Mr. BARRETT. Mr. George, I just want to tell you that we appreciate two things that Georgia has done. First, submitting a very fine statement through you, Mr. George.

And, second, sending to the Congress, and particularly to the Banking and Currency Committee, and allowing us to have on this Housing Subcommittee, Robert Stephens. He is a great asset to both our full committee and to the Housing Subcommittee. And I want to tell you that we greatly appreciate what Georgia has done for us.

And I certainly want to indicate also that you should be thanked for your stanch support of the President's program.

Some critics of the demonstration cities bill have either stated or implied that it offers a program which will be helpful to large cities only. Now, I agree with the President that it would work in cities of all sizes. But I would like to ask you specifically whether a demonstration city program could be of great benefit to medium- or smallsized cities such as the cities in the State of Georgia. Would you say that would be a reasonable statement, and that this program would be helpful?

Mr. GEORGE. Mr. Chairman, it would. I think Douglas, Ga., a modest community of about 8,000 population, was the first city in the entire United States that had a housing demonstration grant. And they used that example in that community as a pattern for the development of programs throughout the whole United States. We think it is very helpful. And I have noticed questions from the committee in relation to the degree and the magnitude of the pro

We recognize that-I believe I am right-that initially the bill calls for the appropriation of $2.3 billion. And obviously, based on the testimony I have heard here, that would be inadequate to satisfy the problems from one end of the country to the other. But we do feel that this would be a beginning. If we use these grant funds and put them in the proper use and the proper places, then we could review the effects of it and determine the value of proceeding with a program in other cities.

I would think that as one city receives grants and brings its level of services and deficiencies up to a particular level, possibly the benefits of this program should be passed on to someone else, rather than repeated over and over in one of two or three or four cities. But I have filed a statement for the city of Atlanta as one of the attachments as part of our testimony. And we think that if a grant could be made to the city of Atlanta it would be beneficial and would have a greater impact upon the total problems of Georgia and the Southeast than anywhere else in the South. And we think we can prove that. But if other demonstration city grants might be available, of course, we would like to see other cities like Savannah, Ga., Augusta, Ga., or Athens, Ga., key cities, avail themselves of that.

Mr. BARRETT. Thank you, sir.

Mr. Stephens, do you want to ask any questions?

Mr. STEPHENS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I see it is 5 minutes to 1. I think we are running a little bit over the normal time. And I am sorry that we have not had a chance to ask you more questions. But, again, we appreciate your coming here to be with us.