JOHN E. FOGARTY COMMITTEE:

2D District, RHODE ISLAND APPROPRIATIONS
Room 1133
Mouse Ornics menos Congress of the Anited States
RuHopDE ISLAND OFFICE:
#2 cuSTOMHOUSE BLDG. Bouse of Representatives
Washington, DB. C.

July 17, 1958

Dear Mr, Chairman:

I am writing to you on behalf of my bill, H.R, 9822, which provides for
a White House Conference on Aging to be preceded by preliminary conferences on
aging within each of the States, Congressman Wier, on behalf of the Subcommittee
on Safety and Compensation, has reported this bill to the whole Committee on
Education and Labor, I earnestly hope that you will support action to recommend
this bill to the House so that it may receive favorable consideration at the
earliest possible moment,

I think you will agree that the rising number of old people represents
one of our most pressing problems and one we must face up to without further delay.
Our older population now stands at above 15 million, Each year 1 1/4 million of
our citizens reach age 65 and there is an annual net increase of more than 300,000
in this part of our population, These people are living today because of our vast
improvements in nutrition, public health, and medical care, For all too many of
them, however, longer life has few, if any, rewards, Many of them, ~ your
constituents and mine, are striving to live on incomes below the level of decency,
often in the worst of our slum neighborhoods; are struggling against the disa-
bilities of long-term chronic disease; and are wasting away their years in
boredom, inactivity, and isolation,

We in the Congress have exercised leadership in setting up the Social
Security program; in providing funds for medical research, hospital construction
and rehabilitation; in encouraging opportunities for employment, and offering
some assistance in building low-cost housing, We can be proud of the record but
we must also recognize that it has not been good enough, The need for additional
measures is evident from the fact that well over 600 bills have been introduced
on behalf of older peeple during the present Congress, The urgency of the
situation is brought home to us with every mail from our districts.

I have given long and intensive study and thought to this whole situation,
I believe that we need to make progress in meeting the needs of older people
much more rapidly than we have been doing, I believe the Federal Government has
more responsibility than it has been exercising but I believe also that we have
a Yight to expect much more from the States and from all of the communities
throughout the land, A few States are taking vigorous action in setting up
programs for their older people, Many more have signified their intention to
ao See Some seem scarcely to have recognized the existence of their older
citizens,
-~ 2 «

H.R, 9822 represents a down-to-earth approach to this whole matter of aging.
The bill would make available an amount not to exceed $50,000 to each State to
enable it to collect necessary information about its older people, to discover the
major gaps in its programs for its older citizens, and to enable it to hold one
or more statewide conferences for the purpose of developing sound blueprints for
action and for getting action under way, I firmly believe that the States are
looking to us for leadership and that by providing this incentive to action we can
stimulate them to move ahead without delay.

The Fogarty bill proposes also that representatives of the States shall
be brought together in a national White House Conference on Aging to hammer out
a national program based on the recommendations arrived at within the States,
This conference should be held prior to June 30, 1960, after the States have made
their studies, and not during the present year as the bill now states.

The total cost of this program, including funds for assisting the States
and organizing the conference, would not exceed $3,500,000, This, I may point
out, is less than 25 cents per older person in our population today, -~ surely
a modest amount in view of the returns we may expect to obtain on their behalf,

Whatever we are able to accomplish toward improving the conditions of
living for the elderly today will create a better society for the 35 to 40
million middle-aged people in our population who will some day be old, A few
weeks ago I reminded our colleagues in the House that this group includes many
of us and our children along with those we represent. We have a clear re-
sponsibility, I believe to help create conditions which will make the added
years of life healthy, comfortable, useful, and satisfying for all of these
as well as for the 15 million who are already old. If we do so, I am sure they
will feel that we are acting wisely on their behalf. It is for these reasons
and for the total welfare of the country that I solicit your support of H.R, 9822.
I hope very much that we can obtain quick action by both Houses of the Congress
during the present session,

Sincerely yours,

 
  
 

iff, SA. Ar zy
Jonn E, Fo oty
mber of Congress
Honorable Graham A. Barden, M.C.
Chairman, House Committee on
Labor and Education
House of Representatives
Washington, D. Co