Milford chronicle., 1953-01-30

work had been completed and there was no
longer any need for their services.
If Senator Johnson and his committee
are right, here is one place where waste is
fragrant There is still another unhappy
phase to the problem tOO-One which more
and more European and American writers
and editors have been commenting on. 1t is
found in the fact that Europeans get an ex-
tremely distorted view of American life and
the American people when they see our rep
resentatives abroad going in for plush high
life.
At any rate, the Eisenhower Admins
tratiOn undoubtedly will soon get down to
work on the problem of payrOllS and over
staff government bureaus at home and
abroad. One problem lies in the fact that,
during the 20 years of New Deal-Fair Deal
Towering, a great many people got a grip
on lifetime federal jobs through civil ser
vice. /. will be a gradual process to make
significant changes here. However, there are
large numbers of bureaucrats of high and
low degree, without civil service status, who
can be dispensed with if it is decided they
aren't an asset which is worth the cost to
the taxpayers. And, judging by the back
grounds and attitudes of EiSenhOWer'S cabi-
net members and other top-level appOintees,
no effort will be spared in eliminating the
expensive dead wood.
NGONG
THE GREATEST BUSINESS MONOPOLY
Representative Coudert of New York will
ask the present Congress TO investigate the
possibility of returning more than 100 gov
ernment operated commercial enterprises,
with an estimated value of $4,000, 100000,
to private ownership.
He declared that certain government ac-
tivities today represent the greatest busi-
ness monopoly outside the Soviet Union, "
and that the purpose of his resolution is to
attempt to "call a halt to continuing nation
aliZation or specialization of American enter
prise"
He cited a request of the chairman of
the Tennessee Valley Authority for an addi-
tiOnal S5,000,000,000 to increase its plant,
and added, "NO private enterprise can walk
into the Treasury of the United States to
finance itself in this easy fashion"
Mr.. Couderts ideas seem to be similar to
those of former mobilization director Charles
E. Wilson, who proposed some months ago
that government enterprises be taken over
by a corporation in which the people could
buy shares. Regardless of the method fol
lowed, here is one way that the national
debt can be reduced by billions, and the
drain on the Treasury these sOcialistic tax.
free enterprises continually impose can be
eliminated. Moreover, once they were owned
and operated by private enterprise, they
would go back on the tax rolls-to the direct
benefit of every taxpayer in the country.
Probably the most fragrant example O1
destructive and unnecessary socialism ha!
been in the field of government electric pow
er plants. In every case, the service wOulC
have been provided by heavily-taxed, pub
licly-regulated utility companies. There ha'
never been a demand for power so great tha
private enterprise could not provide the ia
cilities to meet it.
Furthermore, government in business
any business-is socialism, and socialism il
the enemy of freedom and true progress
Mr.. COudert and Mr.. Wilson have the righ
idea and Congress should act on it.