Evening star., 1959-12-04
Russia and Our Budqet

speaking almost simultaneously,
though at different places, Premier
KhruShchev, President Eisenhower and
Thomas J. Watson, jr., head of Inter
national Business Machines, have said
things that should be of great interest
to all AmericanS-or at least to those
among us who are worried about the
Federal budget and our countryS posi-
ton viS-a-vis Russia in the world balance
of power.
Let us consider, first of all, Mr..
KhruShchev'S remarks. During the course
OF cleverly mendaciouS defense of the
Kremlin'S brutal suppression of Hun
gary'S 1855 revolt for freedom, he has
had this to say to a captive audience in
Budapest: "Our strength is greater than
theirs the United States and the West
as wholel. Our ornaments are better.
Our rockets are on the moon. Theirs
have fallen in the sea. The capitalist
world is shaking under the blows of the
Socialist camp and the working-claSS
movement. What really shakes it, even
more than rockets, is the attitude of our
workers to their work we have the
will to win"
Although this sort of talk contains
more than little bombaSt and empty
boaStfulneSS, there is nonethelesS a GER
tain amount of substance to it. And
that is why Mr.. Watson, addressing the
National Association Of Manufacturers
in New York, has warned that the people
of our country must be prepared to make
acri1ces"-including the acceptance of
higher taxation-if the Soviet Union is
not to wrest world leadership from the
United States. AS he has put it, I'VE
can't do all the things necessary and
still proceed on a 'busineSS-aS-uSuaP
basis. We want to spend everything
necessary to strengthen America; we
want a balanced budget; we want the
same or lower taxes. But these three are
incompatible. In short, If we are to
win the race, we will have to reconcile
ourselves to the fact that we cannot do
it the easy way, that it will require a
tax at least equal to the expenditure,
and that "the attitude of our workers
to their work" will necesSitate reforms
Of sort that will rule out such things
as maSSively wasteful "featherbedding"
and crippling national strikes.
AS for President Eisenhower, he still
holds fast to the altogether laudable
but maddeningly elusive objective of a
balanced budget. Thus, as he declared
at his news conference before embark
ing on his three-continent tour, he is
firmly opposed to the idea of moving
out in every direction, at one and the
same time, on "hySterical" spending
spree that would not really improve our
economic or military position. Quite
obviously he is in disagreement with the
alarmiStS who have been clamoring for
"craSh programs"-and hang the ex-
penSe!-to put the Soviet Union in its
place. He is confident Of our present
strength in that respect, and no man
in America is better informed on the
subject.
Accordingly, emphasizing that we
are spending So billion year just to pay
interest on our national debt (intereSt
greater than all Federal outlayS in 194O),
the President argues that the prime
necessity confronting us-apart from
"the attitude of our workers to their
works. to put our fiscal house in
order and thus save the dollars value
from deteriorating any further. For that
deterioration is as dangerous threat to
the well being of this Nation as any that
now exists. If we succeed in that, and if
we do all the other sane things essential
to our national security, we will not have
to worry too much about Mr.. Khru-
Shchev'S boasts