Speaker WON PAT. And to the left of Dr. Miller is the honorable gentleman from Colorado, member of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Congressman Aspinall. To his left is Dr. Jack Taylor, consultant to the committee. And on my right is our distinguished Governor and to his right is Mr. Anthony Lausi, who is the Deputy Director, Office of Territories, Department of Interior. On the extremes, left and right, are two gentlemen all known to us, the secretary of Guam, Mr. R. S. Herman, and the legislative counsel, Mr. John Bohn.

I wish to announce that today we will have to confine our discussion to those listed in our agenda. Unfortunately, the committee members have previous engagements with the Commander Naval Forces, Marianas, and officials of the Trust Territory sometime this afternoon and in order that they may carry out these engagements we will have to confine our conference to this morning only. We will conclude our discussion at exactly 12:30 and repair to the Talk o' the Town for luncheon.

The Chair will now call upon Mr. F. B. Leon Guerrero.

ENACTMENT OF AN OMNIBUS BILL FOR GUAM

Mr. F. B. LEON GUERRERO (member-elect). Mr. Chairman, Honorable Aspinall, Governor Elvidge, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, my assignment is to discuss the enactment of the omnibus bill for Guam. To us, it is a very big package. We certainly appreciate the arrival of our friends from Washington who will be instrumental in finally passing some of the statutes that have been recommended to be applicable to Guam. This is in particular reference to H. R. 10131 introduced by the gentleman from Nebraska, Mr. Miller, on July 30, 1954, a bill to implement section 25 (b) of the Organic Act of Guam by carrying out the recommendations of the Commission on the Application of Federal Laws to Guam and for other purposes. I trust that it will not cause any feeling that we are going to prolong the session because we are not going into details of the bill. In short, we certainly recommend enactment. All the subject matter in the bill is important. The recommendation of the Commission on the Application of Federal Laws to Guam was positive. The enactment of these laws favorable to Guam and contained in the omnibus bill will be very desirable.

Our people are not now represented in the Congress of the United States. We have had previous visits like this one and we are duly thankful to those whose sympathetic understanding of our local situation have caused some favorable action. When leaders from Washington arrive here and take matters directly without any of the usual roundabout method via official channels, Guam and its people are more likely to receive favorable consideration.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, with the remarks I have made I now have the honor to give way to the other members of the committee who will give you in a capable manner further details of our position on the enactment of the omnibus bill and possibly other laws favorable to Guam.

(A copy of H. R. 10131, 83d Cong., 2d sess., appears as appendix 4.) Speaker WON PAT. The honorable gentleman from Barrigada, Mr. Perez.

Mr. F. D. PEREZ, Honorable members of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, officials of the Territory, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, this morning I will speak on a section of the omnibus bill,

which to our understanding, will be introduced at the next session of our National Congress. I will confine my remarks on Federal agricultural aid to the territory of Guam.

First, I would like to explain to you in a humble way the necessity of opening up under-developed areas in our Territory. I am sure you are all acquainted with the fact that most of the agricultural and arable lands of our Territory, beginning from the outside of the city of Agaña and clear on up to Mongmong, the Agaña Air Station, Radio Barrigada, the 5th Construction Battalion area, the 5th Brigade, were the areas where the greater majority of our 11,000 population farmed before the World War II. These areas were planted to subsurface crops, and were utilized for raising livestock including poultry and hogs. As a result of military occupation of the Territory and World War II which was no fault of our National Government or the people of the Territory, it became necessary to occupy these areas in order that military installations could be established to defeat the common enemy. That resulted in the removal or discontinuance of agricultural pursuits in these areas which supplied the needs of our people and in addition the needs of the off-islanders at the time when they were here on the island. The total area used for such military establishments and removed from use for agriculture and livestock raising was in the neighborhood of 25,000 acres. This resulted in a considerable drawback for the development of agriculture. Our people were very cooperative in moving out of these areas in order to make way for the needed installations so that the common enemy could be defeated. Other people had to move to different areas owned by our people in privately owned lands in order that they could continue in a small way their agricultural pursuits. They found it very difficult to continue such agricultural developments on the underdeveloped areas.

As you will see, the unavailable lands are the areas formerly known as the crown land of Spain, now in the hands of the Interior and the Territory of Guam. In order that we may aid in the development of agriculture, which is one of the two essential industries of our Territory that can eventually help toward our economic stability, a considerable outlay of funds is required. These funds the private owners find difficult to provide. Therefore, this morning I am presenting to you, honorable gentlemen, the plea that you give us special consideration in order that funds may be made available to work these underdeveloped areas that are located on the southern end of the island, which are ideal for agriculture. Our government at this time is not financially able to develop these areas. In order that we may have to do away with what we called military economy, the day will have to come when we should rely greatly, if not wholly, on the development of agriculture and fishing industries on the island. If Federal aids could be made available for the development of these areas by supplying funds, equipment, and technical know-how, I am sure that within a short period of time we would be able to produce, especially from the southern end of the island, what we produced before the war.

I will try to give you a short picture of what we had before the war. Our people were really not dependent upon the military or private employment. We depended entirely upon the produce of our soil and I am sure that we would like to remain that way as much as possible and that that can only be made possible by assistance from our National Congress. Before the war we were not hampered in

agriculture by the introduction of destructive insects and bugs which were brought into the island as a result of World War II. This was the fault of no one in particular, but as you will see the Department of Agriculture has very limited resources to combat these insects that at this time are making farming a very discouraging occupation. I do not blame any farmer at this time for not pursuing the further development of agriculture without proper aid. In most cases or in the greater majority of all cases, you will find it very unprofitable to pursue agriculture due to destructive insects. If Federal aids are made available, I am sure then we can solve our problem and cut down importation of food from outside the Territory of Guam.

As I voice my sentiments this morning you can very well see that I am not antagonistic over the occupation of this land by the military, but I am just putting out facts. What we are humbly requesting you, gentlemen, is to give us your special consideration and hope that in the future we may have financial aids to develop agriculture for the betterment of Guam and our government.

Speaker WON PAT. We will now hear from the lady from Barrigada. Mrs. L. UNTALAN (member-elect). Let me express my appreciation for the important visit that we have today from these honorable gentlemen from the United States. It shows that Guam is playing a bigger and greater role in relation to the United States. May we ask the gentlemen in the coming Congress of the United States to give special consideration to some of the points that we bring up this morning.

I particularly wish to bring the problem of vocational education to your attention. We have a problem on Guam which although may not seem too big to you, it is to us. We are becoming more and more alarmed. Our youngsters are getting to be more active than we realize. May we ask for Federal aid to give us more funds for vocational training? Our schools in Guam are in great need for that. If our youngsters are given the opportunity to develop their talents, their time may be best employed in productive work thereby reducing juvenile delinquency. May we also ask for more help for recreational facilities in Guam? We have school playgrounds but we still need a lot more to cover the entire Territory of Guam to provide facilities for the recreation of our children. We have not reached the point where we can say that it is an impossible problem or is too great to be handled by us but we need Federal aid. Needless to go into details, you may have had a previous report. We have limited space and limited facilities. That, gentlemen, is the most important point that I want to bring to your attention.

It may be well at this time to recall that back in 1950 there was created a Commission by act of Congress on the Application of the Federal Laws to Guam. By appointment, we had representation in Washington for Guam. On this Commission, Mr. F. B. Leon Guerrero was a member and at some of the meetings Mr. F. D. Perez was present. We understand that a draft incorporated some 400 laws applicable to Guam. In the course of years, events have occurred, changes have happened. Some of these points are included in this draft and some have been deleted and today we have part of the list in the form of the omnibus bill. We appreciate the interest of the Congress in submitting that omnibus bill to your last Congress of the United States. May we ask that in the future some sort of repre

sentation be granted Guam on matters to be of vital interest to Guam. This concludes my statement. Thank you.

(See appendix 5 for data on Department of Education referred to by Mrs. Untalan.)

Speaker WON PAT. We will now hear from Mr. E. T. Calvo.

Mr. E. T. CALVO. Mr. Chairman and honorable gentlemen of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Subcommittee, I don't think I can add much to the remarks that have already been made by my honorable colleagues. I want to impart to the committee that we, the people of Guam, are by nature peace-loving and patient people. There is no question that each and everyone of us in Guam is most desirous in seeing more benefits added to this omnibus bill in addition to its present form.

As practical people, however, we are mindful of our responsibilities and shortcomings, and would like to leave this matter entirely to your own good judgment and discretion. We know full well that by the time you leave Guam you will have a better understanding and knowledge of our problems and the immediate needs of Guam. By this, I mean that much as we would like to see all the sections on this bill enacted by the United States Congress, if there should come up any monkey wrench or objectionable section on this bill which would throw out or jeopardize the passage of the bill, we ask you to take our position at heart to insure the passage of this bill, without affecting materially the main issues with which we in Guam are vitally concerned.

There is one other factor that we would like to impress upon the minds of the committee and that is that we are seriously thinking and concerned with our economic stability. Since the reoccupation of Guam by the United States Armed Forces, we have been very fortunate in enjoying unprecedented business activity in Guam and are witnessing a gratifying demand for employment of our people brought about by a military economy. This is an economy which is more or less artificial as we have no assurance that the military will continue to maintain its present military program and no doubt we must be prepared to anticipate any retrenchment or reduction in military activities here at any time in the future.

We know that we can never hope to be self-sustaining as even big nations with natural resources are not themselves self-sufficient.

During the Japanese occupation, we experienced economic hardships and we learned that agriculture is our only natural economy which will enable us to make a living. Our greatest concern now is to supplement our complete economic dependency upon the military at this time with a stable economic mainstay of the land such as agriculture in order that we may be able to weather any retrenchment in the future.

Speaker WON PAT. Before we go on to the next item, I am sure that the members of the congressional committee would like to express their reaction and views on remarks on item 1 presented by the various gentlemen and the lady from Barrigada, Mrs. Untalan.

Dr. MILLER. I know our time is limited in dealing with the problems. for Guam. I know that Mr. Aspinall and I are here to listen and to get as much information as possible from you folks. While I introduced the bill, in looking it over in some detail and analyzing it, I think perhaps we will have to give and take. I realize that there were

several items in the bill. You have to be practical in your political approach. There are some excellent sections in the bill. I think section 3 of the agricultural research is most important if you are going to develop an agricultural economy here, and you should. Section 5, which is part of the Agricultural Act, would be one dealing with your schools. You have had a tremendous impact in this area because the military has found it necessary to utilize the island. You have a military impact as far as school buildings and the equipment for the schools are concerned. Personally, I think we can hold up high hopes that something can be done to ease this condition.

You have the hospital construction bill, the Hill-Burton Act. I see no reason why Guam might not be included under the Hill-Burton Act. As to your housing, I think you did something yourselves. I do think that that $15 million obtained in Washington by Mr. Won Pat, will have to be administered very carefully. There again you have part of this bill enacted as far as your housing is concerned. There are other sections in the bill which are minor things. The big ones will be your schools, hospitals, agricultural research, and if you get these things you are on the road to considerable accomplishments on the omnibus bill. I am sure that it will be reintroduced and given the attention that we want given.

We will be joined by two other Members of Congress in a day. I appreciate being here with your legislative assembly and it has been a very comfortable meeting. Our purpose is to try to understand your problems. I will listen a great deal to the other remarks.

Speaker WON PAT. I will ask Congressman Aspinall if he would like to say a few things.

Mr. ASPINALL. Mr. Speaker, personally I will express my appreciation as part of this committee from the United States for the opportunity of meeting with you today. May I say also that I have been personally delighted at this presentation.

The bill has many sections, as you know, and so far you have spoken only on 9 or 10 sections of the bill. Chairman Miller has called attention to the difficulty of incorporating some of the sections of this bill in the act. I can assure you that having been here, having met with you, and having seen the area and its people, it will be much easier for us to differentiate what might be important and what might be less important.

You must keep in mind, as you ask for aid from the Congress of the United States, that we have situations in this particular area, called the offshore areas, which are not usual procedures in the Congress of the United States; for instance, we permit this area to keep the income taxes collected out here. That is a special benefit to you folks. You must use and expend that fund with that in mind, When you ask for additional funds, you must be careful that you are not asking for funds for specific projects which should be carried by you. I think that we can understand the difficulty that you have here on this island relative to agriculture. I believe it should be brought into a direct relationship with certain benefits which now are secured to the people on the mainland. On the other hand, the greatest of the difficulty is because of the difference of the economic values to other activities rather than agriculture. In building up agricultural economy, some of you people are bringing in the values in spite of the fact that other economic values are perhaps more worthwhile and appealing presently on the island.