpose unless it would be to shelter some sort of broken down machinery or something inanimate. Nobody would think of putting lower animal life in a shack like that.

But Alabama and Georgia and many other Southern States cannot possibly, try as they may, be as patriotic as they may be, provide the necessary facilities, facilities that are indispensable to the making of educated self-supporting representative men and women of their children. These States are too poor to do it. It is utterly impossible without Federal aid for those States to have decent school facilities.

Senator HUMPHREY. We are very indebted to you, Senator Neely, for those exhibits, and I hope they will be preserved because I think they will be very helpful in portraying what the nature of this problem is.

I want to thank you for a very constructive presentation. Senator NEELY. Although not all of the 48 States are covered in these exhibits, I have been assured that conditions like these can be found in virtually every State in the Union.