ample, the insect and disease control, fence construction, fire hazard reduction, road and trail construction and many others of these capital improvements.

My question to you, sir, was whether these projects are not also projects that the Agriculture Department has recommended for the Youth Conservation Corps to perform also.

Dr. SELKE. Oh, this is true, very definitely. You take for example, the fitting out of forests, for example, so that the straight trees may continue to grow, and so on. Releasing the overhead of the forest so that the trees that are coming up, you see, can grow. There is a lot of this work very definitely that under supervision and direction could be carried on by young men. Yes, you are right in regard to that. Mr. HARVEY. In other words, there is a duplication between

Dr. SELKE. There is some duplication here. Some work here very definitely could be carried on very successfully by young men on a youth conservation program, yes.

Mr. HARVEY. And that the Department of Agriculture has recommended in other testimony be carried on by a youth conservation corps, is that correct?

Dr. SELKE. Yes, that is true.

Mr. HARVEY. That is all the questions I had.

Mr. BLATNIK. Are there any further

Dr. SELKE. But I still wish to point out the emphasis in the youth program should be on youth-the emphasis in the youth conservation program should be on the youth. This program here would be upon the job of conservation, and that is singly and entirely.

Mr. HARVEY. Thank you.

Mr. BLATNIK. There would be duplication. There is plenty of room for a lot of work to be done, and obviously much of this work listed under the regular operating standing programs of the Department of Agriculture listed on page 2, much of that would be done by Youth Conservation Corps youth. Mostly, I think those would be in more inaccessible areas whereas the adult men who live near these Federal forest areas could be used in working on more accessible projects. It wouldn't really be duplication.

Dr. SELKE. As an old school dad, I would be derelict if I failed to point out the fact that a youth program should have its emphasis upon what it does for the youth, and secondly upon what it does for the forestry or conservation or anything else.

Mr. BLATNIK. Very true.

Mr. HARVEY. Well, Doctor, just let me add this, Mr. Chairman, a minute. Let me read to you a summary that was contained in one of the press services in connection with the Agriculture Department's summary of work to be performed by the Youth Conservation Corps, and here is what was said.

The work to be performed by the Youth Conservation Corps would include forest management, pest control, firefighting, bridge building, fence erection, and clearance of trails and minor roads.

Now, that is substantially the same as you have set forth on page 2 of your statement, is it not, sir?

Dr. SELKE. The names are the same but it is exactly as a person would say in the field of engineering. You would have a boy go out and grease a car but you wouldn't have him fix the accelerator or the carburetor or things of that kind. They are different levels.

Mr. HARVEY. That is all, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. BLATNIK. Thank you very much, Dr. Selke.

Dr. SELKE. You are welcome.

Mr. BLATNIK. And thank you, Mr. Brown and Mr. Hendee.

The hearings are adjourned for today until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning.

(Whereupon, at 4:20 p.m., the hearing was recessed, to reconvene at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 1962.)

(The following was furnished for insertion.)

STATEMENT OF THE ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS OF AMERICA, INC.

The Associated General Contractors of America supports H.R. 10113 and H.R. 10318, bills under consideration by the House Public Works Committee to give the President of the United States standby authority to accelerate Federal and federally aided public works programs, and to make Federal grants and loans for State and local improvements, whenever specified economic conditions warrant such actions. Attached is a copy of the resolution on this subject adopted by the 43d Annual Convention of the Associated General Contractors of America, Los Angeles, Calif., February 26 to March 1, 1962, which emphasizes the importance of orderly planning and execution of public works projects.

This organization endorses in principle a program which will prepare needed public works construction projects as a means for countering economic declines, and supports the amendment offered by the President to provide an additional $600 million for immediate use in labor surplus areas and redevelopment areas for the construction of needed public works projects. This association in the past has supported a variety of Federal programs designed to stimulate the construction of needed public facilities. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act provides ample evidence of the efficacy of construction grants in accelerating construction in the specialized area of sewerage treatment facilities. It is estimated that for every Federal dollar allocated, $4.80 is spent by the locality. The same powerful stimulus could be provided by the program of Federal grants contemplated under these proposals both the standby program and the program for immediate assistance to depressed areas.

Practically every community in this Nation is in need of a new public facility or has one requiring extensive repair. The provision of inducements to communities to meet these needs, while at the same time contributing to their economic growth, is a dual objective of a highly meritorious nature and should be supported.

This program could be particularly helpful in the distressed areas of this Nation. Cities in these areas passed oved by the general economic upturn under the immediate proposal could start meeting longstanding needs and also thereby make their communities more conducive to the industrial development required for more permanent growth and stability. At the same time, the unemployed in these areas would be provided employment while the basic redevelopment efforts are being undertaken.

In programs of this type, and in all public works construction, it has been proved that the best safeguard for public funds used for construction is by use of the contract method, after public advertising, competitive bidding and award to the lowest responsible bidder, and we urge that the public works of the type envisioned by these bills be performed by the contract method of construction.

We endorse this legislation and urge its speedy enactment.

"RESOLUTION ON PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMS

"Whereas it is recognized that in virtually every community in this Nation there is a need for capital improvement projects essential to public needs, and that where such programs exist they should be planned and constructed in an orderly manner: Now, therefore, be it

"Resolved by this 43d Annual Convention of the Associated General Contractors of America, That the Congress of the United States is hereby respectfully urged to enact legislation providing for orderly planning and execution of such programs."

STANDBY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1962

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1962

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS,

Washington, D.C.

The committee met, pursuant to recess, at 10:10 a.m., in room 1302, New House Office Building, Hon. George H. Fallon (presiding). Mr. FALLON. Ladies and gentlemen, the Committee on Public Works is meeting this morning in continuation of hearings on H.R. 10113 and H.R. 10318, known as the Standby Capital Improvements Act of 1962.

Our first witness this morning is our colleague in Congress, the Honorable Carl Perkins of Kentucky.

On behalf of the committee, I want to welcome you here this morning.

STATEMENT OF HON. CARL D. PERKINS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE SEVENTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF KENTUCKY

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

I first would like to compliment the Public Works Committee for going into this problem, and I think that I have some figures that are very revealing when I get to them in just a few moments, and I want to compliment the gentlemen for sponsoring H.R. 10317 and H.R. 10318.

I believe a bill which I introduced earlier in the session which was the Clark bill-it was first referred to Education and Labor, but because of the jurisdictional question, it was then referred to this committee-points up the interest that I have in this program. Only the day before yesterday I checked with one whom I consider the best expert in the State of Kentucky on the insured unemployment figures in the southern part of my district, the counties which are generally recognized as coal-producing counties where we have had a great depression for several years.

Now, in Pike County, the insured unemployment rate for February 1962 was 17.3, and the annual average for Pike County, Ky., which is a county of about 69,000 population, for the past 12 months is 18.7. This county's population went from 84,000 down to about 69,000 in the last biennial census that was taken, and today we have some 3,100 people drawing unemployment compensation in Pike County, Ky., and we have at least that many exhaustions, and we have some other

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we have some 6,000 people that are underemployed, so we have a total unemployment in Pike County of some 12,000 out of a population of 69,000.

Now, I think those figures can be defended anywhere, and we can take another county, another coal mining county, Perry County. The unemployment picture for February was 13.6. That is the insured unemployment rate. And for the annual average of 1961, 18.8.

Another coal-producing county, Letcher County, for February 1962, the insured unemployment rate was 11.6, and for the annual average for 1961 it was 11.1.

In the little county that I come from, of course, we have a low employment level there to gage from, because the real mines are all shut down in the county, but the figures for February show 39 percent, and for the annual average for 1961, 39.3.

Breathitt County, 46.2 percent for February 1962, and the annual average, 44.9.

Now, another large county that has got some of the best metallurgical coal in the whole world, is Floyd County, Ky.-Prestonburg is the county seat. For February the insured unemployment rate was 12.5, and for the annual average, 1961, for Floyd County, Ky., it was 13.

In Johnson County for February it was 15.6, and for the annual for 1961, the annual average, 18.5.

Magoffin County, with some mining, and their economy is primarily low farming, it was 52.2, the insured unemployment rate in February, and for the annual average it was 26.8.

Now, for Morehead-Olive Hill area, for February it was 24.6, and for the annual average, 1961, 20 percent.

In Rowan County it was 24.6 in February, and 21.3 throughout the year.

Carter County, 24.6, and throughout the year it was 19.1.

Now, the total of all these counties, the average unemployment rate for February was 17.2, and for the average annual for 1961, it was 17.7. But when you look at some of these figures that we've got down here from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing other unemployment in these various counties, some of the figures go a lot higher than that. That is considering the employment outside of covered employment, outside of the Railroad Retirement Act and teachers and municipal employees and insurance agents, and people of that type who were not covered when the employment office talked to these people, these employees. They have got a higher rate for other employment other than what I detailed to the committee.

Now, this to me simply means that the Government should take some action. In the district that I represent, HEW prepared a list of projects that could be completed under this bill within 12 months, and they have come up with a figure of $2,600,000. They gave me this list this morning. The party compiled that on sewage treatment facilities alone in these various county seats and in these areas where we have large unemployment.

Now, we are making some progress from the standpoint of flood control in eastern Kentucky, but we have been going mighty slow, but now we have some three or four reservoirs under construction in the Big Sandy section, but none of these reservoirs, flood control reser