Dr. Robert R. Hudelson, Chairman, Dean Emeritus, University of Illinois - II. Industries For Rural Areas Harllee Branch Jr., Chairman -- President, The Southern Company (Utilities), -III. Forests and Forest Products -- and Rural Development Panel: Vance Miles, Jr., Manager, Division of Forestry, Gulf States Paper Corp., Ala. Dr. Maurice K. Goddard, Sect., Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters Moderator: Dr. Richard E. McArdle, Chief, U. S. Forest Service - IV. Youth Organizations and Boys and Girls Clubs and Rural Development Howard McClarren, Chairman - Chairman, Inter-organization Committee on Programs for Rural Youth, and Director, Youth Education, American Institute of Cooperation Frank W. Suggitt, Head, Resource Development Department, Michigan State 7:30 Dinner (Participants are asked to continue discussions and develop suggestions while at dinner) O. Hatfield Chilson, Chairman - Under Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior The Role of Churches and Religious Organizations in Rural Development-- Rt. Rev. Msgr. Luigi G. Ligutti, Executive Director, National Catholic Rural Dr. Richard O. Comfort, Executive Director, Department of Town and Country After the Evening Program The Under Secretaries, Administrator, and those on the program would like to meet participants in the Conference. vii 9:00 9:30 10:20 11:10 12:00 12:30 James T. O'Connell, Chairman- Under Secretary, U.S. Department of Labor Some Experiences of FAO's Member Nations in Rural Development Ambassador B. R. Sen, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy Banks and Rural Development--Hon. Charles N. Shepardson, Member, Wendell Barnes, Chairman-Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration How Chambers of Commerce and Businesses and Professional People Can Help in Rural Development William A. McDonnell, President, U.S. Chamber of Commerce How Editors and Communications Media Are Vital to Rural Development Pro- Lunch (Participants are asked to continue discussions and develop suggestions while at lunch) VI. The Role of Vocational Education in the Rural Development Program Panel: Merle H. Tucker, Trustee, Kiwanis International Clifford D. Pierce, Past President, Lions International VIII. Natural Resource Conservation and Development Herbert Eagon, Chairman, Ohio Department of Natural Resources IX. Transportation, Power, and Communications--and Rural Development of American Railroads X. Health and Nutrition--Hospitals, Clinics, etc. Aubrey D. Gates, Chairman Executive Director, Council on Rural Committee for RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM, Washington, D. C. James T. O'Connell, Under Secretary, Department of Labor Edward Foss Wilson, Assistant Secretary, Department of Health, Educ. & Welfare Dr. Joseph S. Davis, Member, Council of Economic Advisers Dr. Harry J. Reed, Coordinator for RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ADDRESSES DELIVERED AT THE CONFERENCE The following addresses were delivered at the general sessions of the Conference. In order to save space, some have been condensed for reprinting in the proceedings. However, in all cases the wording of the address is used. Morning Session, June 16 Walter Williams, Under Secretary, U. S. Department of It is a privilege to open this Conference on the Rural Development Program. This Conference is unique in at least two respects: First of all, in the participation of so many recognized leaders from so many different fields of national endeavor. And, second, in the broad scope of the issues to be considered, which range all the way from industrial development in rural areas through long-range conservation to improved health conditions. Our being here today representing so many organizations and interests is positive proof that "rural" is no longer synonymous with "agricultural", that people in farming areas are confronted with the same complex issues that face our cities--how to educate the children better, how to provide jobs off the farm on a part time or full time basis and how to pay for needed community facilities. From the very start of the Rural Development Program, President Eisenhower has shown a direct and continuing interest in our work. Only last week, he took time out from his busy schedule, filled with so many complex and enormous national and international issues, to consider our plans for this meeting and to voice once again his support of this program. Let me quote from his statement, after meeting last Thursday with Under Secretary Morse and Dr. Harry Reed: The President said, "I want all those who will be participating in the Conference on the Rural Development Program in Memphis on June 16th and 17th-as well as the hundreds of other citizens giving leadership to the program-to know how grateful I am for all their work and leadership. They especially have the gratitude of farm people who see in these efforts new opportunities ahead for higher incomes and better living." In a series of statements over the past few years, President Eisenhower has voiced similar interest in this program--and a deep appreciation of the efforts being put forth by private citizens and agency workers to make Rural Development a success. It was the President's request early in 1954 that special attention be given to the problems of rural people with low incomes which touched off the extensive research and planning leading to the Rural Development Program. It was his letter to the Congress in 1955 stating that "we must open wider the doors of opportunity to our million and a half farm families with extremely low incomes" which encouraged the development of a program for lowincome rural areas. And it was President Eisenhower's agricultural message to Congress this year which set the stage for a more vigorous effort on the part of all participating agencies and groups to push this extremely important national program. The Rural Development Program, the President said in January "is widening opportunities for those rural people on the lower rungs of the economic ladder it has already achieved much and with the increased emphasis planned for the coming year, progress promises to be more rapid in the future." In the light of the President's interest and concern for solutions to the complex, deep-seated problems of our underdeveloped rural areas, we here at this conference have an opportunity to make a significant contribution by taking a good, hard look at the issues involved and suggesting realistic, practical solutions. At the onset of our deliberations permit me to cite a few facts about our changing rural areas that, I suggest, we must keep in the forefront during our two days of work. You may have heard these before, but I repeat them because of their importance to the formulation of sound recommendations: --Fifty-six percent of our farmers produce only nine percent of the nation's marketed agricultural products. Programs designed to assist commercial farmers do not meet the practical needs of this majority of our farm people. --An increasing proportion of income on our farms is derived from industrial jobs, pensions, and other off-farm sources. At present more than 30 percent of the income of farm families comes from sources other than the production of their farms. --During the next decade, employment of farm workers and farmers will decrease about 15 percent, according to U. S. Department of Labor projections. In other words, the long-term trend of our farm population will continue downward. --In many, many low-income rural areas, there are four, five, or more young men coming to maturity for every single opportunity in farming. It is estimated that some 70 percent of young people growing up in all our rural areas will not farm. But, at present, only about one-third of the high schools in the nation have employment guidance programs in cooperation with State employment service offices. And, note this, these are almost entirely city schools. These facts simply point up some of the problems of this Conference as well as the need for it. The main thing is that the solution to these problems will not be found in a purely agricultural approach. I refer to problems of off-farm income, non-farm opportunities for rural youth, new educational approaches and the development of small industry and recreational opportunities. That is why this Conference is made up of people with a diversity of interests, talents, backgrounds and associations. The rural, low-income problem is not susceptible to a single simple solution. Perhaps out of the diversity of talent represented here we can come up with some new ideas or ways of approaching many of those long-standing problems which refuse to be licked by the passage of time alone. At any rate, let's go into this conference uninhibited by traditional approaches to these problems; let's not hesitate to express our own particular viewpoint for that is why we are here; and let's see if out of these group discussions we can come up with some new and promising ways of getting the job done. Let me repeat that none of us knows all the answers, and that only through the free, whole-hearted participation of each of you in this Conference will the conference become a worthwhile one. Welcome to Memphis Samuel B. Hollis, Executive Assistant to Conference on Rural Development Program True D. Morse, Under Secretary, U. S. Department of This national conference logically follows the many "grass roots" and regional meetings which have taken place throughout the Nation during the last three years. From the Pacific Northwest to Florida and from Maine to the southwestern States, local leaders have been organizing the type of Rural Development Programs which are best adapted to local conditions and needs. Now follows this Conference of outstanding local, State and national leaders to determine how their organizations and citizens generally can be |