2. FEDERAL-STATE CONFERENCE ON AGING JUNE 5, 6, 7, 1956 THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS AND 82756-56-vol. 1 CONTENTS OF DOCUMENT NO. 2 Page 3. Remarks of Gov. Robert B. Meyner.. 1. Introduction. 2. Welcome by Howard Pyle, deputy assistant to the President.. 4. Address of Arthur Larson, Under Secretary of Labor. 5. Conference mechanics, Roswell B. Perkins, Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, and Chairman, Federal Council on Aging 6. Summary of group reports and recommendations.. 7. Reports of groups.. 71 75 85 106 8. Remarks of Marion B. Folsom, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare.... FEDERAL-STATE CONFERENCE ON AGING Washington, D. C., June 5-6-7, 1956 INTRODUCTION The problems of an aging population are recognized now as of major concern to the entire Nation. A large and increasing propor tion of our population is or will be affected by the social, psychological, and health problems of their age and by the precarious employment and income status characteristic of this population group. These social and economic problems cannot be attacked and solved by any one agency or by any single level of government. They are many sided and complex, and, to the extent that they are responsibilities of government, they can be met only by effective, cooperative action of all levels of government-Federal, State, and localand by all agencies immediately concerned for the healthy and productive lives of our older citizens. At the State level, this concern has been reflected in the appointment of special study commissions, advisory councils, and administrative agencies to deal with the problems of the aging. A further reflection of this concern was manifested by the 1954 governors conference when it requested the Council of State Governments to make a study of the problems of older persons and submit recommendations for intelligent planning by the States in this field. The study was completed last year and a bill of objectives and a program for action were submitted to the governors for consideration by the States. Many State agencies and officials are seeking the experience and help of their counterparts in other States as a means of getting their own programs underway speedily and effectively. At the same time, the relationship of current Federal programs and pending legislation to State programs and methods must be comprehended. For these reasons, the Council of State Governments joined the Federal Council on Aging-an interdepartmental committee recently appointed by the President-in sponsoring a Federal-State Conference on Aging held in Washington, D. C., June 5-7, 1956. Participating in the meeting were representatives of the governors of the several States and Territories, members of various Federal agencies dealing with problems of aging, and resource persons with considerable knowledge and experience in this field. The conferees were fortunate in being able.to hear Gov. Robert B. Meyner and Marion B. Folsom, Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, discuss, respectively, the roles of the State and Federal Governments. It was the plan of the conference to focus attention on how the States and the Federal Government are organizing and what they |