[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 673 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 673

 Honoring the life of George Eastman and recognizing his contributions 
                    on the anniversary of his birth.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 14, 2004

Ms. Slaughter (for herself, Mr. Reynolds, Mr. Houghton, Mr. Quinn, Mr. 
 McDermott, Mrs. McCarthy of New York, and Mr. McNulty) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Government 
                                 Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring the life of George Eastman and recognizing his contributions 
                    on the anniversary of his birth.

Whereas George Eastman was born to Maria Kilbourn and George Washington Eastman 
        on July 12, 1854, in the village of Waterville, New York;
Whereas as a young teenager, George Eastman overcame adversity and hardship to 
        educate himself while also providing support for his widowed mother and 
        two sisters;
Whereas in 1880, after three years of experiments, Eastman invented a formula 
        for making photographs from dry plates, which quickly led to the 
        development of sensitized film;
Whereas Eastman's inventions related to the field of photography started a 
        multibillion dollar international corporation that attracted workers to 
        Rochester, New York, and laid the foundation for the growth of the city;
Whereas when he introduced the Kodak camera in 1888, Eastman coined the slogan 
        ``You press the button, we do the rest,'' which within a year became a 
        well-known phrase;
Whereas beyond his inventive genius, Eastman built his business demonstrating 
        remarkable foresight in his use of management techniques, including 
        offering insurance and health and safety programs to his employees;
Whereas Eastman felt that the prosperity of an organization was not necessarily 
        due to inventions and patents, but more to workers' goodwill and 
        loyalty, which in turn were enhanced by forms of profit sharing;
Whereas in 1919, Eastman gave one-third of his own holdings of company stock 
        (then worth $10,000,000) to his employees;
Whereas Eastman is almost as well known for his philanthropy as he is for his 
        pioneering work in photography, donating more than $100,000,000 of his 
        own money (close to $2,000,000,000 in today's dollars) to charitable 
        causes;
Whereas Eastman said, ``The progress of the world depends almost entirely upon 
        education,'' and supported his statement by giving generously to 
        educational institutions;
Whereas Eastman began giving to nonprofit institutions when his salary was only 
        $60 a week by donating $50 to the young and struggling Mechanics 
        Institute of Rochester, today know as the Rochester Institute of 
        Technology;
Whereas Eastman strongly supported the University of Rochester and the 
        Massachusetts Institute of Technology and gave substantial monetary 
        gifts to the Tuskegee Institute and Hampton Institute, which provided 
        education to African-American men and women;
Whereas dental clinics were also of great interest to Eastman;
Whereas boyhood dental health problems inspired Eastman to devise plans and 
        provide financial backing for a $2,500,000 dental clinic for Rochester;
Whereas Eastman expanded his dental health programs by establishing free dental 
        health clinics in cities where Kodak had factories, including New York 
        City, London, Paris, Stockholm, Brussels, and Rome;
Whereas the health problems that his sister Katie endured motivated Eastman to 
        give millions of dollars to the University of Rochester's medical school 
        and its hospitals;
Whereas Eastman loved music and wanted others to enjoy the beauty and pleasures 
        of music;
Whereas Eastman established and supported the Eastman School of Music and its 
        Eastman Theatre, as well as a symphony orchestra today known as the 
        Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra;
Whereas Eastman fundamentally changed the way Americans see other countries and 
        cultures by bringing the world to people through photographs; and
Whereas although known by his friends as a modest, unassuming man, Eastman was 
        also an inventor, a marketing genius, a global visionary, and a 
        philanthropist who left an indelible mark on his adopted hometown of 
        Rochester and also on the world: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives, on behalf of the 
American people, honors the life and legacy of George Eastman, the 
father of popular photography, and recognizes his contributions on the 
anniversary of his birth.
                                 <all>