[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2190-E2191]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             RURAL INDIANA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, November 5, 1997

  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert my Washington 
Report for Wednesday, November 5, 1997, into the Congressional Record.

                       RURAL INDIANA COMMUNITIES

       The Ninth Congressional District consists of 20 full 
     counties and part of one other. It takes over 6 hours to 
     drive from southwestern Spencer County to eastern Union 
     County. With the exception of the counties in the Louisville 
     metropolitan area, principally Clark and Floyd, it is among 
     the most rural congressional districts in the country.
       The Ninth District is made up of plowed fields, rolling 
     hills, celebrated woodlands, and small to moderate-sized 
     communities. Few people traverse the highways and byways of 
     southern Indiana more frequently than I have in recent years. 
     I feel quite at home among the farms, along the back roads, 
     as well in the bustling towns. I get immense pleasure from 
     the beauty of rural southern Indiana, and especially enjoy 
     the variety of court house squares. Yet despite the 
     attractiveness of the area, many worry about the future of 
     our rural communities.


                            Rural economies

       Some of our rural Indiana counties are growing rapidly, 
     often with robust growth associated with recreation, new or 
     expanding industries, tourism, and retirement. Other counties 
     are not growing at all and are having difficulty generating 
     new jobs. They confront the basic problem of keeping their 
     young people at home. The people of southern Indiana are 
     generally less affluent than the rest of the State. We have 
     several of the poorest counties in the State.
       Rural America tends to be comparatively poor. It has great 
     natural resources but that does not show up in the personal 
     income of rural Americans. No rural district today in the 
     U.S. House of Representatives is ranked in the top 100 in 
     terms of median family income; most are in the bottom 100.


                           approach to issues

       The population of southern Indiana tends to be white, 
     older, and moderate to conservative, especially on the social 
     issues. There is always a strong emphasis on values, 
     particularly self-reliance, and a deep skepticism by rural 
     Hoosiers of life in the urban areas. They tend to view urban 
     areas as the center of crime and drug activity, and not a 
     very good place to raise a family. They have very strong ties 
     to family, church, and community, and a strong desire to 
     strive for a better life. The quality of life in rural 
     Indiana compares favorably with many other areas of the 
     country, and rural Hoosiers seem to be aware of it. As one of 
     them said to me, ``I really do not know where I would rather 
     live.''
       People in southern Indiana are fiscally prudent and want 
     their representatives to be in the mainstream on economic and 
     social issues. They are independent and often split their 
     ballots. This unpredictability is one reason why public 
     officials pay particular attention to rural Indiana.
       At the same time it is clear that over the years political 
     clout nationwide has shifted to the suburbs. Merely one in 
     five Americans today lives in small towns or the countryside. 
     Only 57 districts out of 435 in the U.S. House of 
     Representatives could be considered rural--13 percent of the 
     House. Most of these rural districts are in the South or in 
     the Midwest.
       Public officials, of course, love to identify themselves 
     with smalltown America. President Eisenhower identified with 
     Abilene Kansas; Jimmy Carter with Plains Georgia; Ronald 
     Reagan with Dixon Illinois; and President Clinton with a 
     place called Hope.


                                  Jobs

       There is great economic diversity in southern Indiana. On 
     the one hand there are energetic, growing rural areas, and on 
     the other there are rural communities that are isolated and 
     struggling. Some of them seem locked in time and there is 
     little movement in or out of the communities. Even a modest 
     change like the addition of a new restaurant or shopping area 
     can cause excitement in the community.
       The common concern in the rural areas of Indiana, in my 
     experience, is jobs. Many have confronted chronically high 
     rates of unemployment and underemployment and there is 
     constant demand for more high-paying jobs. Rural Hoosiers 
     worry about the disappearance of family farms, layoffs in 
     some manufacturing plants, and the challenges facing schools 
     and cultural institutions like the libraries.
       Not nearly as many people in these rural communities live 
     on farms as one might think. Most of the small communities 
     have a light industry or two to supply the jobs, and 
     manufacturing is the largest source of employment in southern 
     Indiana. The counties tend to have a higher percentage of 
     people over age 65, often more than double the national 
     average.
       In the future, the viability of rural Indiana may very well 
     depend on the number of people who are fed up with the pace 
     and stress of living in the city. Many of them will move out 
     of the urban areas into the rural areas. Computers may have 
     an impact on rural Indiana, increasing the ability of people 
     to live where they want to, not where they have to. Also, as 
     the number of retired Americans increases, rural Indiana 
     could very well experience a comeback.
       I have always found Hoosiers who live in urban areas 
     wanting to support and help the rural communities of our 
     state. There is, of course, a special appeal to communities 
     which are attached closely to the land and which have a 
     social cohesion and solid anchors of home and church. But it 
     is also true that Indiana will prosper much more if the farm 
     and small factory towns can do well. If they do not do well 
     they will drag the rest of the state down.


                               Conclusion

       Small towns have always played a very large part in 
     Indiana's view of itself. They are communities where common 
     goals can be reconciled with rugged individualism. They are 
     nurturing places that produce state and national leaders. The 
     problems of the communities seem more manageable than those 
     in the urban areas, and in many ways the communities have a 
     mythical appeal.
       Rural communities may be less affluent and face problems of 
     unemployment, but generally I find rural Hoosiers content 
     with their way of life. They have a sense of place and self, 
     of where they come from, who they are, and what they want for 
     their family and community. I am not at all pessimistic about 
     the future of rural southern Indiana. New growth in these 
     communities may well sustain the vitality and the viability 
     of rural Indiana.


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