they relieve human suffering, are essential. Therefore, I was dis-
appointed over the President's veto last week of the distressed area
legislation, but it seems to me that we can never arrive at a permanent
solution to the problems of the region until we stop thinking of the
mountains as a "distressed area" and begin to think of them as an
underdeveloped region with vast untapped human and natural
resources—a region that can find its rightful economic level only
through a plan of overall economic development, programmed for a
period of five, ten, or even twenty years. Such a program must con-
centrate on curing the disease, not treating the symptoms. It must
aim towards breaking down the interlocking obstacles of terrain and
isolation which underlie and aggravate—and, in some cases, directly
create—those chronic and recurrent economic problems with which
we are all too familiar.

All of us are aware, I believe, that improving the economy of the
Appalachian Region would also have a most favorable impact upon
the remaining areas of all of our states. We here in Maryland, for
example, are very much aware that the Appalachian Mountain area
forms a significant part of our economic hinterland, and any improve-
ment in conditions in the mountains will be felt promptly in our
coastal ports and trading centers. I am sure this is equally true for
those states whose eastern portions lie in the mountains and whose
western lands project along the great river valleys of the south and
midwest.

One of the encouraging aspects of the Appalachian picture is that
the unfavorable economic conditions are not uniform throughout the
area. Certain of the urban centers have recently begun to share a bit
more in our nation's overall prosperity, and I would hope that, with
encouragement, this trend could be strengthened to the point where
these cities could become centers of employment and thus forces for
economic development for ever larger areas. Bad as conditions may
be in certain areas of this great region, they are not nearly as bad
as some sensational reports would portray them. Whatever course
of action is taken, it must be positive—not negative. It must be de-
signed in a way which will point up the facts of our great potentials
and not be aggravated by bad advertising of conditions which can
and—I am sure—will be corrected in response to the intelligent leader-
ship of government in partnership with private enterprise.

But, as I have said, I cannot begin to touch on all the intricacies
of the problem, nor do I wish to pre-empt the time which we have to
discuss our ideas together. Americans cannot afford to be complacent

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