Mr. WIER. Our municipality, like 500 more cities of similar size, has this problem of relief. On the rolls of relief a good percentage of illness and disability is in the picture. Under your proposed program here I notice, if it is carried through, you will probably give the city of Minneapolis some relief in this respect. All persons on relief are entitled to and are given medical care, and having no resources, of course they are sent to our municipal hospital, where many are there for a considerable time, which is quite a burden on the hospital.

I see here in your paper it is your intention to make it possible so that those people will not have to be shifted onto public expense, or a municipal cost.

Mr. BELSLEY. This bill would considerably relieve, though not abolish, that situation. Certain proposals have been made in connection with the public assistance bill that is now being considered by the Ways and Means Committee for public assistance to the severely handicapped, which is something quite separate from the vocational rehabilitation aspect of it, but there is no doubt that these provisions in H. R. 5577 would contribute to the relief of that situation.

Mr. WIER. We want to thank you for your informative presentation. Mr. KELLEY. We have with us our colleague, Mr. Potter, of Michigan. We should be glad to hear you at this time, Mr. Potter. STATEMENT OF HON. CHARLES E. POTTER, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN

Mr. POTTER. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, my statement is very brief. I do wish to commend you and the committee for holding hearings on the several bills that you have before you and I wish particularly to commend the chairman for his work in behalf of the physically handicapped; not only his present efforts but his efforts in the past. I knew of Mr. Kelley's work long before I came to Congress.

After my discharge from the Armed Services in July 1946, I was employed by the Retraining and Employment Administration, headed by General Erskine. In connection with my employment, I became rather intimately acquainted with the work being done for the handicapped people of our Nation. I might add that I came to have great respect for the sincerity, resourcefulness, and enthusiasm of the people who work in behalf of our handicapped. The employees of the StateFederal programs of vocational rehabilitation, the Veterans' Administration, and the private rehabilitation agencies are due the gratitude of all of us for their effective service, often with totally inadequate financial reward.

Despite the great progress that programs for the handicapped have made during recent years, I am of the definite opinion that additional legislation is needed if we are to fulfill our total responsibilities to the handicapped. Let me emphasize that what we do for our handicapped we really do for our Nation, since every rehabilitated citizen adds strength to the economic and social fiber of our Nation. I was, therefore, glad to be one of the sponsors of H. R. 5370, which is now before this committee.

Without going into great detail, this bill will encourage the development of programs for the home-bound disabled, the blind, and other severely disabled. It will encourage the establishment of badly needed

rehabilitation centers and workshops for the severely disabled. It will make possible additional research in this important field and will assist in the training of personnel for work with the disabled. These purposes are accomplished by providing for Federal participation in financing these activities, following in general the financial pattern already established for rehabilitation, that is, Federal reimbursement for 100 percent of administration and guidance and 50 percent of other services to clients.

This additional legislation is designed to fit into Public Law 113, the present legal basis for the rehabilitation program. States may or may not add the additional services, as their needs require.

The whole program is, of course, to be administered by the Federal Security Agency, the only logical place, in my judgment, for a program with educational, welfare, and health implications. I understand that you have before you another bill that would create an inde pendent commission to administer programs for the handicapped. At the risk of repetition, I must say that I do not see any advantage to be gained from a change in administration.

These are the only comments I shall make at this time. I am at the service of the committee, if I can be of service. I appreciate the committee hearing my statement.

Mr. KELLEY. Are there any questions?

Mr. WIER. I wanted to ask this question, Mr. Chairman. In the State of Michigan I understand you have a fairly good organization. Mr. POTTER. They have a very good organization; yes, sir.

Mr. WIER. And I think that is true of quite a few States. What you are seeking to do is to coordinate under some administration a furtherance or expansion of the program in the field of rehabilitation and training, medical attention, and so forth?

Mr. POTTER. That is right. The Federal Security Agency is set up for that purpose. The President has recommended that these services be included in a department, with which recommendation I am in full accord. I think they should stick together.

Mr. KELLEY. If there are no other questions, thank you for your statement, Mr. Potter.

Mr. POTTER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

STATEMENT OF ALBERT J. HAYES, INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS, BY ELMER WALKER, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE MACHINISTS' UNION

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, as president of the International Association of Machinists, I consider it both a privilege and a responsibility to appear before your committee in the interest of the citizens of our Nation who are physically handicapped. I trust that my remarks will in some measure contribute toward favorable congressional action on H. R. 3095 and the 13 similar legislative proposals which have been introduced, all dealing with the urgency for improved and extended Federal services for our physically handicapped.

Since its birth in 1888, our association has been enthusiastically interested in all matters which are a part of good citizenship, and we are proud of the fact that we, in the interest of public welfare, have pioneered and participated in many activities outside the narrow orbit

94238-49- -7

of usual union policy. Among them is the first Federal Vocational Training Act, which was sponsored and militantly campaigned for 30 years ago by the late Arthur J. Holder, a former vice president of our association. The Federal-State rehabilitation program functioning today has developed to a great extent from the efforts of Mr. Holder and other able assistants, assigned from the American Federation of Labor by the late Samuel Gompers.

Notwithstanding the advancement that has been brought about in rehabilitation work in the past 30 years, we are convinced that we have reached a period when far-reaching corrections must be made in order to adequately meet the present rehabilitation and employment needs, of our millions of physically handicapped persons.

One of the most glaring defects in our present rehabilitation efforts is the absence of a top guiding force for the administration of our work in this large and ever-increasing field. As reasonable men, we can readily see that great amounts of Federal funds are now being wasted because our rehabilitation program is being administered through 30 different Federal sources.

The many Federal agencies assigned to work in the interest of the physically handicapped have been too lacking in facilities, personnel, and authority to do more than merely scratch the surface of this problem which directly involves the welfare of more than 28,000,000 of our people.

It is time to take stock, and make an intelligent change in operating policy. Logically, the first step must be to place all Federal agencies having primary relations with the handicapped, under one head. Rehabilitation is in most cases, a long-drawn-out process, and it is unsound to require the individual undergoing it, to have to be dealt with by several different agencies, if the job can be done, and done more efficiently, by one agency.

H. R. 3095 proposes a Federal commission on services for the physically handicapped to which the functions of the present office of Vocational Rehabilitation would be transferred. The proposed commission would simply implement the Federal-State vocational rehabilitation system which has been established since June 2, 1920, and the suggested changes in the present laws are solely for the purpose of improving that system and making it capable of adequately meeting the needs of our millions of handicapped. We are firmly convinced that the establishment of a Federal commission as proposed in H. R. 3095 would afford a far better base of operations than anything we have had before. Most important it would serve to simplify the work of rehabilitation and would give the handicapped a fuller understanding of the services that Congress has provided.

The association I have the privilege to represent is tremendously interested in the work of rehabilitating the handicapped. As American workers we believe that everything possible should be done to afford the handicapped an opportunity to overcome their physical difficulties and become a productive part of our working force on equal terms with other workers.

Perhaps, we in the machinists' union with over 12,000 labor agreements in the United States and Canada, are more conscious of the needs of the handicapped than most organizations. Our contractual interest in such a large number of industrial establishments and the fact that

we have in our membership one of the highest incidence of disability due to disease and injury on the job, has brought us face to face with the real problems confronting the handicapped. It is natural, therefore, that we want and will continue to fight for improved methods of restoring our handicapped workers to useful and remunerative living. We heartily endorse those provisions of the bill before your committee, which would provide education, training, and vocational guidance to persons handicapped by physical or mental disabilities. We believe it is highly important that these citizens be given full-employment opportunities wherever possible.

We are fully aware that the physical conditions of approximately 25 percent-or 7,000,000-of our handicapped are too seriously impaired to respond to treatment or rehabilitation. H. R. 3095 which is before this committee would provide $60 per month for these unfortunate cases, in each State in which an approved plan is in effect in accordance with section 402. While this amount would be inadequate in many cases it would be a mighty step in the right direction. We are confident that many of those now found to be unfeasible for rehabilitation, can, with proper treatment and training, be helped to a point where they will be able to do something useful even though they may not be able to go out into the world of competitive employment.

In closing I wish to reiterate our wholehearted endorsement of H. R. 3095 and we urge you and your committee, Mr. Chairman, to report favorably on this bill which would greatly aid in the work of restoring the physically handicapped to useful living. Its enactment would be the means of properly distributing the Federal funds appropriated to carry out the Federal-State plan to assist the handicapped. It would bring hope and the possibility of employment security to millions, and would add greatly to our national welfare.

Mr. BAILEY. In discussing H. R. 3095, and particularly the pension provision, the amount of $60 a month, would you advise that be made a general distribution to all the physically handicapped, or would you confine it to those who would be on the pale of rehabilitation?

Mr. WALKER. Mr. Chairman, we believe as a starter the pension of $60, if provided for those who are presently in such condition they cannot be rehabilitated, would be a first step, definitely, in the right direction.

Mr. BAILEY. The point that I was making was this: Unless you did confine it to that particular group, you would be paying pensions to people that you are already carrying the entire load of rehabilitation for.

Mr. WALKER. We believe that those who can be rehabilitated to the point where they can earn their own living would be much better, and the pension should be provided for those not capable of earning their own living.

Mr. Chairman, if I may be permitted, I would like to add this one thought which came to me as I sat in the committee room this morning. We are very much concerned with regard to the pending legislation. There is great need for it, and we certainly do not want to see it bogged down due to any so-called jurisdictional dispute as to who may administer it, because we in labor know something about jurisdictional disputes. I merely inject that thought after listening to the presentation here before your committee this morning.

Mr. BAILEY. I think that we can understand the interest of your group because of the large percentage of injuries resulting from machine operation.

Mr. WALKER. That is correct.

Mr. BAILEY. I take it there would be a large number of injuries. Mr. WALKER. That is correct, sir.

Congressman Wier is particularly interested in the number of blind. In our association the percentage of blind, those who have become blind due to industrial injuries, is very high, and one of the activities that our organization has participated in very fully is with an inde pendent agency known as the Guiding Eyes, and one of the very grave and regrettable things today is the terrifically high cost to a blind person of obtaining a guiding-eye dog, a seeing-eye dog, a properly trained dog. It would astound the committee to learn of the prohibitive cost to which blind persons are put to obtain a seeing-eye dog. We think that part of this program should certainly include ways and means of providing the blind, those who are physically capable otherwise of moving around, to have the services of a seeing-eye dog, or a guiding-eye dog, whichever you prefer.

Mr. KELLEY. What does it cost to train a seeing-eye dog?

Mr. WALKER. Offhand, I cannot give you the exact figure, but I think it is between $1,200 and $1,500. I would be glad to furnish you the exact figures we have, if you prefer to have them in the record.

Mr. KELLEY. If you will.

(The information is as follows:)

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS,

Congressman AUGUSTINE B. KELLEY,

Washington 1, D. C., July 15, 1949.

House Office Building, Washington 25, D. C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN KELLEY: Yesterday morning, while appearing in behalf of President A. J. Hayes, of the International Association of Machinists, before your Subcommittee on Education and Labor with reference to H. R. 3095 and the related bills to establish a Federal Commission on Services for the Physically Handicapped, you asked if I would supply information as to the cost of equipping a blind person with a guide dog. I have checked our files and find that under date of March 1, 1949, Joseph W. Jones, Sr., president of International Guiding Eyes, Inc., in the letter to all our local lodges of our ladies' auxiliary, stated: "The total cost to us at present to completely equip a blind person with a guide dog is approximately $800, which is much less than the cost to any other guidedog organization I know of. Our guide dogs and the blind are trained by a licensed trainer, in a licensed school, and in strict compliance with the high standard required under the laws of the State of California. This cost is exclusive of transportation for the blind person to and from the school in Burbank, Calif., which is also paid by us when the applicant or their friends are unable to do so."

This is the latest information we have on this subject, and because of its recent date no doubt it represents the immediate minimum cost at which a guiding-eye dog can be trained.

Sincerely yours,

ELMER E. WALKER,

General Vice President.

Mr. BAILEY. Thank you very much.

Mr. KELLEY. We will now hear from Mr. Roger Arnett.