POPULATION CRISIS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1965

U.S. SENATE,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AID EXPENDITURES, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS, Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met at 10:11 a.m., pursuant to recess, in room 3302, New Senate Office Building, Senator Ernest Gruening (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding.

Present: Senator Gruening.

Also present: Ann M. Grickis, assistant chief clerk, Committee on Government Operations; Mary S. Glotfelty, clerk, Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures; and Laura Olson, special consultant on population problems.

Senator GRUENING. The committee will come to order.

This morning the Government Operations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures opens its 13th hearing on S. 1676, a bill to coordinate and disseminate birth control information upon request. While the subcommittee is not superstitious, it regrets that Hurricane Betsy has prevented three witnesses from the Dade County, Fla., public schools, which includes Miami, from testifying today.

Inclement weather precludes Dr. Joseph Hall, superintendent of the Dade County public schools, Mrs. Jane Roberts, the chairman of the Dade County Board of Education, and Mr. Frank Sloan, chief of planning and policy of Dade County schools, from joining us.

The Dade County public school system has for many years ranked as the seventh largest urban system in the United States. It has faced enormous challenges posed by the student population increase. The Dade County public school system has done this and kept in mind the need to improve the quality of education. But the financial strains on the system as it continued to grow have been heavy, and school spokesmen describe the 1965-66 budget strain as "unequaled in the past history of the school." The subcommittee looks forward to hearing from the Dade County representatives at a later date.

Meanwhile, I am pleased to welcome Mr. Clifford Nelson, president of the American Assembly of Columbia University, New York City. The Twenty-third American Assembly meeting at Arden House, Harriman, Ñ.Y., May 2 to 5, 1963, was devoted to the "Population Dilemma." Since that historic date many regional population dilemma assemblies have been held in the United States. This summer the first Western Hemisphere population assembly was held in Cali, Colombia. Mr. Nelson has agreed to tell us about these hearings and what they have revealed and the subcommittee looks forward to his contribution to the population dialog.

Next week, on September 15, 1965, one of the U.S. participants in the Cali, Colombia, population conference, Representative John Brademas, of Indiana, will describe the Cali, Colombia, meeting in more detail, and there will also be other witnesses.

METHODIST BISHOP JOHN WESLEY LORD TO TESTIFY

At this time I will place in the hearing record the text of a wire I received August 27, 1965, from John Wesley Lord, bishop of the Washington area of the Methodist Church. This is the text of the wire:

Hon. ERNEST GRUENING,

U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C.:

This telegram is in support of your bill to coordinate and disseminate birth control information upon request, S. 1676. In support of the principles of the bill, I ask the privilege to make a fuller statement in January 1966.

JOHN WESLEY LORD.

The Government Operations Subcommittee on Foreign Aid Expenditures looks forward to hearing from Bishop Lord when hearings on S. 1676 resume in January.

BIOGRAPHIC STATEMENT: CLIFFORD COLMER NELSON

Senator GRUENING. Clifford Colmer Nelson was born in Jersey City, N.J., November 1, 1914. He received an A.B. degree in 1937 from Trinity College in Connecticut and an A.M. in 1941 from Columbia University. In 1963 he received his LL.D. from Lawrence University and in 1965 an L.H.D. from Trinity College.

An Episcopalian, he is married and the father of four children. After serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, he lectured in English and comparative literature at Columbia University. In 1954 he joined the American Assembly at Columbia, of which he is now president.

He is also currently a member of the board of directors of the Public Affairs Committee, Inc., of the editorial board of the Columbia Journal of World Business, and of the Citizens Committee for Higher Education in New Jersey.

Mr. Nelson, as I recall, the American Assembly has cooperated with State universities and colleges in many parts of this Nation in the sponsorship and execution of assemblies on the population dilemma. Please tell us more about these important sessions and how the American Assembly at Columbia University has worked on them. We are most happy to have you here and I would like to have you proceed in whatever way you think best.

STATEMENT OF CLIFFORD C. NELSON, PRESIDENT, THE AMERICAN ASSEMBLY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Mr. NELSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This statement of mine concerns the status of the American Assembly program on population. The program began in May of 1963 with the Twenty-third American Assembly, held at Arden House, on the Harriman (N.Y.) campus of Columbia University. Seventy-nine participants came from the worlds of business, education, government,

communications, the clergy, and the medical and legal professions. After 3 days of discussion they issued a report of findings and recommendations for national policy. I would call particular attention to recommendation No. 9 under domestic policy which suggests:

Appointment by the President of the United States of a commission to inform, after investigation, the Government and the American people of the nature of population problems at home and abroad with respect to: Implications for all aspects of American life, and relevance to our efforts, in cooperation with international agencies, to promote economic and social progress throughout the world. I would also like to call attention to recommendations Nos. 2 and 3 in that report under the section on world population which read as follows:

The United States should extend assistance to developing nations at their request for the investigation of population problems and in support of programs to promote the voluntary regulation of fertility.

Administrative means should be established by the Federal Government for disseminating knowledge about population problems and methods of regulating family size.

Shortly after the Arden House Assembly the volume of background readings was published as "The Population Dilemma," edited by Philip Hauser of the University of Chicago. To date 47,000 copies of this volume have been circulated (almost entirely by sale). The rights were purchased for Spanish and Portuguese editions and for a special edition to be published in New Delhi for circulation in India, Pakistan, and Ceylon.

Senator GRUENING. I will direct that the final report of this historic assembly be entered in the hearing record at this point, as well as the names of the participants.

(The report and list referred to follow:)

EXHIBIT 172

"FINAL REPORT OF THE 23D AMERICAN ASSEMBLY," AND LIST OF PARTICIPANTS (In "The Population Dilemma," edited by Philip M. Hauser, the American Assembly, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963)

At the close of their discussions the participants in the 23d American Assembly at Arden House, Harriman, N.Y., May 2 to 5, 1963, on "The Population Dilemma," reviewed as a group the following statement. Although there was general agreement on the final report, it is not the practice of the American Assembly for partici pants to affix their signatures, and it should not be assumed that every participant necessarily subscribes to every recommendation. Never before in history have the security and welfare of mankind been so indivisible. Never before has man acquired the capability of achieving his own extinction. These circumstances require him to marshal his intelligence, control his emotions, and rise above his traditional thought and action in an unprece dented way. Failure to do so may threaten not only his prosperity, security, and peace, but also his survival.

Among the serious threats to welfare and security, and therefore to peace, is the accelerating rate of world population growth. The less tangible but very real injury to personal development and the maintenance of family life must also be of concern. Rapid population increase and its accompaniments are obstructing economic development, and thereby contributing to frustration, social unrest and political instability in many areas of the globe. Rapid population growth also contributes to complex problems in the United States. The 23d American Assembly believes that—

A. Present and prospective world rates of population growth cannot be maintained indefinitely. Such growth contributes substantially to the perpetuation of

low levels of living for two-thirds of mankind, and creates difficult problems of adjustment in the economically advanced nations.

B. World birth rates must be reduced in view of the reductions in death rates already achieved.

C. Reduction of family size would produce important gains for many families as well as for entire nations. Unrestricted fertility tends to damage the health of the mother, impairs family life and restricts opportunity for adequately rearing and educating children.

The time has come for vigorous and coordinated action to alert mankind to the need for a reduced rate of population growth and to develop multilateral and bilateral programs to assist nations which desire to reduce their fertility.

I. WORLD PROBLEMS

A high birth rate obstructs the economic development of low-income countries in a number of ways. It diverts resources and hampers economic growth in the less-developed economies and makes it necessary to provide for a larger population rather than for a higher level of living. It contributes to imbalance in rural-urban and regional population distribution. It generates an age structure with large numbers of young dependents in relation to workers. It impairs efforts to improve the quality of a population by restricting per capita expenditures for improving health, raising educational levels, and teaching new occupational skills. It reduces natural resources per capita.

Reducing the birth rate and thereby lowering the rate of population increase is, of course, not the complete solution to the improvement of economic conditions in the less-developed areas. It is a major element; but other factors-social and economic are also involved. These include capital investment, technology, diversification of the economy, distribution of income, occupational skills, entrepreneurship, and attitudes and institutions favorable to innovation and social reform. The expansion of international trade and investment would also contribute to economic advance. More effective utilization of natural resources is required; in the short-run world resources are sufficient to permit rising levels of living.

International migration can help many persons and temporarily ease some population pressures. It cannot, however, solve the world's major population problems.

Recommendations

The United Nations and the specialized agencies should:

1. Expand activities in the field of population.

They have significantly improved population data and research. They should now undertake more comprehensive and intensive population research, particularly on the interrelationships of population, economics and social change, and develop more effective programs for the dissemination of its findings.

2. Expand and strengthen the population staff and the regional population training and research centers.

This would enable the agencies better to assist nations to comprehend their own problems and formulate appropriate solutions.

3. Provide direct aid to countries wishing assistance in family planning programs.

The World Health Organization and other international agencies should recognize the consequences of their great achievements in reducing death rates; they should assist nations in dealing with the resultant population growth.

4. Encourage and support, especially through the WHO, biological and medical research in human reproduction.

5. Strive to contribute to the growing world consciousness of the implications of population growth through appropriate revisions of and additions to youth and adult educational materials prepared for world distribution by UNESCO.

II. THE POSITION OF THE UNITED STATES ON WORLD POPULATION PROBLEMS

The "Statement of U.S. Policy" to the Seventeenth General Assembly of the United Nations represents an important step forward. It offers the assistance of the United States to nations, upon request, "to find potential sources of information and assistance on ways and means of dealing with population problems." This policy should explicitly recognize that: