The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1962-08-31
News Report
Fro m
Washil ,gton

dent kennedy'S decision not to
ask for an immediate reduction
in taxes was a calculated move,
taken after a study of all the
economic indicators available.
In the end. the general con-
clusion was that the economy
was not in a big downturn, as
some had feared as a result of
the direction of the stock mar
ket in recent weeks and months
In fact, the President and his
advisors believe the economy is
moving up-but at a slower
pace than they had hoped.
Also a factor in the decision
was the view that any immedi-
ate cut would increase chances
of a whopping big deficit in the
current fiscal year. The deficit
in President Kennedy's fir t
Aul1 yCdl III OlIlCC w 40 tIlC oCN-
on biggest in peacetime. an d
another large deficit would seri-
ously increase pr essure on the
dollar. especially in information
al capitals.
AS it was, the President didn't
make his report to the nation
until August 10. and even if
he had asked Congress to enact
immediate reductions. it is
doubtful if Congress could have
enacted legislation to take eff
feet before October 1. Therefore.
if Congress next year does vote
tax decreases retroactive to
January 1, 1868. the difference
will only have been one of three
or four months.
Lastly, the President was not
convinced that Congress would
give him immediate tax reduc-
tons if he requested them. Re
publicans would almost solidly
have opposed the request if it
meant a huge deficit in June
and many southern Democrats
might have sided with tn m.
Actually. polls in Congress told
the President he had, at best
only a fifty-fifty chance to get
reductions if he asked them.
And so. in the end, the Presi-
dent took the only course open
to him in the circumstances he
found himself in. But he offered
a sugar pill in the form of a
hope that both corporations and
individuals would get tax re-
auctions next year, as of Janu-
airy l.
Berlin recently observed the
anniversary of the erection of
the hated wall Now Berliners
go into their second year of
existence divided and separated
by the wall and Washington sees
no immediate prospect that the
wall will come down.
There are still second guesses
in Washington. over what would
have happened a year ago if
the Kennedy Administration had
given orders for U. S. troops
and tanks to knock down the
wall the Communist were be-
ginning to build. The or d r
would have been necessary in
the first hours after erection be-
gan. but the democracies. I'M
fortunately, usually cannot act
SO swiftly.
In any event. we hesitated,
and protested. and allowed the
Communists to violate the agree
ment we had with them. (All
Berlin was to have been open
to all the occupation powers I'M
der terms of our agreement
with the Russians.D
Washington has been forced to
take a hard look at the i'm
portance of Berlin and the re-
tention Of Western troops there.
The main design behind tn e
Russian pressure to force the
Allies out may well be to con-
vince Germans that Germany
will never be reunited-at least
in this century.
The wall has succeeded, for
the Reds, in curbing the mass
exodus of East Germans into
West Berlin and West Germany
When the wall went up, last
August. the flow had reached
over a thousand daily. In tn e
year after the wall was erected
only $1,000 people managed to
escape from the East. and most
of these got out Immediately
after the waN was erected.