Ford Broadcasts, 1965-1966: 12237637

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

WETA-TV DOCUMENTARY ON GREAT SOCIETY, ET AL.

The Appalachia program is an example of what Mr. Johnson calls "creative federalism." It passed the House a little more than a year ago, 257 to 165. It was the first major Great Society bill to clear the 89th Congress.

Republicans opposed it on the ground that Congress was discriminating against other regions troubled with poverty pockets by pumping extra federal dollars into one particular part of the country. Well, Mr. Johnson has an answer for that. He now plans to use this same type of regional aid approach for other blocs of states. That way he can spend much more on such programs.

Instead of the general attack on poverty pockets throughout the country that House Republicans proposed early last year, the Administration plans to do it on a region-by-region basis. That way the dollar amount in each bill does not seem overly great, but all the bills put together will add up to a whopping sum.

Are federal dollars the only answer to the economic woes of areas with played-out coal mines and iron ore mines depleted of high grade ore?

One answer in those areas is to capitalize on assets not yet fully developed—such as prospects for promoting a richly rewarding tourist industry or turning other natural resources not yet fully tapped into jobs and local dollars. This can often be done through state and local action. Minnesota, for instance, has persuaded industry to make use of that state's virtually unlimited low-grade iron ore reserves by giving industry a tax break as an incentive. Incidentally, this break was voted by the people—not handed to industry by the State legislature.

This is local and state creativeness. This is creativeness at its best.

This is the people speaking and solving their problems. This is what we Republicans believe in.