Milford chronicle., 1962-08-31
THE NEXT NEEDED STEP

"A OIL TO oar lax QoOuCClO1lS 1Or lobbying
expenses was introduced in the Senate this
year. A short time ago it died in commit
tee, by the overwhelming vote of 13 to 8.
Whatever one may think of any partic-
ular lobbying activity, the Committees ac-
tion should be universally supported. Lob
bying is one of the means, and perfectly
legitimate one when conducted on an above
board basis under the strict current laws,
by which parties to a controversy can pre-
sent their cases to the officials whose duty
it is to make the ultimate decision. 1t is,
i'm a very real sense, a form of free speech.
Now the Senate should take leaf from
the Committees book and move to outlaw
policy adopted by the Internal Revenue Ser
vice some years ago. Under it, company
or an organization cannot regard advertls-
ing and related activities which are design
ed to influence legislation as deductible
business expense. This advertising, in other
words, can only be placed at heavy tax
penalty.
That is the case even when the subject
of the advertising involves a life or death
issue to the enterprise sponsoring and pay
ing for it. The light and power industry
is the prime case in point. AS matter of
simple survival it does and must fight the
public, or socialized, power movement.
Some of the leaders of that movement hold
high official positions and, by virtue of those
papers and other media Their views are
made known, without cost to them, from one
end of the country to another. But if an
interested party wants to present the other
side, in the advertising columns of pub
lication, the tax penalty is assessed
A bill to remedy this totally unjust sit
uation has long been in Congress. 1t should
be passed, by voice vote.
IAROP ATOPY WEAPONS
General George H. Decker, chief of staff
of the United States Army, once again
stressed the Importance of nOn-nuclear arm
ed forces when he addressed the Veterans of
Foreign Wars at their national convention.
What he said about the need to maintain
conventional forces at strength should be
most thoughtfully weighed against the no
tion that our security can safely be rested
on nuclear weapons alone.
"To depreciate the threat of non-nuclear
war today" the general asserted, "wOuld
be to ignore the well equipped twO-milliOn
man army of the u. S. S. r. and the two and
a -million-man army of Red China"
Quite so. That much manpower is not need
ed to service nuclear rockets and the like.
General Decker further SUPPORTED his
point by citing the Korean War and the pres
ent combat in Southeast Asia. He noted that
in such situations nuclear weapons would
be obviously inappropriate" Again, quite
So But there is further point to be made,
one which may turn out to be at least as
important as maintaining proper balance
between nuclear and conventional forces.
The grisly, sometimes forgotten fact is
that if major war breaks out the added
dimension of chemical and biological war
fare may be decisive. 1t may be that disease
and gas and other devilish concoctions not
even known to the public will supersede both
conventional weapons and awesome destruc-
tive power of the atom.
1t has become almost automatic, in our
rapidly changing world, that each war is
won by new weapons. The general assump-
tion is that the next war, if it comes, will
be won by nuclear weapons supplemented by
conventional forces. But history may once
again come up with the unexpected The
laboratory weapons provide excellent addi-
tional reasons for bending all efforts toJ
averting war.