Remarks at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock.

Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Faubus, distinguished guests:

I appreciate very much the hospitality shown to all of us and the chance to visit what Congressman Mills has described as the greatest State in the Union and to have a chance to say a few words about Arkansas and the South and the country.

I am particularly glad to be here in company with the Arkansas delegation which occupies a position of influence not only affecting the welfare of this State, but also the welfare of the United States, because the men whom you send from Arkansas, by virtue of their long service, now occupy a position of the highest importance affecting the welfare of every American regardless of where he may live.

And thus--the senior Senator, Senator McClellan, who occupies the position as head of the investigating committee on which I once served, and has served this country and State with distinction and has been the architect of a good many of the dams and basins which we have looked at from the air today.

The junior Senator from Arkansas, Senator Fulbright, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on which I once served with him, who was the floor manager of the legislation recently passed to make it possible for both the Soviet Union and the United States and the world not to resume once again atmospheric testing, which destroys our atmosphere and our hopes for peace.

And your Congressman, Wilbur Mills, who is chairman of the committee which determines taxes, which determines the level of income, which determines the tariffs, the chairman of the committee which recently, last week, in the Congress passed the most far-reaching economic bill which has passed the House of Representatives in 15 years. And Chairman Harris, from this State, of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, who now works on a bill this week which will do more for mental health and mental retardation in children than any bill the Congress of the United States has ever passed.

And Congressman Gathings and Congressman Trimble, who serve on the Agriculture Committee and the Rules Committee.

These men write laws which affect not only this State, but all the States, and I think they write good laws. And I am glad to come down here and salute them and salute the people who sent them to Washington.

These are forward-looking measures and they are forward-looking men, and their contribution to the welfare of this country may come as a surprise to those whose view of the South may be distorted by headlines and headline-seekers. The old South has its problems and they are not yet over, nor are they over in the rest of the country. But there is rising every day, I believe, a new South, a new South of which Henry Grady spoke about 80 years ago, and I have seen it in your universities, in your cities, in your industries. The new South I saw this morning on the Little Red River, the dams and reservoirs through the White River and the Arkansas River Basin in a sense symbolize the new South, for they mean navigation for your commerce, protection for your cities, opportunity for your people.

Why is it that before these great developments this State steadily lost population and now, in recent years, this State has grown far faster than the rest of the United States? These things don't just happen. They are made to happen. They represent effort by the people here. They represent basically effort and leadership by the people here, but they also represent effort by the people of the United States working through the Congress which makes it possible to build these dams, which makes it possible to develop this State, which makes it possible to develop the United States.

This State, this country, the National Government has not invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Arkansas in order to dominate the State. Far from it. The fact of the matter is that these great projects will pay for themselves many times over as the State of Arkansas rises in income.

At one time, 25 years ago, the Federal Government spent $20 in this State for every dollar that this State sent to Washington. Now it is 2 to 1. Then it will be even, and sooner or later in the next 10 years this State, with its steadily rising income, will be among the most prosperous in the country. That is the new South. That is what cooperative effort can do.

It is too bad that headlines haven't reported that in the past 5 years, southern colleges and universities have increased their expenditure by 40 percent, their physical plant by 50 percent, the average faculty salary by 25 percent. All of this represents an investment in people and resources. And I am proud to say that the National Government has had its part in this great, cooperative effort--in guaranteeing the homes, in making it possible to guarantee the crops, in building these dams, in contributing to the universities and the schools, in helping in vocational training, in helping build hospitals, in all these things that make it possible to release the energy of the people of Arkansas and cause this State to steadily move upward.

That is what I am proud of, and that is what this country is proud of, and this State is proud of.

Since the close of the Second World War, the relative importance of manufacturing has grown twice as fast in this State as in the Nation as a whole four times faster than the rate of manufacturing employment, four times faster in Arkansas than it has in the rest of the Nation.

Per capita income does not lag behind as much as it used to. In 1940 the per capita income in this State was about $300 or more. Now it is five times as much in 21 or 22 years. Those things just don't happen.

I think that a lot of that comes from the wise decisions that this country made in the thirties, under the administration of Franklin Roosevelt, and which have been built upon since then which have permitted us in this State and country to enjoy prosperity from 1945 until 1963, in contrast to the depression which occurred in this State from 1919 to

1939. And those who wish to turn the clock back, those who wish to stand still, those who wish to end the partnership which exists between this State and the National Government and every other State should just read the history of Arkansas from 1919 to 1939.

This rising tide in this State and in the South and in the Nation must continue. We must build those dams, we must use our resources, we must educate our children, we must provide jobs for our people. These are the great assignments which this generation of Americans in the sixties has before it.

And I am glad to say that the people of Arkansas and the Members of Congress you sent there have recognized it. This is no time to stand still. This country of ours occupies a position of unique leadership throughout the world. Without the United States, the cause of freedom would long ago have been washed away.

There are one million Americans serving outside our borders today defending the cause of freedom all around the globe. This is an assignment which we have accepted, which has been thrust upon us, and I think we accept it with pride. But in order to meet our commitments to ourselves and those who depend upon us, this country must continue to make a great national effort all over the country, north and south, east and west, in order to move our life forward, in order to make it possible for us to find the jobs for the people who are coming after, in order to make it possible for your sons and daughters to go to college.

We are going to have twice as many trying to get into college in 1970 as in 1960. You are going to have 10 million Americans trying to get jobs in the next 2 1/2 years.

This country has great opportunities and great responsibilities. And I hope that this State and others like it will associate together to provide a fairer opportunity for all Americans to realize their talents, to make something of themselves, to give them a fair chance, which is what we stand for and which our Constitution promises.

So I come here today with a good deal of satisfaction and pride and appreciation for what your Congress has done, what your State has done, most of all what our country has done.

This great new South contributes to a great new America, and you particularly, those of you who are young, I think, can look forward to a day when we shall have no South, no North, no East, no West, but "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." That is what we are building in this country today.