Evening star., 1957-08-31
Not Guilty

INK ABOUT tne editorial IN Inc
Star August rs, titled. Not
Guilty"
The first is that it seems
like an all too facile rewrit-
ing or partial report of his
tory. Mr.. johnson was Sec
retary Of Defense and Mr..
Truman was President when
the so-called economy"
budget was presented shortly
before Korea. To these facts
might have been added an
other which figured in the
determination Of the size of
that budget. Gen. Eisenhower,
then president Of Columbia
University, was recalled to
active duty, with the assign
ment of acting chairman OF
the Joint Chiefs Of Staff. The
position was new. It had not
yet been authorized by law.
But the post was created ad-
miniStratively by Secretary Of
Defense Forrestal, presuma-
bly, with the concurrence of
the President. The sole pur-
pose for the generals recall
and assignment to this post
was to utilize his judgment
and military experience in
evaluating the adequacy Of
that years budget.
1t is simple for you to say
editorially that the size of the
budget was q political deci-
sion. Any final national policy
decision can be described in
such terms. But If you choose
such language to describe
the situation, it would add to
the understanding Of your
readers to include Gen.
Eisenhower as one of the
three principal political or
military figures who occupied
critical and determining
roles. In his capacity as act
ting chairman Of the Joint
Chiefs, Gen. Eisenhower
was present when Secretary
johnson explained the budget
at . Pentagon press confer
ence and indicated his con-
currence in its adequacy.
Thus II any blame is to at
tach to any of the decisions,
an accurate report must in
clude some share for all the
parties involved.
The second thing to re-
member is that the economy
budget, with which your edi-
tortal Is concerned, was only
one Of q series of budgets
since the end Of World War
II. The trend of all those
budgets was downward. The
reductions were made posi-
bic by the rehabilitation that
followed World War II. But
they were affected also by
certain congressional. as well
as executive branch, actions.
These developments are
very adequately described in
a book entitled, Government
Under Law" which was pub
lished by Harvard University
in 1856. The book is q COM
pilation Of papers presented
at q symposium at Harvard
under that title. One of the
papers was delivered by
Francis Shackelford, a for
mer Assistant Secretary Of
the Army. and prior to that
the first Counselor of the
Department Of the Army. In
the latter capacity, Shackel-
ford was the legal adviser to
the Secretary of the Army
from 1850 on. which placed
him at q point of great van
tage during most Of the en-
tire period Of the fighting in
Korea. His paper deals
largely with congressional
attitudes toward executive
branch requests for appro-
priations. He makes the
: point. which ne adequately
supports by references to
budget figures. that the Con-
gress Is much more critical
toward appropriation requests
In time Of peace than it is
in time Of war.
During World War II, and
during the period Of the
Korean fighting. Shackel-
ford reveals, the reductions
the Congress inflicted on
appropriation requests sub
mitted by the President for
the Department Of the Army
were minimal as a matter Of
percentage, ranging around /
or 2 per cent. A Is per cent
reduction. however, was ap-
piled to the funds requested
for fiscal year 1947, the first
budget reviewed by the Con-
gress after the termination
OF World War II hostilities.
tAs you know, Federal fiscal
year budgets run from July /
Of the preceding year to
June 80 Of the year des-
ignated. This means the
budget is reviewed and con-
sidered by the Congress,
normally. during the winter
and spring Of the year
preceding the designated
year. In the case of the
1947 budget. congressional
review took place during the
winter and spring months Of
1946.)
A much smaller cut was
applied TO the fiscal year
1948 budget. But the fiscal
year 1949 budget requested
by the President was reduced
by 36.4S per cent. This is an
astonishing reduction, much
more extensive than the
amount by which any other
budget was reduced by Con-
gress. It is. in fact. the only
budget requested for the
Army since 1912 that was re-
duced to such a drastic ex-
tent. II you reflect on the