Statement by the President on the First Annual Report of the Inter-Agency Committee on Mexican American Affairs.

THE FIRST annual report of the Inter-Agency Committee on Mexican American Affairs, the organization we created last summer to focus the attention of the Government on the problems of the millions of Spanish-speaking American citizens, is encouraging.

The report is frank--it indicates that many of these citizens still live in poverty; that their housing, their educational opportunities, their employment opportunities, are still well below anything like an acceptable level.

The report indicates that there has been remarkable progress in the last 12 months, in the terms of jobs, of educational opportunities for children and adults, of housing; it shows real progress in equal employment by the Federal Government; and it shows that the Federal Government is now working with the community in giving real attention to the unique problems of our Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, and other Spanish-surnamed citizens.

We have now recognized, as a matter of Federal law, that bilingual education is a good approach to educating children growing up in a two-language culture. In the past 2 years we channeled $10 million to fund programs for bilingual and bicultural children.

We are now making much better use of our Spanish-speaking citizens in our relations with Latin American nations. Last fall, when Dr. Hector Garcia was addressing the United Nations in Spanish, another first, we had four Spanish-surnamed ambassadors in this field.

We have moved--through the poverty program, minimum wage laws for farmworkers, tighter regulation of farm labor housing, and by virtually terminating the bracero program--to make life more livable for the Nation's farmworkers, most of whom are Mexican-Americans.

Spanish-surnamed Federal employees increased 41 percent since 1965--up 9,000 jobs, many in positions where they can use their languages to help others who speak Spanish. The Post Office Department has added Mexican-Americans to its staff at about 60 times the rate it averaged in the last 120 years. Mexican-American Federal employees earning over $10,000 a year have virtually doubled in 2 years in the Southwest. Spanish-surnamed employees in top level Federal jobs have increased 185 percent since 1963.

The Civil Service Commission has requested all agencies to place Spanish-speaking citizens in jobs where their ability can help those citizens with limited English.

Seven Southwest cities with large Spanish-speaking populations have been added to the model cities program which will use Federal funds to improve urban living, including housing and schools.

There are many other examples of our progress, which have been reported to me by the Inter-Agency Committee, and its Chairman, Vicente T. Ximenes.

There is much work to be done, but we have started to move, we plan to continue to move toward full-fledged equality for all Spanish-surnamed citizens.