[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 138 (Wednesday, September 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                        NO COMMUNITY IS ISOLATED

 Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, an essay by Jerry Timmons, a 
former associate editor of the Oregonian, came to my attention recently 
and I would like to take this opportunity to share it with my 
colleagues. In his article, Mr. Timmons makes clear that the divisions 
between rural and urban regions are on occasion artificial 
demarcations, the creation of which often works to the disadvantage of 
rural communities. His point that ``rural issues affect everyone'' is 
one I agree with fully. I urge my colleagues to consider the arguments 
presented by Mr. Timmons and to bear these comments in mind as issues 
affecting both communities come before the Senate.
  The essay follows:

                  [From the Oregonian, July 26, 1994]

               Population Shift Not as Important as Crops

                           (By Jerry Tippens)

       Whatever did the western half of the country do to deserve 
     the popular interpretation of the 1990 census? From the time 
     the decennial data were assembled, the West has been 
     bombarded by breathless pronouncements that the region is 
     more urban than rural.
       Imagine that. Of course, the population of the West has 
     been more urban than rural for decades. Indeed, in a strict 
     delineation between those who live in town and those who live 
     in the country, even Harney County is more urban than rural.
       It makes one wonder what the big deal was about the 1990 
     figures. Do they make rural issues somehow less important to 
     the region and the nation than they would be if more people 
     lived on the land?
       Let us all hope not. But there is something disturbing 
     about the way the findings are presented. The implication is 
     that, since more people in the West live in cities than 
     outside of them, it is all right to ignore rural issues and 
     focus exclusively on urban ones. Indeed, it may be the proper 
     course to follow.
       That notion ought to sound the alarm for everyone concerned 
     that decisions affecting food supply increasingly will be 
     made by people who know nothing about food production because 
     the population is drifting away from its agricultural ties.
       The problem is that rural issues tend to affect everyone. 
     We are all in trouble if that fades from urban view.
       Even if rural matters weren't vital to all, however, the 
     fact that more Westerners reside in cities than in the 
     countryside does not mean that the region may simply turn its 
     back on rural problems. Take a look at the map. The West is 
     still mainly rural, even if most of the people are clustered 
     in metropolitan concentrations along the Pacific shelf, plus 
     a few inland enclaves in such places as Denver and Salt Lake 
     City.
       Wise use of the West's natural resources to produce food 
     and fiber for the nation and much of the world is the urgent 
     business of everyone in the country. It is incumbent upon all 
     people, even those in the most urban settings of the East, to 
     be knowledgeable about what transpires on the land out there 
     where so few people live.
       But that is especially true of those in Western cities 
     where the wide open spaces are part of the neighborhood. 
     Those spaces are neither barren wastelands nor playgrounds 
     for leisure activity, but in fact form the foundation of the 
     region's economy. They also contribute extensively to the 
     nation's standing around the globe through its ability to 
     feed itself and still have food enough for much of the rest 
     of the world.
       The urban and rural West ought to be in harmony on sound 
     environmental practices, judicious use of limited water 
     resources cleansed of pollution from the past, the gaining of 
     maximum economic as well as nutritional returns from 
     agricultural abundance, and population distribution to keep 
     small communities healthy while preventing the cities from 
     choking on congestion.
       Such issues may reside in the rural West, but they are of 
     equal importance to those who dwell in the urban West. The 
     urban West, however, must realize as much. The cities must do 
     better, for instance, in understanding the region of which 
     they are a part than they did on airline deregulation. With 
     vast distances and limited population, the West had an urgent 
     stake in maintaining a reliable regional air transportation 
     network. But the cities seemed more concerned about reduced 
     fares to New York.
       If food supply and international trade are to be ignored by 
     most people because they live in the city, it is not just the 
     rural West that is in trouble. It is the nation. It is the 
     world.
       That prospect is what's disturbing about the way the 1990 
     census figures of the West are presented.

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