Congressional Record
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
Monday, January 27, 1958
Volume 104 - Part 1, 1124
OF
HON. ELIZABETH KEE
OF WEST VIRGINIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mrs. KEE. Mr. Speaker, under leave to extend my remarks in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD I include a copy of my weekly newsletter "Keenotes" which was issued today:
KEENOTES
(By Representative ELIZABETH KEE)
The Nation's economy is precariously balanced. Although official Washington is reluctant to discuss the economic situation in realistic terms, there is no denying the fact that the country as a whole is suffering a recession.
Call it what you may - a leveling off at a high plateau, a breathing spell, a readjustment, or any of the other mysterious terms economists love to use - these facts are clear:
Unemployment has increased to about 4 million and the length of the workweek - which, determines take-home pay - has grown steadily shorter.
The average manufacturing worker made $1.13 a week less in December 1957 than he did a year earlier.
Industrial output in December stood at 136 percent of the 1947-49 average, down from 139 in November and 147 in December 1956.
Housing starts in December were only 62,000, the lowest monthly figure since before the Korean war.
These and other pessimistic indicators do not add up to a depression. They do, however, clearly indicate that something is wrong with the economy. If the storm signals, so clearly hoisted, are ignored, the economy will run into extremely rough seas.
Basically, the country is in a strong economic position. All signs point for a continued expansion over the long pull. Despite 4 million unemployed, about 65 million people are gainfully employed. Each 3 years the population increases about 1 million people, which should add in the years ahead to the demand for all kinds of goods and create new jobs.
But for the man out of a job, or the worker cut back to 3 days a week, the present depressed conditions are of more importance than the bright outlook for the future. These men find it hard to understand how the cost of living can increase 3 1/2 percent during a year when they cannot find work or when they suffer layoffs.
There are some indications that the administration is becoming concerned. If this concern is not translated soon into fiscal policies that will check and reverse the downward trend in business, we could be in for serious trouble before the end of the year.
No longer is unemployment the concern of just a few isolated areas. Workers in many industries all over the country now find themselves in the same unfortunate situation as many coal miners in West Virginia. The Government has thus far refused to support measures to meet the needs of economically depressed areas, such as I proposed in H. R. 1949.
The neglect of this serious problem has been extremely costly, not only in terms of loss of purchasing power to communities but in suffering and hardship for thousands of families.
A recession may, to Government officials, be merely a set of statistics or lines on a chart. But to men out of work, and to their families. It is a deep personal tragedy, a shameful waste of human resources.
I hope the neglect of our depressed areas, which have festered on the economic system during the country's greatest prosperity, will not be repeated in attacking the wider, more basic economic problems now facing the country.
If the administration fails to take bold action to meet the developing economic crisis head on, the results can be tragic and of lasting consequences. We cannot hope, in a depressed economic climate, to maintain pace with the Russians in the struggle for supremacy.