It was an absurd thing for the court to get into that. According to the safety information that we had, there is nothing unsafe about a short-handled hoe. [The interviewer here notes that it was known to negatively affect long term health]. Yes, it was detrimental to health; therefore the Supreme Court banned it. But when I go down on Market Street and I see these guys laying bricks on the sidewalks of Market Street, that's a hell of a lot more hazardous to health, in my opinion, than a short-handled hoe.
If you people ban the use of endrin [see below] until we know a lot more about it then we do now, many orchards will simply go out of production.
You and I know that chemical companies spend millions and millions of dollars in research. How long are they going to continue to do this if we continue to harass them?
It could be read to require the Secretary to ban all occupations in which there remains some risk of injury, impaired health, or life expectancy…the present criteria could, if literally applied, close every business in this nation.
There is no reason to believe that federal controls would materially reduce the rates of such accidents or injuries. Safety authorities have estimated that three-quarters of accidents on the job result from unsafe acts rather than unsafe conditions.
This program could destroy private initiative for our aged to protect themselves with insurance against the cost of illness….Presently, over 60 percent of our older citizens purchase hospital and medical insurance without Government assistance. This private effort would cease if Government benefits were given to all our older citizens.
I have always maintained that if a program is to be successful, it must... be voluntary... based on need and must not be financed through a payroll tax.
...we cannot stand idly by now, as the Nation is urged to embark on an ill-conceived adventure in government medicine, the end of which no one can see, and from which the patient is certain to be the ultimate sufferer.
We are going on the assumption that this is not socialized medicine. Let me tell you here and now it is socialized medicine.
It is socialism. It moves the country in a direction which is not good for anyone, whether they be young or old. It charts a course from which there will be no turning back.
