Detroit evening times., 1946-01-24
BEHIND
The NEWS
BY Paul
Mafion

U1ASHINGTON, Jan 24-Mr.
W Truman not only covered
bur hid the state of the union
IN his mass of 25,000 words.
He got his floor leaders to
delay presentation Of his an
uual message for four days
hoping the steel strike UouId
be settled and the state OF the
union wouid thereby be made
someWhat more pTsSentdbis.
But the great strike in the
hey industry was called, lend
ing gloomy auspices for n"
first major Htessaee,-so- he did
the nert best thing.
He bundled his thick IeRis-
iotion message Dith his thicker
budget, and hurled the Whols
mass at the Congress.
Some polite comment has been
offered that this was a wise de-
parture from established Gus
tom. because the two subjects
are related.
lmpolltely. ii may also be SAID
the move was wise politically,
because no individual subject
could be treated adequately by
the congressional critics, the
newspapers, commentators or
Npublic,
Indeed, neither press nor
radio generally had space to res
port the message in full.
Sheer size discouraged report
ing, analysis, and criticism.
THE essence of the Truman
game can be discerned by
digging into the budget II is
this;
MIR. Truman proposes To
collect for his first full peace
time year five times more
than Mr.. Roosevelt ever coli
leCted i'm taxes. He proposes
To spend nearly four times
more than Mr.. Roosevelt ever
spent.
This is the project for the
year beginning next July ] and
ending 1S months hence. and 1t
could almost be called his sec
ond peacetime fiscal year, be-
cause this one includes less
than two months of the war
against Japan and none of the
major war in Europe.
The greatest sum Mr. RooSe-
Welt ever taxed from the people
was S6,2OO,OO0 900 in 1888; Mr..
]
Trumans tax receipts for next
year are estimated at S3l 500
100000. The highest Roosevelt
expenditure was SO, 100000, 900
in 1910; Mr. Truman proposes
S35, 100000 for l947.
Is THIS the Keynes spending
theory of prosperity come 20
froition at long last. as the
New Dealers dissatisfied with
Mr., RS refusal 10 spend more)
have long wanted? II is not.
The Keynesists advocated
deficit spending
Mr. Truman proposes nearly
10 pay for his through taxation
The Truman theory simply
contemplates maintenance Of a
considerable degree Of war
prosperity by keeping consider
/ able war expenditures $4,000
| OOOOOO).
The secret of his prospect
that the budget will be nearly
balanced is that he Will keep
going greater portion Of war
! taxes than Of war expenditures
But even this leaves him
short, so he will tap the huge
till Of unnecessary stores Of
cash which the treasury built
up during the war (S26, ,000,-
000.000) to take care OF any
financial disaster i'm the war
effort, and use this for debt
retirement and making up
deficits.
Mr. TRUMAN, then. is deal
VI inc IN bigger chips than
any one ever thought Of in this
game before We thought We
were in cloudy financial heights
IN 1929.
The government budget for
1929 was S4.OOO00O.O00 ono
ninth of the Truman cXpendI-
lures for next year.
Indeed the whole cost Of gov
ernment in 1929 was 20 per cent
less than the interest on the
public debt alone next year.
The proposed budget bal
ancing has nothing TO do with
economy. either. All eNpendi-
lures for practically every
thing from the Interstate
Commerce Commission 10 the
state department are Ia he
Increased.
To all THIS Cnnnrass- nd