May 3, 1978 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 12545 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS JIMMY LILE He made knives during his spare time dur­ in the final analysis, hinges on the U.S. abil­ ing those years. Some of those times were ity to increase doQ1estic energy production, lean, like the time he went broke as a gen­ a point the president and his advisers seem HON. BILL ALEXANDER eral contractor. totally blind to. OF ARKANSAS Instead of filing for bankruptcy, I paid it As for the natural gas portion of the plan IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES all back with interest---$164,000." specifically, the compromise agreement holds And he paid off his debts in the same way a special threat to Texas. It poses the entic­ Wednesday, May 3, 1978 he financed his college education-by mak­ ing posslblllty of deregulation of new gas ing knives. prices by 1985, a measure that would give • Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. Speaker, the Hts determination to repay his debts en­ incentive for new discoveries. fine art of knifemaking is alive and well deared him to the banks. When he needed But it also extends price regulation, mean­ in Arkansas in the form of one Jimmy a loan to start his knife-making venture, while, to the intrastate market. Texas has Lile of Russellville. Jimmy has achieved he had little trouble getting it. thrived on the unregulated gas market, worldwide fame from what once was a "They knew that if they kept me alive, which let prices rise, to be sure, but also hobby. Recently the Associated Press in I'd pay them back," Llle said.e offered the incentives necessary to assure a Arkansas ran a feature story on this supply of the precious fuel adequate to meet craftsman. I commend it to my col­ the demands of the growing Texas economy. leagues: Regulation in the intrastate market could TEXANS VIEW GAS FIGHT AS ECO­ mean an extension to Texas of the problems (By Jo Wheelan) NOMIC "ALAMO" that have plagued those who for yea.rs have RUSSELLVILLE, ARK.-Knife-maklng, which been depending on the controlled interstate evokes images of burly artisans sweating market-insufficient supplies, loss of indus­ over backwoods forges, seems to fit Jimmy HON. OLIN E. TEAGUE try, loss of Jobs. Llle, a white-haired, affable man with work• OF TEXAS Another Joker in the gas deregulation scarred hands. deck ls the presidential authority for allo­ Aided by two assistants in a shop Just off IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVF.S cation of supplies in an emergency. One his Russellville, Ark., kitchen, Lile, 44, earns Wednesday, May 3, 1978 point the man on the street must realize a comfortable llving, and has achieved ls that allocating fuels means allocating the worldwide fame from what once was a hobby. e Mr. TEAGUE. Mr. Speaker, it is im­ industry that depends on those fuels. And Owners of Jimmy Lile knives include King portant for others to know and under­ allocating industry means allocating Jobs. Carl Gustav IV of Sweden and former Presi­ stand that many Texans will continue to The bill contains assurances that such dent Richard Nixon. Two Lile creations-a :fight against the so-called agreed plan allocation would be done only in cases of Bowie knife and an Arkansas "toothpick," a which purports to deregulate prices for "genuine emergency." In practice, however, long fighting knife-share a spot among the such matters tend to be handled on the U.S. Bicentennial memorabllla. new gas by 1985, but would do it by ex­ basis of political expediency rather than eco­ The knife blades are ground in the Llle tending regulations in the meantime. nomic necessity. workshop from long, slender bars of a metal I call your close attention to a force­ In other words, the gas-and the indus­ known as D2, which ls mostly iron and ful editorial on that subject from a try and the Jobs--may be expected to flow in chromium, with some carbon and molyb­ recent issue of the Fort Worth Star­ the direction of the most votes. denum. After being heat-treated in an elec­ Telegram. The editorial was accompa­ In the gas deregulation bill (actually a tric furnace, the blades are sharpened to a nied by an effective cartoon which pic­ misnomer, since for the time being it ac­ fine edge on hard Arkansas and Ouachita oil­ tured artillery-labeled "National En­ tually regulates more gas, intrastate as well stone, stone so ha.rd that diamond saws are as interstate), the boost of the controlled used to cut it. ergy Policy"-manned by "the North­ price to $1.75 from the present $1.42 would He fashions the knife handles out of ivory east" and pointed directly at an Alamo be slightly and temporarily beneficial in taken from elephant tusks, India stag antler, style fortress-labeled "Texas Econ­ stimulating production. wood and German sliver. Then come the omy". But the price of the short-term benefit, frllls: exquisitely carved tigers, quall and The Star-Telegram editorial: in terms of the long-range detriment to folio-like etchings of old-time hunting GAS BILL COULD BE "ALAMO" progress toward a real solution to the energy scenes. crisis, promises to be indeed exorbitant. His most recent innovation ls a. pocket­ For the man on the street, the inclination knife that locks open and shut with a muted may be to greet with a sigh of relief the Politically, the gas agreement may be a cllck. He's trying to patent it. A pocket­ House-Senate conference committee's agree­ victory for President Carter. Indeed, it seems knife with two blades that lock open and ment on a natural gas deregulation plan. to have been awarded to him by the con­ shut wlll be introduced in two years, he says. The tendency ls to feel that now, at least, we ferees as a sort of birthday present one year Much of Lile's work is made-to-order; some will have an energy program. from the date of his presentation of n1s he sells at handicraft shows. But that's a mistaken attitude for any energy package to Congress. Llle's cutlery sells for up to $5,500, and it man on the street, and particularly if he ls on But for Texas and Texans, it may well be can be found displayed in the showcases of a street in Texas or one of the other gas and an economic Alamo. The best hope for the noblllty, concealed in the boots of law en­ oll producing states. state's economic future, at any rate, would forcement officers and airline pilots and The basis of the mistake ls the assumption be for its representatives in Congress, its dangling from the belts of hunters. that Just any old energy program ls better leaders a.t home and all its citizens to keep Nixon was given a Llle Bowie knife by the than none at all. That, in turn, ls based up the fight on· the cha.nee that it may be late Sen. John McClellan, D-Ark., to com­ on the belief that any program would get us followed by a San Jacinto.e memorate the completion of the Arkansas on the road, however haltingly, toward a River Navigation System, a project that solution to the nation's energy problems. opened up Arkansas and Oklahoma to heavy Those are false beliefs and assumptions. shipping. The Carter energy program-it enacted in COMMEMORATION OF POLISH CON­ A friend of King Carl Gustav ordered a full with its federal controls, allocation au­ STITUTION DAY pearl-handled pocketknife for the Swedish thority and crude oil tax-would be in es­ sovereign. sence an abandonment of the principles of But Lile isn't one to rest on his laurels. free enterprise that have been the secret HON. BARBARA A. MIKULSKI Out of the shop off the Lile kitchen come up of this nation's prosperity. It would strl-p OF MARYLAND to 500 knives a year. away incentives for exploration and produc­ "I call it a family operation. I try to keep tion of energy resources while, at the same IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES it small and efficient," Lile says. He says that's time, forcing the consumer to pay higher Wednesday, May 3, 1978 why he ls successful. prl~es for the energy available due to the It wasn't always that way, though. Until added taxes. • Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. Speaker, I would eight years ago, when he became a full-time The long-term result of these policies would like to take this opportunity to com­ knife-maker, Lile was a teacher, coach, gen­ be to yield no J:rogress toward reducing im­ memorate the Polish May Third Consti­ eral contractor and construction superin­ ports of foreign oll and bolstering the tution of 1791. The entire history of tendent. dwindling value of the dollar. Such progress, Poland and particularly the May Third Statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor will be identified by the use of a "bullet" symbol, i.e., • 12546 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS May 3, 1978 Constitution of 1791 stand as enduring we must remain eternally vigilant to in­ worldwide commitment for the further tributes to the unswerving dedication of sure these rights for ourselves so this development of solar energy. the Polish people to the principles of Nation may continue to serve as the I am happy to announce that 1n freedom, justice, equality, social prog­ symbol of hope for oppressed peoples ev­ Puerto Rico we are today unveiling a ress, and individual liberty.