Milford chronicle., 1947-04-18
THE BUREAUCRATS ARE panicky

dent Truman, they have embarked upon a
counteroffensive which reveals their deter
minatiOn to perpetuate the War-sWollen bu-
reaucracy in power.
They didn't take seriously Republican
pledges to cut drastically Federal spending.
After IA years of spending, no Congress,
they thought, would dare object to prodigi- /
Gus Government costs. When they saw Re
publicans launch the first real economy drive
in many years, they rushed to the defense of
their jobs. They appealed directly to the
voters.
Republicans are abolishing essential ser
vices and functions of the Government, they
said. Have a look, they cried. Republicans
cut Sc million out of the Presidents budget
for the Customs DIVISION so it has become |
necessary to fire upwards of 800 inspectors,
virtually wiping out the border and port pa
troll service Smugglers will pour their ILL
cit goods across the borders and into every
port, they said!
What was the truth? The House did re-
duce sharply Mr.. Truman's request for this
division, but it still gave it as much money
as it had for this year. Subsequently, the
Commissioner of Customs admitted that
about 400 of his inspectors were re-hired
within a day OF two after they had been
"fired"
When the Labor Department bill was
passed with substantial cuts in it, there was
a loud clamOr from the Cancellation Service
and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both Of
which had been enlarged enormously during
the war. The BIS, at Government expense,
began circularizing business and industry to
the effect that the House bill cut would make
it necessary to abandon "a major portion Of
the basic services" of the bureau. The truth
is that the House voted the BIS $2.3 millions,
three times as much as it had in 1898, when
the bureaus "baSic services" were all that a
peace-time economy required.
The same thing is true of the Concilia-
tion Service. For this fiscal year, it was given
$2,300000, which is $2,017000 more than it
had in 1889. For the next fiscal year, Mr..
Truman asked S2,678,4O0 The House voted
it S2,O80,O00, which is between and 10
times more than it had in 1898.
In all this, the bureaucrats have the sup
port of the President His budget, he said,
marked the borderline beyond which we
could not reduce the activities of our govern
ment without entering the area of false
economy"
A SHORT WHILE AGO, the House and
Senate of the State of Indiana adopted one
of the most remarkable resolutions ever pro
posed before legislative body. 1t was Il
dramatic reaftirment of those principles of
local independence and local responsibility
that have been so largely forgotten under d
philosophy which would have the Federal
government do everything pay for ev-
erything.
Here, in part, is what the resolution said
Indiana needs no guardian and intends tC
have none. We I1OOSierS-Hke the people 01
our sister states-Were fooled for quite
spell with the magican's trick that dollal
taxed out of our pockets and sent to Wash
ingtOn will be bigger when it comes back tt
us.
'We have taken good look at said dollar
"We find that it lost weight in its joulne,
to Washington and back The political bro
kerage of the bureaucrats has been deducted
We have decided that there is no such thin;
as Federal aid. We know that there is II,
wealth to tax that is not already within tn
boundaries of the 48 states
$50 we proposed henceforward to ta
ourselves and take care of ourselves. We az
fed up with subsidies, doles and paternaisn
We are no ones stepchild We have grow
up. We serve notice that we will ress
Washington, D. c., adopting u.s."
!, Here is the unansWerable case agans
, super government. Here is the final argu
, ment against having the Federal bureaucrac
rake our parks, construct our swimmin
pOOlS, pay Jul Olu-dSc pcSlOlS, lCllu us MOI
ey, and do all the rest of the things it has bee
{ doing. Every nickel that is spent must com
e out of our pockets-and added to it must b
the immense costs of political administratio
< and spoils-taking. The Indiana legslatul
n has simply restated, in plain Words the do
e trlne on which this nation was built And
!. is the only doctrine that can keep this natiO
g strong and free in the years to come.
n <~~~o&<&
It q
L MORE SMALL BUSINESSES are g0r
e under, reports the Wall Street Journal. An
u as always, great part of these failures a
IS in the field of retail trade
: 1t is an unfortunate fact that too MAJ
l. persons feel they can successfully operate
stOre-and this confidence is frequently mi
IS placed. People set themselves in the groce
ID business or the dry goods business or sor
a. other form of retail business with little or
II experience, with inadequate financing, a
with no knowledge of the tickliSh techniull