10400 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD - SENATE May 8 and in a lot of other things. We must now ness. The Hospital Insurance Act of 1964 of high school 10 years from now and will turn our attez:.tton to our own affairs." now pending before the Ways and Means be a candidate for the job corps for which R .R. 10440, now pending before this com­ Committee is this administration's answer future Congresses wm be called upon to ap­ mittee, is a good beginning. Aptly, it is to the particular needs of this group. propriate money. named the Economic Opportunity Act of The fourth category of people are those I call your attention to an article in the 1964 because this puts the proposition in a whose lot is inextricably linked to a geo­ May 1964, issue of Harper's magazine. It is positive way. We intend a war against graphical area which is economically de­ entitled "Give Slum Children a Chance: A poverty not just in the sense of relief or a pressed. One answer to this group ts the Radical Proposal." This article ts taken welfare program, but in the creation of op­ extension of the Area Redevelopment Act from a book to be published by Random portunity in this country for some 35 mil­ which has been reported by my Committee House called "Crisis in Black and White." lion persons who can afford neither adequate on Banking and Currency and is now pend­ The author is Mr. Charles E. Silberman. food nor ad.equate clothing, nor adequate ing in the Rules Committee. Mr. Silberman is a member of the board of housing. We must also have Federal aid for the de­ editors of Fortune magazine and a lecturer H.R. 10440 is titled "A Bill To Mobilize the velopment of mass transportation facilities in economics at Columbia University. Mr. Human and Financial Resources of the Na­ in urban centers. Silberman points out: tion To Combat Poverty in the United Another answer to a major geographical "The root of the problem, educationally, States." But the bill must not stand alone. area poverty problem is the President's Ap­ is that the slum child does not learn to read The war must be fought on at least five palachian program. properly in the first two grades. Whether fronts if we are to succeed in accomplishing The fifth major category are citizens of because of this reading disability alone, or its road objectives. It will involve a five­ minority groups subjected to discrimination. because of ditll.culty in handling abstract fron war, with legislation pending not only One answer to this group is the Civil Rights concepts that stem from independent causes, before this, but also before other committees Act and particularly title VII thereof passed the slum child falls further and further be­ of the Congress. by the House of Representatives and now hind after the third grade; the gap widens, First let us dispose of one myth, the poor being debated in the other body. and his IQ actually declines. His failure to are not poor because they want to be. Some The common thread running through each read properly affects a lot more than his there may be who find that our free enter­ of the five foregoing categories is that each school work. It has a profound impact on prise system is not sutll.ciently challenging one of them has one or more handicaps -how he regards himself and consequently and who prefer to eke out a bare subsistent which make it more ditll.cult for them to on how he regards school. Poor reading skill existence. However, the overwhelming ma­ participate fully in the free enterprise at the start is the major cause of school drop­ jority are those who, because of various dis­ system. outs and subsequent unemployment." advantages, find the challenge of the free Worst of all, these handicaps tend to be Mr. Silberman says: enterprise system to be excessive. handed on from parents to the children. "Nothing less than a radical reorganiza­ If we look at these groups and their par­ The uneducated father tends to be poor tion of American elementary education 1s ticular disadvantages, we will know how to and live in a slum, bringing up his children necessary, therefore, if the schools are to be­ fight the five-front war against poverty. in a home environment which does not con­ gin to discharge their obligation to teach Some programs are underway or under tribute to the educational process. At the the Negro and white slum youngsters. To consideration for these groups. With this same time and to our shame, the schools in reverse the effects of a starved environment legislation in perspective, let us see how . it ~ such a neighborhood tend to be well below the schools must begin admitting children all fits into the entire picture. average and, thus, the vicious cycle repeats at the age of 3 or 4, instead of at 5 or 6. The I think of five major groups who have un­ itself. nursery school holds the key to the future-­ usual barriers against full participation in The new and exciting thing about this but a very different kind of nursery school our economy. First, the young and under­ legislation is that, with its emphasis on from the one most Americans are familiar educated. Their unemployment rate 1s young people, it recognizes that the greatest with." double that for the population generally. challenge is to break these patterns of I recommend that the members of this We have some programs such as aid to edu­ poverty which occur generation after gen­ committee give careful cons,ideration to Mr. cation and the Vocational Educational Act eration. Silberman's proposals. In fact, I believe that for the young, but something radically new I believe it was this objective that the a highly profitable study could be made of is needed because our entire educational President had in mind when in his poverty the pilot programs upon which Mr. Silber­ system is based on the assumption that it message he said, "the years of high school man bases his proposals. would take place in a middle-class commu­ and college age are the most critical stage of If we can prevent the problem from devel­ nity where a great deal of the process of edu­ a young person's life. If they are not helped oping, we can cut down or eliminate the Job cation is carried on at home. In the case of then, many will be condemned to a life of Corps in the future and know with reason­ a young person whose parents are poor and poverty which they, in turn, will pass on to able assurance that we have broken the pat­ uneducated and who lives in rural or urban their children." That is the real meaning of tern of poverty. slums, the basic assumption 1s false. The the President's recommendation for the It seems to me that the war on poverty Housing and Community Development Act creation of a Job Corps, a work-training program which Mr. Sargent Shriver has put of 1964 will help to eradicate slums and im­ program and work-study program. together for the President and unfolded be­ prove the environment in which our young These proposals are excellent and I cer­ fore Congress, reflects realistic, workable, and people are growing up; but other programs tainly urge the committee to support them. indeed conservative economic principles. directed specifically toward this problem are However, I also urge the committee to The United States has been hailed for our needed. consider, at least on a pilot project basis, a generosity to people in need in all parts of The second group are the middle aged who program of special assistance to primary the world. The Amert-can people have given a.re either untrained or whose skills have schools located in our poorest neighborhoods. generously of their resources as a matter of been shot out from under them either by It is in these schools that Johnny learns or responsibility. This same sense of responsi­ automation or other technical change. The does not learn to read. Because Johnny re­ bility makes a demand upon the national Manpower Retraining and Development Act ceives less reading assistance at home, these conscience that cannot be ignored. is a possible answer to the problems of this schools should be above average, and yet Our response to this problem of poverty group. we all know too well that they are usually amidst plenty must come from the heart. The third group are our older citizens and at the bottom of the educational ladder. It must spring from conviction. It must particularly those whose life savings have The 6-year-old today who is not learning be intelligent. It must be comprehensive. been, or may be, wiped out by disastrous 111- properly how to read will have dropped out America should not settle for less. are fulfilled. That He is our strength, THE JOURNAL SENATE our purity, and our wisdom, we are grate­ On request by Mr. HUMPHREY, and by ful. We pray Thy wisdom, Thy strength, FRIDAY, MAy 8, 1964 unanimous consent, the reading of the Thy purity of motives, and Thy leader­ Journal of the proceedings of Thursday, <Legislative day of Monday, March 30, ship, this day, upon the Senate, as it has May 7, 1964, was dispensed with. 1964) the awesome responsibility of leading a great people. We thank Thee for this The Senate met at 10 o'clock a.m., on Nation, and we humbly ask that her peo­ MESSAGE FROM THE HOUSE the expiration of the recess, and was ple may ever compose the land of the A message from the House of Repre­ called to order by the Acting President free.