1 - American Memory

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second major source of income, are expected to level off or drop next
year.
All of these factors are having a decided impact on our thousands
of small enterprises, and creating unemployment and uncertainty. If
we should be subjected to any significant interruption of our lifeline
next year or the year after that, the economic impact will surely be
severe—but I fear the psychological impact upon business and con-
sumer alike will be long-lasting and will destroy the confidence of resi-
dents and prospective investors. People cannot live in constant fear of
running out of salt and toilet paper and rice, or out of fear of being
laid off because the basic materials needed to perform their jobs can t
reach them.
There is no other American State that would condone such isolation
from the necessities of life and of employment. When 80 percent or
more of your vita] needs are cut off, you do not have time to come
running to Congress for special relief; you do not have time to wait for
the impact to spread to several other States so the President may de-
clare a national or regional emergency. The merchants begin to panic
a whole month before a contract expiration. The consumers begin to
panic about 2 weeks before a contract expires. And the tension be-
comes severe on the day of the walkout. No matter the assurances of
business that supplies on hand are adequate for at least 45 days for
nonperishables, the hoarding begins. The instinct of self-preservation
is demonstrated to its fullest without shame.
Mr. Chairman, the people of Hawaii want only to be given the same
consideration that people in other States receive when there is a major
transportation interruption. They are convinced that no area on the
U.S. mainland could be cut off so completely and for so long from so
much of its needs without early intervention by the Congress or the
Executive. But what hurts us does not hurt adjoining States—we are
all alone with the narrowest part of our border measuring 2,400 miles
thick.
We firmly believe that Representatives Matsunaga and Mink have
propounded a reasonable bill in H.R. 7189—one that should be ac-
ceptable to all parties concerned, one that will by no stretch of the
imagination break a strike nor interfere in the continuation of the
collective bargaining process. In fact, Mr. Chairman, the passage of
this bill will remove from the parties on the west coast the pressures
we usually place on the White House of immediate Taft-Hartley in-
junctions. We are the only ones screaming for help at the earliest
stages of a west coast strike or lockout, the people on the west coast
are usually unaware of any effects from such longshore and maritime
disputes.
There is already evidence that enactment of H.R. 7189 into law
would measurably help to reduce the cost of doing business in Hawaii
and lielp to ease consumer prices.
Just as significantly, it would ease our tensions and restore our con-
fidence and make people elsewhere less fearful of doing business ^vith
us. Today, just a little over 15 years since statehood, the people of
Hawaii want full equality of treatment afforded all other States. The
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