Norrell, Hon. W. F. (Arkansas), Representative in Congress, Mar. 1, 1944 621-623 Olson, Herbert A., president, American Municipal Association, Feb. 2, Pirnie, Malcolm, president-elect, American Society of Civil Engineers, Jan. 144 Reynolds, W. E., Commissioner, Public Buildings Administration, Mar. 2, 651-678 Walsh, J. Raymond, director of research, Congress of Industrial Organiza- 601-620 Warren, Hon. Earl, Governor of California, January 28, 1944. 433-441 Whitlock, Douglas, president, the Producers Council, January 27, 1944 265–296 85-97 ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTED BY WITNESSES American Farm Bureau Federation, president, E. A. O'Neal---. American Federation of Labor, vice president, Harry C. Bates, February American Municipal Association, president, Herbert A. Olson, February 2, 368-419 American Society of Civil Engineers, president, E. B. Whitman_. American Society of Civil Engineers, president-elect, M. Pirnie_ American Society of Planning Officials, executive secretary, W. H. Blucher Associated General Contractors of America, managing director, H. E. 61-83 Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association, vice president, Otto 457-473 California, Governor, Hon. Earl Warren, January 28, 1944. Chamber of Commerce of the United States, president, Eric A. Johnston-- 25-42 Chicago Plan Commission, Philip Harrington, member, February 8, 1944. 473-504 City Planning Commission, Cincinnati, Ohio, chairman, Alfred Bettman, Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation, senior consultant, R. H. Fleet_ 190-197 Dodge Corporation (F. W. Dodge Corporation), president, Thomas S. Federal Works Agency, Administrator, Maj. Gen. Philip B. Fleming-. Investment Bankers Association of America, president, John C. Folger__ Metropolitan Life Insurance Co., chairman of the board, F. H. Ecker_. Milwaukee, Wis., city attorney, Walter J. Mattison, February 2, 15, 1944 National Association of Home Builders of the United States, executive vice National Association of Housing Officials, executive director, H. R. Pome- 116-137 National Association of Real Estate Boards, executive vice president, H. U. National Association of Real Estate Boards, committee on homes use con- 162-164 43-60 National Housing Agency, Administrator, John B. Blandford, Jr., Febru- 579-600 National Planning Association, assistant director, S. H. Thompson_. 137-144 305-343 296-304 Producers' Council, the, president, Douglas Whitlock-. 265-296 Public Buildings Administration, Commissioner W. E. Reynolds, March 651-678 Public Roads Administration, Commissioner Thomas H. MacDonald, March Railway Labor Executives Association, executive secretary, J. G. Luhrsen, 623-649 527-530 United States Conference of Mayors, president, Hon. F. H. LaGuardia, 305-343 POST-WAR PLANNING TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1943 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS, Washington, D. C. House Office Building, The committee met at 10 a. m., in caucus room, We are met this morning to begin some extensive and voluminous hearings with reference to a very important matter-I refer to the subject of post-war planning. I think a great deal of money was spent rather foolishly following the last war by reason of the fact we did not have any kind of planning for the Government, for municipalities, and the various organizations of the country, and we had the spectacle of men raking leaves and doing other things that left nothing of permanent value. There are a great many municipalities which, with proper planning, can carry on post-war work at their own expense, and it seems that the sensible and the economic way to approach this matter is to hold hearing in advance of the introduction of any bill and have before us the representatives of the various industries of the country and municipalities and various organizations to see if we can get wisdom out of a multitude of counsel as to some policy that should be adopted for the orderly disposition of this very important matter. Next week we shall have hearings on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We shall have some very important witnesses in their respective fields to testify before us. As a preliminary matter, to get the general picture from the standpoint of the Federal Works Agency and the information that Agency may be able to give us from their experience and their studies of this question, we have decided to hold this hearing this morning to hear from General Fleming, Administrator of the Federal Works Agency. I think there is an opportunity for this committee to render a real service by going into this matter very thoroughly in an effort to determine some policy. I know of no other committee of the House of Representatives which is undertaking it in this particular way. I understand that several bills have been introduced, but it has seemed to me that we should predicate a bill upon the best information we can get with reference to the facts, and in order to get the facts as they may affect the Government, the various municipalities, the various industries and organizations of this country, we are holding these hearings. We are very glad this morning to have General Fleming as our first witness. Mr. HOLMES. Mr. Chairman, may I make a brief observation before General Fleming starts his statement? The CHAIRMAN. Yes, Mr. Holmes. Mr. HOLMES. During the other World War I happened to be mayor of Worcester, Mass., a city of about 200,000 people, and I was one of those invited to the White House in 1919 by President Wilson to meet with the governors and mayors of municipalities, of the larger ones, to discuss with him the problems at that time in connection with public works and of unemployment. I was never more impressed with anything in my life than the statement the President made to the assembly of men there to discuss with him this problem. He said: Gentlemen, I have asked you here for this conference for 2 or 3 days to discuss the problem of unemployment and to see if we cannot work out some policy where we can delineate this unemployment problem. And he stated that in the ultimate it was up to the governors and the officials throughout the States of the United States; it was their responsibility. He added: I have been anxious to see how we, as the Federal Government, can coordinate our activities so we can be more helpful to you in solving the problem back in your States. In other words the President at that time placed the responsibility on the governors, on the municipalities and the towns throughout the United States, and said what he was trying to do was to get the Federal Government's activities coordinated, to see how we could best coordinate our efforts to help solve the problem. The CHAIRMAN. That is the very purpose of this hearing. The CHAIRMAN. To develop some method of cooperation, not to relieve the responsibility that is upon the States and upon the municipalities themselves. There is much that can be done through proper planning, and we should be able to proceed in the most economical and most satisfactory manner so the results will be of more permanent value. General Fleming, we shall be glad to hear you. STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. PHILIP B. FLEMING, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY General FLEMING. Mr. Chairman, first of all I want to thank you for this opportunity to appear before your committee and to tell you how happy I am at being the first witness on your program I suppose that is because I have been going around the country for almost 3 years now, making speeches, trying to get ready for the post-war period. That may sound rather strange coming from an Army officer, but I have been through this before and I realize to some extent what the situation is as I have gone around. I have talked to your committee informally on some of my views. Mr. Chairman, I have prepared a written statement for the record, which I have given to the clerk of the committee, and he has that, but with your permission I would like to talk from notes for a few moments. |