Milford chronicle., 1958-12-26
FRoSTING. ON A STALE CAKE

FROSTING ON A STALE CAKE
1.-THE only pocket Uncle Sam has is yours.
All he can do is take tax money from you
and then on occasion give-or loan-some of
its back"
That was said in recent speech by Sec
retary of the Interior Seaton before state
reclamation association. In the same speech,
the Secretary touched on the long-debated
scheme to build huge federal dam, at a
tax cost of something like half billion dol
lars on the Hell's Canyon reach of the Snake
River. He said: "The Hell's Canyon Federal
dam was and is the reclamation fraud of the
twentieth century. Not one single acre of
irrigated land was ever directly involved in
the proposal
The fact is, of course, that reclamation
has constantly been used in an attempt to
deceive the public into supporting socialized
federal power projects-including projects
in which true reclamation values were tiny
or nOn-existent So have other attractive
words-such as navigation and recreation.
They have been applied as frosting to the
stale socialistic cake.
In any event, there are some indications
that the public is beginning to realize that
'the only pocket Uncle Sam has is yours. !"
In the last election, aside from what happen
ed to individual candidates. and the balance
between the parties, specific spending pro-
by big majorities. Public protest against ex-
cessive spending and taxation is rampant at
every level of government, from the city ball
and the county court house to the national
capital.
There's no better way to reduce govern
ment costs than to bar government from UNI
dertaking activities that should and can be
undertaken by self-supporting, taxpaying
private enterprise. And the outstanding ex-
ample here is electric power Development
whether from steam, water, or the atom.
1Sx@r<~&
TWO DIFFERENT THINGS
Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, who
has more real power over Federal fiscal leg
islation than any other individual, has ruled
out general tax reduction for next year. This
position is not surprising, in view of the huge
deficit now being rolled up and the pros
pect of still more deficits in the future.
However, tax reduction on q general
scale is one thing-while tax revision can be
a very different thing. The purpose of any
sound tax SYSTEM aside from the amount of
money it is to raise, must be to raise that
money with the least possible damage to the
instruments of production and distribution
on which everyone in this country depends
on for a livelihood.
Take one example, due to price and wage
initiation, the depreciation allowances which
are supposed to enable industry to accumu-
late funds to replace machinery and plants
are now grossly inadequate. The result is to
seriously hamper industrial expansion and
improvement.
To take another, punitiveiy high taxes
on business earnings also stand in the way
of economic growth-and particularly the
growth of the smaller business.
Everyone is talking about continually
expanding economy, capable both of taking
care of our swift population growth and fur
ther improving living and working stand
ards The kind of tax system we have will
determine whether or not that goal is achiev-
ed.
$500
WINTER, 1858
The last of the four seasons is upon us.
This year winter began at 3 40 a. m. Decem-
Der 21st, and the day is officially known as
the Winter Solstice. This is the time of year
when the North Pole is tilted % degrees and
27 minutes away from the sun, and the nights
in the Northern Hemisphere are much long
er than the days.
Likewise in the South Temperate Zone
the Summer Solstice occurred on December
21st, and summer began!
Winter ends after two-thirds of March
has expired i'm 1859. The experts are saying
chances are very good that this winter will
not be as severe as the 1957-58 winter, which
was the coldest experienced in the United
States in some years.
One of the opportunities winter affords
all of us is that to catch up on our reading,
that is, good things to read, to acquaint our
selves again with members of the family
who live in the same house, to enjoy nights
together in front of the fire, or in the family
room, to follow our indoor hobbies, or stu
dies, or to hunt or enjoy other vigorous cold
weather outdoor pursuits.
The nights, the shortest of which was
December 21st, will grow longer afterwards,
day by day, until night and day will be
equalized in March, at the Vernal Equinox,