Statement by the President Upon Signing Bill To Incorporate the National Music Council.

IN APPROVING the bill (H. R. 8110), to incorporate the National Music Council, I wish to salute musicians and the important part they play in the life of our people. American music has brought us pleasurable distinction at home and abroad.

Congress has chartered the National Music Council because of its important and effective role as a central body representing virtually all of the major voluntary musical organizations in our country. Its members include symphony orchestras, song writers, choruses, educational associations, publishers, labor unions, music clubs, and others. Thus the National Music Council is truly representative of the American way of life, in which music can flourish as it should in a free democratic society, as a voluntary activity under the nourishment and control of private citizens.

Millions of Americans are engaged in the creation, performance and active appreciation of music. Indeed it is a rare day when any one of us does not hear some form of music; it is hard to imagine our lives without it. The enjoyment of music--speaking for myself, at least--has a moral and spiritual value which is unique and powerful. It reaches easily and quickly across lingual, racial and national barriers. The development of American music, and the native development of any art, is therefore the development of a national treasure.