Milford chronicle., 1949-11-18
HOW MUCH MORE GOVERNMENT
CAN WE STAND?

year W Gnu uSAJ June OU, Cne treasury VIII
spend an estimated $46,O00,O00,O00 in cold
cash. This means that 81 out of every $6I
spent in the United States will be spent byI
the government" The magazine then goes
into considerable detail as to how all this
money is to be divided. The biggest item in
the budget-$17 100000 ,00O-is accounted
for by benefits and subsidies of many diverse
kinds. Nearly half of that amounts, ,300,-
0O0,OOO-will go to veterans and is one of
the payments we are making because of past
wars. Then farmers will come in for some
thing over $4,000, 100000 in direct payments
and government crop loans and price sup
ports. Large sums will be paid to the old,
the blind, and the unemployed. Finally, S5,-
60O,000,000 will be paid out to foreign gov
ernmentS and for foreign-aid purchasing.
Item number two-$1O, 200, O,OOO-will go
for salaries. 1t will go to 100000 people,
the number of civilians and military person
mel now on the federal payroll. AS the u. S..
News points out, this does not include those
who work indirectly for government, such
as the men and women employed in plants
producing materials for federal agencies.
Third is a $10,0OO,0O0,0OO item for goods.
This includes an enormous number of items,
running all the way from airplaneS and tanks
to paper and ink. Interest on the public debt
will require the sum of $4,1OO,OOO,OO That
will be cash payment, and does not include
the interest accruing on war bonds and saw
ing bonds. Services, such as printing, rent
and utility bills, will cost the taxpayers ST.
4000O0,000. And something like S2,000,000,-
600 will be used for loans and investments.
The above items cover the major expenses of
the government. Perhaps the most striking
fact is the great increase in the number of
individuals who now live off the Federal
Treasury. To quote u. S. News again, "Ten
years ago, when the New Deal was pouring
out billions for direct and work relief, fewer
than 20,000,000 persons were getting checks
from public agencies. In the period that has
followed, the make-wOrk programs of gov
ernment have disappeared. Prosperity has
taken over. Personal incomes trebled Yet
persons living on public dollars, in whole
or in part, jumped 20 per cent" The impli-
cations of this can be argued indefinitely.
But it indicates the reasons for the uneasi-
ness of those who wonder how much more
5000
KEEPING THE PUBLIC BUYING
One of the leading retail associations re-
ports that for the first six months of this
year, retail net profits were badly off. De-
partment stores of various sizes showed net
profit after taxes of from less than one per
cent to a top of 81 per cent. The earnings of
speciality shops were also down heavily, as
compared with last year.
In the words of the associations bulletin,
'"These results indicate that the stores recOg-
nize how important it is to keep the public
buying, even at the sacrifice of considerable
profit. After the easy-cOme sales volume of
the war years. and the early postwar years,
it is remarkable to see how quickly the stores
have adjusted themselves to the changing
conditions. From period when sales pro-
motion effort was scarcely needed, the stores
have jumped into the strongest kind of pro-
mOtiOnal effort"
Keeping the public buying is, of course,
the most important factor in maintaining our
living standards and our prosperity Mass
production and mass distribution are the
foundations of the American economy. They
give us employment, opportunity, good wag-
eS. And retailing is superbly geared to han
die and distribute the vast quantities of goods
that flow to it from industry and agriculture
From the consumers standpoint, the re-
port on store net profits should be revealing
1t is clear that retail prices are being held, in
the great majority of instances, to as low q
point as possible. The profit on each sale is
tiny, and stores depend on mass selling to
earn them a reasonable total profit for the
year. That is good business for retailing
and it guarantees a good deal for the con-
Sumer.
5000
WHAT OTHER NEWSPAPERS ARE SAYING
From Sunday Star Wilmington
IN DEFENSE OF FARNHURsT
verbal explosion by Mrs. Vera Davis, who can
not make up her mind whether she is a Republican
Democratic state legislator, set off a barrage o
criticism against the Delaware State Hospital a