Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-11-21

lance and which can be ignored
without oerious danger.
The number of men in uniform
is the most convenient guide tt
the total cost Of the program
although. of course. there arr
many other elements. Just aftel
the Korean war the Chiefs O.
Staff wanted 81 million men. II
December. 1850. they raised theil
sights to 2.7 million men. Within
80 days after that they finally
came in with the suggestion o.
approximately 3.5 million men ii
uniform. Now a larger number
is suggested.
/ At the time Of writing tn,
Presidents expenditure budget TO,
fiscal 1852 is still approximately
$50 billion, including about 81
billion for the armed forces, plu.
Sc, 250, 100000 for arms to foreign
countries. But, from various in.
dications, this is not going to bt
the actual ultimate cost of the
program now submitted.
Further Expansion.
It is anticipated now that the
expenditure budget for fiscal 1876:
will be $50 billion and this does
not include the further expansion
suggested by the President in his
economic report. Taxes, includ.
ing those enacted in 1850, are now
estimated to yield $50 billion, sc
that 1t would take from $25 tc
$40 billion of additional taxes ir
order to balance the budget.
II to $50 billion we add about
$18 billion for State and loca,
taxes our total tax bill will be
SLOT billion. or approximately
one-third of the gross nationa
production. My own view is that
this is more than we can possibly
stand without imitation. It would
be about 40 per cent of the ma
tional income; and 40 per cent OF
expenditure and taxes In Great
Britain has destroyed private ini-
tiative and is socializing the
country.
I fully agree with President
Truman that we should balance
1.-THE budget. But we have to bal
Iance it by holding down expenses
as well as by increasing taxes.
A Limit to Taxes.
For there is also a limit to the
taxes that can be levied on any
uniform basis. without creating
injustice and hardship and inf1a-
ton. II taxes are raised too high
they are themselves infiationary
even though the budget is bal
anced. When the hardship of
taxes is too great people succeed
in one way or another in passing
them on into the price of the
goods. which is ultimately paid for
by the consumer.
Theoretically. you can Ak prices
and wages and prevent any SUCH
increase. but in practice. even in
wartime. We have seen that this
cannot prevent some imitation
and in time Of peace it will be
infinitely more difficult to enforce
controls Of this kind. People are
willing to make sacrifices for a
temporary period while their bows
are lighting at the front, but we
saw after World War II that the
moment that threat is over peo-
pie are no longer willing to submit
to any general control.
There Is another limit to be
considered-the number of men
who can be drafted into the Army
and taken out of productive life.
Probably we can maintain our
production. even though 3.5 mil
lion men are employed in the
armed forces. although already
hear complaints from many
farmers who have relied on sons
from 10 to 81 to run their farms
to the effect that they will NO
longer be able to undertake tine
program OF increased agricultural
production on their farms.
Longer Service Seen.
Reliable estimates have been
made by experts on manpower
available for the armed forces
which show that we cannot keen
more than 3.5 million men in the
armed forces without increasing
the regular term Of service to more
than the current two-year term
Such service is already a serious
interference with the education of
our boys, and the greatest lim:-
tation on individual freedom in
peacetime the people have ever
had imposed on them. Three
years universal service would be
still more disruptive and obnox-
ious to the American people.
One Of our main functions in
the present situation is to in
crease the already great produc-
ton necessary to give the raw ma
terials and the support to the
countries Of the Atlantic pact and
70 other countries throughout the
world. We must not weaken our
selves by rampant imitation or
shortage OF manpower or DESTROY
the morale necessary tc keep our
people productive even beyond the
present figure.
In short, even though the
United States has the greatest
production in the world, there is
a definite limit to what we can
do. We cannot and should no.
proceed on the theory that war
will begin tomorrow. About mo-
oillzation can only be undertaken
when war is certain.
A Great Waste?
In a speech on January s. 1881
l suggested that 3 million men in
uniform should be about the limit
and that perhaps a study of mill
tary practices would show that
we could get the same results with
million men in uniform as are
now sought with 3.5 million men
10 a layman there always seems
to be great waste of manpower
In the armed services. Is it neces-
Sary, for instance tn ennlo,,