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    "label": "Exchange Club, Grand Rapids, MI, October 26, 1970",
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    "id": "4526334",
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    "title": "Exchange Club, Grand Rapids, MI, October 26, 1970",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/4526334",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
        "Speeches"
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    "subjects": [
        "Business",
        "Environmental protection",
        "Manpower policy",
        "Pollution",
        "Unemployment",
        "Water pollution"
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    "ocrText": "The original documents are located in Box D30, folder \"Exchange Club, Grand Rapids,\nMI, October 26, 1970\" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File\nat the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nCopyright Notice\nThe copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of\nphotocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United\nStates of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.\nWorks prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public\ndomain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to\nremain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid\ncopyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.\nRemarks by Rep. berald Ri ford club before The\nGrand Rapids 12 NOON Exchange OCT. 26, 1970 M Office copy\nAN ADDRESS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD R-MICH\nONLY\nREPUBLICAN LEADER U.S HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES\nBEFORE THE DELAWARE COUNTY, PA., CHAMBER OF COMMERCE\nREADING\nAZ MEDIA PENNSYLVANIA\nHave MM OCTOBER 19707\ncopy\nMADE\nNOON, MONDAY, OCT.26\nFOR RELEASE AT\nWe are nearing the end of the first year of a new decade. We are passing\nthrough the gateway of the Seventies. We are moving onto the pathway of progress--\nprogress toward peace, prosperity and plenty.\nThe great problems of the Sixties are yielding to the solutions of the\nSeventies.\nSizable steps have been taken toward peace with honor in Vietnam.\nThere are clear signs of success in the fight against inflation. We are\nwinning that fight, and we are in the early stages of a new era of growth in the\neconomy.\nAnd despite some reluctance on the part of some in Congress, we are moving\nto reform the social and political conditions left over from the past, conditions\nwhich have no place in the United States of the Seventies.\nBut government cannot achieve goals or priorities alone. It can reach its\nmajor objectives only with the help of the private sector, only by drawing upon the\nstrength and resources of private enterprise. It can achieve national goals only as\nit is aided by business and industry, the academic world, and by all of our citizens.\nBut What of the environmental crisis? That will be a test more severe than\nany other for business and industry.\nIs the business community ignoring the pollution of our atmosphere ?\nwe drink and the air we breathe the wanton destruction of our environment?\nThere are those who would have America believe SO. But they are dead wrong.\nThey are wrong on the facts, and they are wrong in their approach to the problems\ninvolved in restoring our environment.\nI agree with those who set tough goals for industry to reach--who sees\nGER R. a FORD LIBRARY\npollution-free automobile engine by 1975 or '76, Prinstance.\nBut bear in mind that it was not until the 1950's that automotive fuels were\nfound to be one of the major causes of smog We have made signi licant progress in\nmeeting the problem since then.\nThe 1970 cars, for instance, emit only a fraction of the pollutants that were\nemitted from a car built as recently as 1960, and the automotive industry has\ncommitted itself to solving the pollution problem completely at the earliest\npossible time. In that connection, the automotive industry has the full cooperation\n(more)\nDigitized from Box D30 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library\n-4-\nof the oil industry, which is modifying the content of its fuel.\nAld of us became excited on Earth Day this year. There was reason to become\nexcited. We finally realized that the poisoning of our atmosphere threatens our very\nsurvival.\nhowever.\nA challenge to our survival does not justify national hysteria Hysteria\nhas never produced any rational solutions to our problems.\nBut\ngoing to bet on who will come up with a solution to automotive\nLetme say that\npollution I would much rather put my money on the men in Detroit or on Bill Lear,\nthe engineering genius who is developing a steam turbine car, than on the college\nyouths\ncars\nwho\ndig\nhole\non\ncampus\nand\nbury\nin the ground.\nThere is a critical need today to bring man into harmony with nature. But\ndon't think we should to do it by attaching industry or declaring war\non industry and\nI\nshutting\neconomic progress.\nWe must declare war on environmental pollution, and it is a war we must win.\nBut we must pursue a grand strategy in waging that war, not engage in a\ntargetting of industry which will wreck our economic machine and put people out of\nwork.\nAgain, as in the crusade to aid the disadvantaged with training and jobs,\n(W\nneed a partnership between government and business. In fact we need a network\nof partnerships--between government and business, between the Federal government and\nstate and local governments, between government and the individual citizen.\nWorking together we can meet the environmental crisis. Working against each\nother, we can only come to grief.\nIt is vital that we work together.\nWe should adopt the\nI do not think it is helpful for the extreme environmentalists to sheer at the\n37-point anti-pollution program President Nixon sent to Congress last February\nof\nsponsored ground that only seven extreme would be otheadministrations will if be useful in combatting anti polution pollution. would Gills.\nLdo\nthink\nhelpful\nthe\nmajority\nparty\nin\nCongress\natleast Creen to hold hold hearings\non\nthe\nmy\nEnvironmental Financing Authority\nbill which is intended to help finance the State and local share of waste treatment\nplants.\nI am proud of my record on environmental issues. I have voted in favor of every\npractical anti-pollution measure during my entire stay in the Congress. And I\nin funds\nhave had a hand in bringing nearly $1.5 millionAto Kent and Ionia Counties for sewer\nand water improvements and $3.1 million for more parklands. I'll gladly stand on that\nrecord.\nGERALD\nLYBRARY\nI do not think it is helpful to pose the environmental question in terms of\na choice between clean air and water or more and more kilowatts, a livable\nenvironment or more and more cars. I think we will have more kilowatts but clean\nair and water as well. I think we will achieve a livable environment despite more\nand more cars. Let us not engage in a game of silly doomsday alternatives. We can\n(more)\nI\nsofey\n78 JOGST 07,\nT2 THE COURLGES DO\n20 OU\nIf\nTo\n26 CEW come DO ELIGIN\nAS CBD meer 200 CLISTS secp\neng JOGGJ sug are CIFFESH'\nof WOARLWING use pretuses* permesu fue Legelst sug\n115 weeg of eug prejuces* IU IFCF AG useg 8\none evg\nMOLK\nperferring of IngnariA ATT MARCK one economic wecpine sug but beobye one OI,\nas wreg bacance # Steug TV ASRIDE cust ASI. NOT sokeRs THE $ ATOFORS\nMS wher gecysis ASL OD sug If Tª to A.9. MG wrre MTD*\nI good\nTO CO wew TUTO permont ATCP price\nAUTO iT cembre aug FIGGL TU cps\nMPO TO фелетобтие S after PALPING CUL' per ou fue cojje8e\nMONTH surce Leguer, bnc MA ou FP6 WGU TU DEFLOIF or OU BITT PESL'\nor ATT 0 fo ипрошортло\nwo of enotivios [sholder VIS\nV operjende fo one EMLATABJ goes vor INSTITA DECTODET\nexciped M° LINGTTA Lasyrrey plant fue 01 am squosbyers one\nVII of me peceme excress OU HELP DSA fure AGUL' INGLE ASE LOSSON 10 pecome\nof OTT Tº pps compens of If# INST\n-5-\nfind the answers without that kind of wonsenue.\nthe President's environmental message of last February\nrepresented a landmark. It was the first time the people had been given a\npresidential assessment of the state of their environment. It was the first time\nin recent history that a President of the United States had committed himself to a\ncrusade for a clean environment, a restoration of our land to its former state of\nAmerica the Beautiful.\nI firmly believe that congressional approval of the President's environmental\nproposals would be a great step toward improving the quality of our environment.\nI think it appropriate and healthy that in the President's water pollution\ncontrol program the Federal cost-share of the four-year program would be\n$4 billion and the State and local shares, $6 billion.\nStet\nThis is in line with an updated Federal Water Quality Administration report\nwhich puts the Nation's requirements for community waste treatment facilities at\n$9.9 billion over the next four years.\nIn addition to the roughly $10 billion needed in municipal sewage treatment\nfacilities, the FWQE also estimates that an additional $15 to $17 billion must be\nspent over the next four years or five years for sanitary sewer construction,\nindustrial sewage treatment works, industrial cooling facialities and for municipal\nand industrial operating and maintenance costs.\nAction must be taken to stimulate a greatly expanded program of water pollution\ncontrol by local communities. That is where the President's Environmental Financing\nAuthority comes in, with Federal underwriting of local bond issues.\nadditional\nFederal funding is not the sole answer. The\nFWQA\nreports\ncited\nearlior\nrevealed that the $880 million local communities put into water pollution control in\n1969 did little more than cover replacement and growth needs. In addition, the report\nshowed that the ratio of community funding put up to match Federal grants has slipped\nfrom $13.70 . per Federal water pollution control dollar spent in 1960 to $5.20 per\nFederal dollar at present. Stimulus is needed.\nAt the same time, water pollution control investments by industry apparently\nwere at a level of $500 million in 1968 and $700 million in 1969, with more than\nhalf of the wastes treated in public facilities having their origin in industry.\nthe most desirable policy is to accept all industrial wastes that\nFORD\ncan be treated in municipal plants but to establish user fees in line with the costs\nLIBRARY\nincurred to collect and treat wastes.\nGovernment must oversee the war on pollution but government need not be\nin fact must not be hostile to the private sector. In partnership, we will go\nforward\nThe important consideration is to lay down rules for fighting the war against\npollution and then to enforce those rules fairly and impartially upon all parties.\n(more)\n-6-\nThe American people are aroused. They can take and will take effective\naction.\nWe will win this war against pollution, and it will be a victory for the free\nenterprise system.\nOnly in freedom can men respond to the need for change in a manner\nwhich does not impose upon the dignity of the human spirit.\nFreedom as we know it under the free enterprise system produces an explosion\nof ideas and incentives and an ever growing stimulus to human betterment.\nFreedom allows man to do those things which he ought to do, for his own\nspiritual and physical well-being and for the spiritual and physical well-being of\nhis children and his children's children.\nIn freedom we will win.\nVictory in this war against pollution will be a\ntriumph of the human spirit. It will be a technological triumph made possible by\nthe joint effort of millions of Americans and the expenditure of billions of dollars.\nIt will constitute the biggest task in man's history, involving the building of a\ncomplex technology resulting from the recruitment of the world's best minds.\nLet us give full rein to the growing possibilities of improving man's\nenvironment. If we do this, and if we go forward in freedom, we can meet this\nchallenge to save our environment from destruction.\n# # #\nGERALD FORD LIBRARY\nDistribution: all Fifth Destrict news media office Copy\n10/21/70 pm. only\nCONGRESSMAN\nNEWS\nGERALD R. FORD\nHOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER\nRELEASE\n--FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON MONDAY--\nOctober 26, 1970\nExcerpts from a Speech by Rep. Gerald R. Ford before the Grand Rapids Exchange Club\nWhat of the environmental crisis?\nWe must declare war on environmental pollution, and it is a war we must win.\nBut we must pursue a grand strategy in waging that war, not engage in a targetting\nof industry which will wreck our economic machine and throw thousands of people out\nof work.\nMeeting the environmental crisis will be a test more severe than any other\nfor business and industry.\nI agree with those who set tough goals for industry to reach--who seek a\npollution-free automobile engine by 1975 or 1976, for instance. But we have made\nsignificant progress in meeting the problem, and the automotive industry has\ncommitted itself to solving the pollution problem at the earliest possible time.\nI'm betting that the men in Detroit or Bill Lear, the engineering genius who\nis developing a steam turbine car, will lick the automotive pollution problem for us.\nThere is a critical need today to bring man into harmony with nature. But I\ndon't think we should do it by declaring war on industry and shutting off all\neconomic progress.\nWe need a partnership between government and business. In fact, we need a\nnetwork of partnerships in the war against pollution--between government and business,\nbetween the Federal Government and the state and local governments, between government\nand the individual citizen.\nWorking together we can meet the environmental crisis. Working against each\nother, we can only come to grief.\nWe should adopt the 37-point anti-pollution program President Nixon sent to\nCongress last February. I sponsored all seven of the Administration's major anti-\npollution bills. It would be helpful if the majority party in Congress would at\nleast hold hearings on my Environmental Financing Authority bill which is designed\nto help finance the State and local share of waste treatment plants.\nI am proud of my record on environmental issues. I have voted in favor of\nevery practical anti-pollution measure during my entire stay in the Congress. And\nI have had a hand in bringing nearly $1.5 million to Kent and Ionia Counties for\nsewer and water improvements and $3.1 million for more parklands. I'll gladly stand\non that record.\n###"
}