Remarks at a Luncheon of the National Alliance of Businessmen.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Cabinet, my fellow presidents, and all the distinguished guests here and supporters of the Alliance:

It is a very great privilege for me to come before this group on one of the very few occasions on which I have left the White House for an appearance outside the White House in Washington or anyplace else.

I realize that some may wonder why.

Well, it seems to me that after trying for so many years to get in, why go out? [Laughter]

I am quite familiar with the work of this group, not only with the work that it has done but with the plans that it has for the future, and my remarks will be brief. They will relate to the men who have worked with you in the past, who will be working with you in the future, and also with the mission that I think is yours and is also that of the Nation.

First, a word about Don Kernal. We have several things in common. We were both born in the West. We both played football. We both served in the Navy, and we both made President. He made it a little sooner than I did.

The other thing, however, that I think we have in common is a deep concern about the problems that all of you have been considering during the course of these meetings, during yesterday and today.

In speaking of those problems, I first want to congratulate this Alliance for what it has done. I know that when you first projected your goal, the number of jobs--100,000 by June of 1969--many skeptics wondered whether it could be reached.

You have already reached that. Not only have you reached it before June 1969, but 80,000 of those for whom jobs have been found are still on the jobs, which is a truly remarkable record. I congratulate Henry Ford and all of those who have served so well in providing that kind of leadership for this very exciting project.

I am also aware of the plans you have for the future--the plans to move from 75 cities to 125 cities; the plans also to attempt to get at this whole problem of unemployment, and hard-core unemployment particularly, by moving perhaps as many as 500,000 into jobs--the time, as I understand now, June 1971, but because of the number of new cities, perhaps even sooner.

This is an ambitious project. What I am here to say, and what the members of this Cabinet are here to say, is that it has the complete, unqualified support of this administration, just as it had of the previous administration.

There is no partisanship in this program. All that we want and all that you want is to deal with this basically essential problem in an effective way; to move people from welfare rolls to payrolls. This we want; this you want; and you will have our support in that project.

I have two suggestions. One is to the number of cities. Going from 75 cities to 125 is ambitious. I think it could be more. In meeting with Don Kernal and also in meeting with members of the Chamber of Commerce a couple of days ago, I urged the possibility of considering a number of smaller towns or smaller cities for this particular group to operate in.

I do not know whether that is feasible. But I do know that the spirit is there. I do know that the personnel are there, that the desire is there, and also the problem.

While it would not appear that such massive strides could be made when we talk about smaller towns and smaller cities, certainly it is something that could be considered.

Then, the second area, one that you have already made great progress in, is with regard to youth. I was particularly impressed by the fact that 120,000 young Americans found jobs last summer as a result of what the Alliance did. What I am proposing now is that even more emphasis be put on this youth program.

The Secretary of Labor just recently completed a study that I had requested with regard to unemployment of youth in the United States. I don't need to tell this group of employers that the unemployment rate for youth, of course, is always higher than adults in any country, industrial or otherwise.

In the United States, it is three times as high. But the sad part of the statistic is that unemployment among youth in the United States is higher than in any industrial country in the world.

This, of course, poses the problem, and it also poses the challenge and the opportunity for this group. I know that under the leadership of Henry Ford, naturally, the slogan of this organization was that this was the group with the "better idea," and I would suggest that under the leadership of Don Kernal this should be the group that "thinks young." [Laughter]

In that respect, while I am not, of course, underplaying in any regard the immense responsibility that you have with regard to those in the older-age brackets, I would urge that you particularly concentrate on those programs that deal with unemployment among youth and see that they are folded into the others.

And then finally, one point that I think is a bit sensitive but perhaps needs to be discussed at a meeting like this: At the present time, this administration, like its predecessor, and as will be the case with its successor, is struggling with the problem of welfare.

What do we do about it? What should the level be? Should we have a national standard? Should we raise the standard?

And, as I have been looking at the various proposals with regard to welfare that have come across my desk, a thought has come to my mind that I am sure must come to yours: The word "welfare," I think, is, in a sense, an inaccurate term if we are thinking of the welfare of the individual in the broadest sense. Welfare is necessary--necessary when an individual is unable to get a job, necessary when an individual needs help. But when we think about the welfare of this country and the welfare of an individual, in the best sense, that means a job.

That is truly in the best interest of the welfare of the Nation and the welfare of every individual, because with that job comes dignity, dignity that cannot come, of course, from being on public welfare, no matter how high we are able to raise it, no matter how much we are able to do.

I am not indicating here any intention on the part of this administration not to do what is required and as much as we can do to take care of those who are unable to care for themselves, who cannot find jobs. But I am emphasizing here that when we are speaking of the welfare of an individual, we should not stop in terms of what government can do for him, but we should think in terms of that dignity that can only come from what he does for himself.

That is why what you do is so important. That is why we are supporting this program. That is why we urge you to do more. Because when we look at the history of welfare--it was rather cogently summed up in a recent meeting of the Urban Affairs Council--as we look through the ages, and welfare is not new, we have found that inevitably when such programs continue and escalate in any society, welfare tends to destroy those who receive it and to corrupt those who dispense it. That is why we must move toward the job solution, move toward it effectively, and that is why what you do is an immense contribution not only to the Nation but to the true welfare of every individual who, without what you do, would not have that opportunity to make the contribution to this country and to his own dignity that he could otherwise make.

I want to say to you, Mr. Chairman, that as I speak before many groups over these next few years as President of the United States, I know that many will be important, and the missions that they have will be ones that I will endorse.

I don't know of any one that in terms of concrete progress will serve the public interest and the individual interest of hundreds of thousands of Americans; I don't know of any group that will be more important than this group.

This is a group of very busy people; Governors, mayors, presidents of 300 companies, vice presidents, executive officials. You have taken off to come to Washington to a conference, and I suppose sometimes you wonder "Was this trip worthwhile?" All that I can say is that I know it is worthwhile. I know that without your help we cannot do the job that needs to be done. I know that with your help there is nothing that we cannot accomplish in this field.

So, I congratulate you and your outgoing chairman on what you have done, and I wish you well, and your new chairman, in what I know you are going to do for the individual and for this Nation. Thank you.