Milford chronicle., 1951-12-07
WATCHDOGS NEEDED


WATCHDOGS NEEDED
In a letter to Senator Lodge, former
President Hoover endorsed a proposal tOI
set up a new congressional committee to
act as a watchdog on military spending. Mr..
Hoover wrote, "When appropriations were
a few millions, the members of congress or
its committees formed sufficient guardian
ship of their proper expenditures.
"But now that they run into many bill
lions, something more than the normal con-
greSsiOnal committees are essential for
watchdog purposes"
It. is often said that, despite the burning
need for rigid economy in government, we
must not tamper with the rearmament pro-
gram. This is true-as a general principle.
But waste in the military establishments is
lust as bad as waste in the Interior Depart
ment, the Executive establishment, or any
where else Congress has been properly dis
turbed by reports that military officials have
pursued purchasing policies which artificial
ly and unnecessarily drove up prices-and
thus bought the country less defense for the
money available than would otherwise have
been the case. Senator Lodge, veteran of
the last war and one of the strongest advO-
Gates of full preparedness, believes that the
proposed new committee should maintain
ga 365-day year supervision of all defense
spending"
We are now paying the highest individ-
ual and business taxes in our history, save
for the peak reached briefly during World
War II. In spite of this, we are running {
tremendous deficit and going farther anC
farther i'm the red. Can anyone doubt that
all non-essential spending must be stopped
cold-and that the essential spending b.
watched with the utmost care?
5000
TAX RITE AND POLITICS
It's always difficult to figure out wher
Harry Truman, the President, leaves off
and Harry Truman, the politician, begins
But certainly there's no room for doubt il
the circumstances surrounding that mid
November Truman speech before DemOcra
women in Washington.
That was definitely a speech by Truman
the politician. 1t was billed political in &C
vance. While it ignored the real issues,
contained the customary harangue agains
ghosts labeled Republican. A great windmi
tilter, that MissOurian!
4 But what great many Americans wOul
like to know, including Republican Reprt
= sentative Fred E. Busbey of Illinois, is VIII
= the Overburdened taxpayers should pay fC
= a political trip?
?. Here was Mr.. Truman, happily vacation
9 ing in Florida. He had a political speakir
y engagement in Washington. A Republica
= speaker, undef Lne same circumstance
n would have had to shell out his own har
n earned money, or funds provided by the r
l. publican Party, to pay for transportation
% Washington and return. Mr.. Truman file
r up and back in the luxurious DC-6 person
plane provided by the taxpayers.
,e Congressman BuSbey. suggested that
is would be only proper for the Democrat N
ID tional Committee to reimburse the Air For
ID for the estimated S2,280 cost of the plane
p round trip flight. The silence which greet
IS his proposal was deafening at both the Coz
r, mittee and the White House.
le Such careless frittering away of the Fe
re eral treasury's funds is one of the reasons
Id was necessary for Congress to enact
c. Truman tax bill imposing the highest ta2
}" on Americans in peacetime history. WOl
h. ers felt the initial impact of the b
ce ger bite of that tax bill on the md-NOvemt
pay envelopes. They will remember the bi
ne and the cost of the Truman political tr
le. at the polls next November.