These are down-to-earth facts which will be of the utmost importance to business. But going further than that, the fact that the information is being collected in such a manner tends to build confidence. As an example, in 1 community 337 questionnaires were distributed and 335 completed forms were returned. The people. know what they can do; it's not guesswork. Town meetings will be called to discuss these results, to face the facts and to find solutions. In other words, the aim is to get away from manufacturers sitting down by themselves to discuss their problems, and over in another section of the town, labor doing the same thing, and in still another section educators, and in another section chambers of commerce, and so forth. To avoid this compartmental thinking, all of these groups are brought together. There is nothing new about the procedure. It is just democracy in action. This is not an easy procedure. The practice of democracy is difficult and too many of us don't realize this fact. We are inclined to elect officials and look to them for solutions. Too many of us don't take our responsibility seriously enough even to vote for officials. Right now, out of a possible 1,000,000 voters, less than 715,000 are registered. While these local committees are at work gathering essential information which ultimately will be tabulated and studied by the State planning council, other work is proceeding. Senator WHERRY. You think your local committees can do it better than the National Planning Board? Mr. HETHERTON. Of course, we can. What are the prospects for industrial development? What has happened may be taken as an indication of what will continue to happen. Plentiful low-cost power attracted most of our new industries. An interview last month which I had with an eastern individual indicates this pulling power will continue to exert itself. This industrialist stated that his company was coming to the State just as soon as certain pilot-plant operations had been completed. Asked why, he answered: "low-cost power, long-time contracts." While at first his company will employ few workers in proportion to power consumption, it means the production of another raw material upon which numerous manufacturing enterprises may ultimately be built and what we need is more and more diversification. History is apparently repeating itself. Plentiful low-cost power has always drawn to that area the chemical and metallurgical industries. In place of shipping out the mine-lead concentrates of northeast Washington these may be refined here since we have the power and the fuels. The four large private power companies of the State have initiated an extensive program to expand industrial development. This consists of national advertising, preparation of reports and personal calls on selected industries. The State, through the Washington Progress Commission, is conducting national advertising, and the Bonneville Power Administration, for the area it serves, continues its aggressive work in the expansion of industry, particularly that which will absorb its great output of hydroelectric power. The publicutility districts either singly or in combination continue to study the possibilities of the areas served. Here, it seems to me, is a field where more direct assistance to small business could be given. At every county seat we find a county agent and staff prepared to help the farmer, to tell him of new methods, of new crops, of better management methods, and ways of processing and marketing his output. We find no such service for small industry. True the banks help, but that is incidental. Research to develop new industries and new markets for existing industries is being pushed both by the State and private industry. At the request of Governor Langlie the legislature has twice appropriated $150,000 to the State planning council "for research in connection with furthering the development of industry and agricul*." This is largely expended through the university, the State college, and some State departments. ture * * The war has brought us great capacities to produce aluminum and magnesium. Alumina is now shipped from the South. Even with our low-cost power it is questionable that following the war these plants can continue to operate under such a handicap. It means either importing bauxite and reducing it or extracting alumina from our own clays. At the State college some very interesting results are now being obtained from Washington clays, so interesting that the council at its last meeting acted favorably to advance more money. But we need also to know about markets for the finished product. Again at the college the casting of magnesium has been conducted on a commercial basis. Parts are now going into B-29's. This experience is made available to foundrymen of the State, and of course the college will cease commercial production the minute private industry can supply the demand. Another project is studying the use of both the light metals in agriculture, mining, logging, highway, and other such equipment here in the State. Private industry is cooperating fully so that practical applications are always available for test. And at the university the whole subject of markets for aluminum and magnesium has been investigated and shortly a printed report will be issued. In the last biennium State-owned lands were diamond-drilled to determine the quantity and quality of maganesite from which magnesium may be obtained. Our forests have long been our principal resource. But we have so exploited them that we can no longer under present methods of manufacture maintain, let alone increase, the pay rolls dependent upon them. The solution lies in finding new uses and more intensive uses for the products of the forests and, of course, continuing and expanding good forest management practice as now pursued by State, Federal, and some of the larger private owners. At the university a study was first made of the quantity and quality of the material left in the woods after logging. To salvage this material two portable machines are well advanced in design, one to cut pulpwood in 4-foot lengths from logs and the other to make pulp from what is left, which pulp could be used for insulation board and other such purposes. Then work commenced in the laboratory to find still other uses; cork from Douglas fir bark was produced, metallurgical coke from wood, the strength of laminated beams made from short lengths with scarfed glued joints, and so forth. Two separate projects are attacking, and with promising results, the old problem of utilization of waste sulfite liquor which now flows into our streams and coastal waters carrying a goodly portion of the log. Last biennium, under the State department of fisheries, and for the expenditure of $10,000 of the council's research fund, a dependable source of seed for Pacific oysters was found. Before the war this was imported from Japan at an annual outlay of over $150,000. The diseases and troubles of the Olympic oyster were studied and the value of findings were recognized by the last legislature in making a direct appropriation to continue the work. Also at the university the production of pig iron from our own ores by electric furnaces has been studied and refractories for metallurgical processes made and tested. Through a combination project of the university and the State college a report has been issued dealing with the post-war possibilities of the production of starch, sirup, and dextrose from Washington wheat and potatoes. In Clark County, which faces a serious readjustment, the State college is determining the best types of crops for the various soils so that possible settlers may be advised. In Skagit County, which now grows a large percentage of this cabbage seed of the Nation, the diseases of that seed and beet seed are being examined by a combination of the United States Department of Agriculture, State department of agriculture, and the State planning council, the seed growers and buyers, and the county. This procedure it is hoped will not only have the beneficial effect of developing industry and agriculture but, what is of much greater importance, training our own young people for further research or to go out to the industries of the State. Altogether too many of them, our greatest resource, now have to leave the State to get such training and employment Private industry is intensifying its research. The pulp mills of the State are financing on a long-time basis investigations at the university to find uses for waste sulfite liquor. The Douglas Fir Plywood Association, the Western Pine Association and the West Coast Lumbermen's Association all are spending money not only to improve their products but to find new uses. Individual companies are operating laboratories. This trend indicates the change from a raw material producing State to one of varied manufacturing. We are getting out of our colonial status. It has been truthfully said that a State's degree of advancement may be judged by the number of scientists employed within its borders. A public works improvement program, based upon the State's ability to finance, was published in January 1943, and is now being further refined. Cities, towns, counties, school districts, and other public bodies are being encouraged to prepare their own public improvement programs on the same basis. Work is proceeding on the drawing of plans and specifications but the lack of technically trained men is causing delays. But let us recognize that employment in such public works is merely a stopgap. Present compiled figures show that for all public works proposed by the State, cities, counties, school districts, and so forth, 36,000,000 man-hours of employment will be provided. Remember that in 1940 in 86 industries total man-hours was 458,000,000. Dependence must be placed on private initiative. In the sense that Iowa, Illinois, and Ohio are agricultural States, Washington is not. Its arable land represents about one-fourth of the State's total of 43,000,000 acres. Many of the west-side farms, that is west of the Cascades, are too small to provide a proper standard of living; too many people are of the belief that because trees grow on the land it is therefore suitable for farming. We have already experienced the troubles and tribulations caused by a misdirected back-to-the-land movement. Through a combination of the State college, the Farm Credit Administration, and the State planning council a thorough job of land classification is being carried out so that information will be available to guide land seekers. But public opinion must be aroused to support this procedure and support public officials whose duty it is to enforce rural land-zoning regulations which may be adopted, based on this land-classification information. The settlement of the Columbia Basin project is well guarded in this respect but by Federal laws, not State laws. Great opportunities for employment and the profitable utilization of capital lie in urban redevelopment. We bear much of the problem. It is Nation-wide. Legal means should be developed to permit consolidation of ownerships and the complete rebuilding of blighted areas as a part of an over-all city and regional plan. I have given you some of the problems facing the State and how we are attempting to solve them. We know we can't do it alone and for that reason there are appended some recommendations for Federal action. Senator WHERRY. Is your organization a part of the National Planning Board? Mr. HETHERTON. No; strictly supported by the State. Senator WHERRY. You are an employee of the State? Mr. HETHERTON. I am an employee of the State administration. Mr. MAGNUSON. I might say that I am the father of the State planning organization. Mr. HETHERTON. That is right. Senator WHERRY. Have you ever submitted this to Washington? Mr. HETHERTON. Yes and no. Senator WHERRY. What do they think about it? Mr. HETHERTON. There was no one to submit it to now. When we had the National Resources Planning Board we would submit data to the m and we got excellent help, as I have pointed out. We have a few recommendations that we would like to pass on to you, many of which have been discussed here today, and which I will not detail. They will be found in my statement. (Recommendations are as follows:) FEDERAL ACTION Taxation. At the earliest possible time the Congress should make a declaration of post-war taxation policy. Enough reports have been written on this subject. It's now time to act. Financing of small business.-Provide casier access to credit for small business by means similar to those of the Federal Housing Administration. Research.-Provide sufficient appropriations to continue and expand research at the four regional agricultural laboratories, the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., and similar agencies. Bonneville Power Administration.-Low-cost plentiful power available throughout the State helped us, the people of the United States, to manufacture aluminum, magnesium, ferro-alloys, and chemicals and to build ships and planes. These facilities of hydropower stations and high-tension transmission lines are here and will not become war casualties. This power is already attracting new industries. Since the Bonneville Power Administration is now operating under a temporary law the Congress should pass a law placing the Administration on a permanent basis and defining its powers and duties. Disposal of Defense Plant Corporation facilities.—We here in the State are much interested in the disposal of plants producing aluminum and magnesium ingots and rolling aluminum sheets. It is believed that these Defense Plant Corporation plants be disposed of in such a manner as to create the greatest opportunities for free private enterprise, not disposed of in such a manner as to establish more firmly a monopoly. They should not be sold to the highest bidder, rather to the one who will bring the greatest benefit to the region and Nation, not only through decentralization of ownership but also through geographic decentralization. As a last resort the leasing of the plants should be continued. Other aids to small business.-The recommendations made in the final report and recommendations of the Temporary National Economic Committee, March 31, 1941, hold as good today as they did then. The Congress and the administrative branches might well reconsider them and act upon them. Only a few can here be mentioned: Pages 9, 34, and 35: Vigorous and vigilant enforcement of the antitrust laws. Page 22: Passing on of technological gains. Page 23: Decentralization of industry. Page 23: Curtailment of production; the stimulating of competition. Page 24: Price-discrimination and price-fixing laws. Page 29: National standards for national corporations (not approved unanimously). Page 30: Stimulating investment: "The social desirability of new enterprise and new employment is so great that Congress can well consider the advisability of material reductions in the rate of taxation on returns which come from investments in new, independent businesses. The advantages to be derived by the whole economy from the opening of new fields to investment and commercial activity would more than offset any financial loss in returns from the higher brackets under the income-tax law." Page 31: A program for business and economic research. Page 33: The basing-point system. Page 36: Patent laws. Page 38: Corporate mergers. Senator WHERRY. I think you have a wonderful report there. I have listened to a lot of reports, and this is one of the finest. I understand you have an outstanding Governor. I should like to see him send that to every Governor of every State in the Union. Virgil Burts. OF VIRGIL BURTS, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS REGIONAL OFFICE, STATE OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE STATEMENT Senator WHERRY. Just state your name for the reporter and your identification. Mr. BURTS. I am Virgil Burts, representing the C. I. O. regional office for the State of Washington. I am a field representative for the laboring people of this section of the country. To the laboring people of this country this is a very important conference; that is, if we go beyond words and set forth a definite workable plan for employment in the immediate post-war period. We won the last war and lost the peace. We created a world which bred Hitler and his crew in Europe. Nothing we do now can be permitted to pave the way for the spawning of such tragic consequences |