The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-07-12

had e23S million for ell It's 40.odd programs. This next year 1t will have e222 million direct appropriations of 4100 million, relief appropriation of s25 million and 30 per cent of the customs TO- ceipts, equal to $07 million. With this money, SMA can continue It's msin relief activities, which out- line about as follows:
 1. The stamp plan, covering about four million people in an area which takes in half the population of the United States.
 2. Direct purchase of surplus commodities for distribution to the needy in areas not covered by the stamp plan This free food is dis tributed by state welfare depart. lnents and reaches nine or ten mile lion persons.
 3. Free school lunches and low. cost milk, now given to five mile lion out of some nine million needy youngsters.
 There was a time when there were visions of extending the stamp plan to the whole country. Before the de. fense boom got going, it was estis mated this could be done for mere $500 million or maybe S400 million at the outside. With unemployment and relief reduced by the business pickup, the job could be done for less now, but the action of Congress in cutting SIS million of the sGA appropriation buries any such ex. pansion for the next year at least. DON'T FORGET
 THOSE VITANINS
 The idea, however, isn't exactly dead. It would rise from the grave in an instant if some of she free spenders had their way. Paul V. Nc. Mutt, head of the Federal Security Administration, mentioned the de. durability of having everybody full of vitamins in war times, and of course it would be nice in peace times or hard times too. A more practical approach to the problem comes from the people, some of them high in SMA, who see in extension of the food stamp plan the possibility of creating machinery which would cushion the country against e collapse of the high.rlding defense balloon. Overnight, the food stamp plan, if set up to operate in every community, could be turned to relief use and to provide insurance against unemployment and hunger, should the war-industrtalized world l 90 into a tailspin.
 Looking ahead to this possibility, Milo Perkins, head of SMA and father of the stamp plan idea, has hopes of gradually extending his ,ad- ministration even on the reduced l appropriation which Congress has given him for the next year.
 Increased employment helps re. duce the costs in most units, as men and women going back to gainful jobs in private industry leave relief l rolls and drop automatically from stamp plan participation. gNGA esti. mates now put the number Of farni. lies eligible for stamp plan partici. patton at 25 per cent fewer than ct peak activity.
 It is on these facts that Perkins bases the belief that SMA activities can be gradually increased, even on | its s per cent reduced budget. There are still several rather bottersoEne flies in this soup. One is the cost of | foods which SMA can buy. There are surpluses of most basic foods, l and if prices stay ct present levels, | okay. If they go up, SH6A can't buy the quantities 1t has bought for the same amount of money. CURTAILMENT WOULD BRING HOWLS
 Other annoyanceS are largely poe litical. The parity gang thinks SMA should pay parity prices for every- thing, and that idea would reduce the quantity purchase if put into ef- feet. Another farm bloc thinks that no Department of Agriculture ex- penditures should 90 for relief = all should go for farm aid, and relief appropriations should be extra.
 If for any reason at all the food stamp plane should have to curtau its activities in any community, you can expect terrible howl from all concerned. Merchants like it. as well as their relief customers. State and city governments like 1t because 1t takes some of the relief load on their necks. Most farmers like 1t be- cause it gives them something for surplus crops. Mostly the people who don't benefit by 1t directly think it's a bum idea.
 WASHINGTON WAR WORDS
 The army now has one cavalry regiment which can cover 300 miles a day. The horses are loaded on trucks which make 25 miles an hour |. The unit has 300 motor vehi- cles for its STA horses end 1900 men France Forever headquarters say many Frenchmen are daily find- ing their way to England, sailing the channel in small boats ct night :. Where the German army Is expected to show its final superiority over the Red army is in its vastly better trained oEiicer personnel and stan work One surprise German move to watch for is the dispatch of forces east from Archangel 70 occupy the mouths of the Siberian rivers, Lena, Ob, and Yenesei Il All Russian and siberian Fiverg. Tun- ming generally north and south, give the Soviet 6 tactical advantage in | fighting . war Of withdrawal to the 1