Evening star., 1953-05-10
Economy Road Is Long
And Hard to TruveI
Writer Sees Congressman
Gonging-Up Against Cuts
By Fronk R. Kent

BY Fronk K. Kent
The most difficult thing for any gov
ernment to do is retrench. Particularly
is this true of one which for 20 years
has held that the size of the national
debt was not important because. as the
New Dealers so often declared. I'VE owe
it to ourselves" For two decades the
guiding principle at Washington was
to tax. tax, tax. spend, spend. spend,
elect. elect. elect"
After three Roosevelt and two Tru-
man administrations conducted along
these popular but unsound lines we
reached the stage where one Of every
seven citizens, directly or indirectly,
was receiving money out of the Federal
Treasury and the stark fact that the
Nation was headed for a disastrous
bankruptcy was clear. The election Of
Gen. Eisenhower followed his promises
to reverse the direction in which we
had been going, to eliminate waste,
restore solvency, balance the budget
and reduce taxes.
If it were not for the Russian threat.
these promises could be more or less
promptly redeemed, though even then
it would require great energy and
determination upon the part Of the
President. Years ago Senator Byrd. the
most consistent foe of unbalanced
budgets, made the statement that no
real economy could ever be achieved
without strong White House leadership.
For 20 years the White House leader
ship has been in the opposite direction.
The administration efforts were not
devoted to finding ways to save money
but to devising new ways Of spending it.
Now, four months after his inaugu-
ration. Gen. Eisenhower finds the
mess" of the Truman administration
had been greatly underestimated by
himself and everybody else: that the
"crazy quilt" Of projects and commit
ments and the huge unexpended sums
authorized by the last administration
and for which this one must levy taxes,
make a situation almost unbelievably
bad; that the difficulties of redeeming
his pledges are greater than any one
had thought. With complete franknesS
he has made public this state of affairs.
He does not want people to expect
miracles. He knows there should be
no tax reduction before the budget is
brought into balance; knows. too. that
security must come first; that that
makes the solvency he seeks unobtain-
able this year.
Nevertheless, he is making an effort
so strong that only the most obtuSe
and partisan opponent could regard
the difficulties he points out as an
alibi. He proposes cut in the Truman
budget of $8.5 billion of which some
$53 billion must come from defense.
$1.8 billion out of foreign aid and
$14 billion from domestic expendi-
lures. That will not balance the
budget but it will put budget balances
in sight and bring Federal finances
under control. Reducing taxes this year
definitely is not part of the Eisenhower
program. On the contrary, any tax re-
duction would throw his whole sched-
ule out of gear. The taxes we now
have must be continued for another
year.
They are essential to our solvency
and security, which are inseparably
linked. The President asks the people
to face the facts and continue to make
sacrifices in the interest of national
safety. That is the situation. The ques.
ton is-can he succeed? Undoubtedly.
it will be the biggest fight of his adj
ministration and the most important.
This not only is the first time in 20
years any President has asked Congress
to reduce the cost of government; the
first time any such enormous cuts
have been requested.
There Is so much opposition and
from so many different quarters that
it is not easy to classify. For one
thing, the $53 billion cut in de-
fense is opposed. first by those who
think it too little. Equally the $l,8
million reduction in foreign aid will
be challenged both ways. Already,
shrill screams are heard that the Pres
ident's economy is rendering us de-
fenseless in the face Of a ruthless foe.
that his domestic cuts are wrecking
the social progress" Of the last two
decades and crfppling vital agencies.
OF course, these statements are not
true but that will not lessen the, ,ferocity
of the opposition, much OF which IL
based on what politicians call their
local situation" In brief, many mem
bers of Congress, strongly in favor Of
economy as a general proposition, can
be counted upon to fight like wildcats
when the economy ak strikes some
thing in which they have a personal
interest. Then is when they will gang
up" to avert reduction. The most dan
gerous opposition, of course. will come
from members of the Presidents own
party who insist that tax reduction
must precede budget balancing. In
brief, it will require all his power and
prestige to put through his program.
He has got to put into 1t everything
he has. 1t would be disastrous to lose.