Remarks at a Meeting of the President's Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy.

I HAVE ASKED you here this morning to seek your counsel.

This Committee has written a proud record from the start. Many of you have been members since its creation in 1961, serving your Nation and two Presidents. To you and to the new members, I say: At this time we need the benefit of all your wisdom and skill.

We stand together in a truly remarkable effort. It is indeed a hallmark of our democracy that men representing industry, labor, Government, and the public have gathered here today. You are joined in a common cause--economic prosperity for all Americans.

I ask you to consider the crucial domestic issue of the day--the maintenance of our unparalleled prosperity with economic stability.

I ask you to look at this problem not from the standpoint of labor or business. I want you to ask yourselves:

--If you were President, what would you do?

The economy grows stronger every day. We are now approaching solutions to old problems--full employment, plants operating at capacity, sustained and uninterrupted growth. But as we near these historic achievements, we face new problems in the challenge of prosperity. Disquieting signs are beginning to appear.

Consumer prices have risen 2.8 percent in the past 12 months. Wholesale prices are up 4 percent.

There are indications of wage increases substantially above those in prior years.

Skilled labor is short in some industries and in some areas.

The consuming public--of which we are all a part--is concerned about keeping the cost of living down.

Some seek an answer in higher taxes. Others urge wage and price controls. A few look to even higher interest rates.

These are some of the facts and some of the solutions we hear today.

But I want you to consider all of the facts and all of the alternatives.

I have asked Secretary Wirtz, Secretary Connor, Chairman Ackley, and their colleagues to give you any information you need or want to help in your deliberations.

This prosperity of the past 5 years has benefited all Americans--the workingman, the businessman, the farmer, and the professional. So long as I am President, I will do everything in my power to maintain that prosperity with stability, to maintain healthy profits and fair wages. This is our common goal.

To help achieve this goal, I seek your advice.

I particularly seek your views and constructive suggestions on the more critical problems we face:

--How effective is the program of voluntary restraint?

--What is the role of business and labor in such a program?

--What is the role of governments--Federal, State, and local--executive and legislative branches--in these times?

--What are your views on tax and monetary policy?

--What is the role of the wage-price guideposts?

--How do we maintain stable costs for essential services, such as medical care, that are now pushing the cost of living up?

These are not simple questions.

They cannot be fully answered at the end of 2 days of meetings. For they present uncharted terrain even for our best economists-because free peoples have never known such prosperity.