Evening star., 1947-01-10
'HardboiIed 3712-B Billion Budget
Balanced First Time in 18 Years.
Is Sent to Congress by Truman
Nation Can't Meet
Responsibilities
On Less, He Says
Summary of Presidents message
and analysis of District budget
on pages A-16 and A-17.J
By joseph A. Fox


Congress the first balanced
budget in 18 years, recommend
ing expenditures of $37 500, ,000, ,O0(
to be offset by receipts OF
$37, TOO, 900, ,OOO-for the fiscal year
ending June 80, 1948. He de-
scribed it as the product OF
"hardboiled" figuring.
1.-THE responsibilities of the Fed
eral Government cannot be fully
met in the fiscal year 1948 at a
lower cost than here indicated" the
President said in the budget mes
sage.
However, Representative Taber,
Republican, of New York, new head
of the House Appropriations Com
mittee which handles the budget,
has served notice that outlay in the
next year must be limited to $685.
143,O0O,000.
Requests Sharply Reduced.
At a seminar for newsmen before
he submitted the Budget, the Presi-
dent said:
"It is a tight budget. I believe 1t
Is fair to say that no department
or agency feels that its needs are
fully met. In its preparation I have
instructed the Director of the Bud
get to require thorough and con-
elusive justification for every item
which he recommended to me.
TN every borderline case, the de-
cision has been made to eliminate
expenditures rather than to include
them. 1t has been necessary for us
to be more hardboiled in making
many decisions than I like to be.
We have had sharply to reduce re-,
quests for a number of programs
which in my opinion would be
worth while we're it not for our
urgent need to cut expenditures"
And once more Mr.. Truman
warned against the Republican
move to cut taxes-particularly on
a horizontal basis.
There is no Justification now for
tax reduction" he said, adding that
when the time, does come to cut,
the millions with small incomes will
have a high priority for tax relief. "
IL Billion for Defense.
The President also renewed his
recommendation for continuance Of
rent control, and for price control
of sugar, sirups and rice; sugar ra-
tioning; export and import controls;
priority and ALLEGATION controls on
the few commodities still in short
supply land a few other minimum
controls which are indispensable for
the time being"
The proposed 1948 budget COM
pares with estimated expenditures
of s42, 100000 and receipts of
SAC, 200 900, 900 in the current year.
It is topped by a recommended
outlay for national defense of SILL
200,OO0O,0G0, which the President
said represents proper balance
between security and economy"
Then came veterans services and
benefits, $7,3O0,0O0, 900; interest on
public debt, $4,000, 100000; interna-
tional affairs, and finance, $780,
100000; programs for regulation and
improvement of the transportation
and communications systems and
for the development of natural re-
sources, $2,8O0,OO0,000, including
S443, ,0OO, 900 for the Atomic Energy
Commission; tax refunds, $780,
100000; social welfare, health and
security, education and general re-
search, S1,700,0OO,o0O; agriculture,
81, 0O,000,000 and general govern
ment, S1,50O, 100000. Miscellaneous
items account for the remaining
billion.
Personnel Down to 100000.
In connection with general gov
ernmental expense, it was brought
out that Federal agencies have cut
personnel from the 3,770,000 peak of
June, l945, to 100000. The Budget
bureausestimates further cuts will
bring the figure to 100000 by the
end of the next fiscal year.
While the budget drawn by the
President shows a surplus of $780,
600, he told Congress that this could
be increased to $1,800,000,000 by
continuing the excise taxes due to
(See BUDGET, Page A-6D