Milford chronicle., 1955-06-17


FRIDAY, JUNE II, 1855
AGAIN-THE PUBLIC BE DAMNED!
1t used to be that everyone was enthus-
iastic and happy when an enterprise annOun-
ced that it was about to spend large amount
of money on expanding its facilities, and
thus provide more employment, more goods
or services for consumers, and more taxes.
It's safe bet that the great majority OF
people still feel the same way. But there's a
group in government which has very differ
ent attitude. They would subsidize govern
ment-oWned, tax-exempt power plants for
highly taxed private enterprise.
To take concrete instance, number of
utilities in the Pacific Northwest have am
bilious plans for greatly increasing their ca
pacity The cost, over period of years, Will
run into hundreds of millions of dollars and
the regions need for the power is acute. But
the advocates of a socialized, tax-subsidized,
tax-free federal power monopoly don't like
this a Bit One of them now demands con-
gressiona investigation of a utility company
which is leader in the expansion program.
A spokesman for the company made an
apt answer. Of the Pacific Northwest utill-
ties he said: "The principal thing they have
in common is desire to meet public re-
sponsibility by working to bring about the
early construction of much-n0eded new pow
er plants. That is more than can be said for
the political obstructionsts who say we can't
have anything but federal power, even IT 1t
costs us power shortage"
This situation is not limited to the region
in question. Urgently needed power projects
of great size and cost have been and are be-
ing blocked on the Niagara River in New
York, on the Snake in Idaho, ia the South
east, and elsewhere, and for the Identical
reason-because socialist minded politicians
IL %bI
but federal power. Thus the nations ecOnO-
mic progress is undermined. Thus great
sums that would be paid in taxes to all units
of government by the proposed projects are
lost to us. Thus power shortages are made
imminent. How long will Congress and the
people put up with this "the public be damn
ed" attitude?
EVERYONE'S DEBT
The total indebtedness of this country,
both public and private, reached the sum of
$685. billion dollars by the end of 1854, and
has gone higher since. Private debt has more
than doubled since 1916, when it amounted
to approximately It's billion dollars.
Some economists and government OBJ
servers fear this nation has borrowed too
deeply and used credit too literally. A grow
ing feeling is that precautionary measures
are needed to slow down the growth of pri-
vate debt, which would represent too great
a burden in the event of a business recession.
At present, the total debt represents $1,000
for each man, woman and child in the nation.
The question of how high this Indebtedness
can go must be considered
Yet, since business In this country is
geared to easy credit, there is reluctance to
tamper with the rate of debt. So long as the
national income continues to climb, the in
creasing debt does not seem dangerous. A
recent survey showed that in terms of ma
tional income, public debt was SO per cent in
1941, lat per cent in 1916, and is now sc per
cent According to these terms, present in
detbedness is not too high. Finance officers
report that people pay off their old debts as
fast as they assume new ones, and that the
delinquency rate is low.
If Indebtedness ever climbs faster than
national income, controls might be applied.
Apparently nothing more is needed now than
caution by borrowers and lenders. Prosper
ity is the only guarantee this debt will not
become a catastrophe:
NEEDED: A GUARANTEED ANNUAL
MARKET
The unions, in their drive for the guar
anteed annual wage, ignore the fact that a
necessary cOncomitant is a guaranteed an
nual market for the products of industry. In
dustry can pay wages or any other costs in
only one Way-by selling goods and dividing
up the receipts The richest company on
earth wouldn't last long if it couldn't adjust
its overhead expense in order to compensate
for sales changes caused by seasonal or other
factors. No one has found a way to make The
consumer either guarantee how much he'll
spend over given time, or guarantee where,
when, and how he'll spend it.
Actually, of course, the guaranteed an
nual wage (Which could more accurately be
described as plan to pay people their regu-
lar wages for not working) would throw q
road block in the way of industrial develop
ment and increased employment Employers
would be reluctant to grow and increase their
labor force-for the reason that if sales sag
ged for any reason, they would still have to