Milford chronicle., 1962-05-18
CHICKEN FEED

Did you ever see a million dollars?
You will, if yoa go to this years Seattle
Worlds Fair. A million silver dollars =
weighing 80 tons-will be on display
It's sure bet that most viewers will
be thinking, "Boy, if / only had that pile of
doughw Who wouldn't. But the sad truth
is that if You earned million in the course
of year, and if you head the average AM
erican family of four people, you'd have to
pay out S856,910 in federal income taxes
plus whatever state and local taxes you are
liable for.
Moreover, that million dollars, big as it
looks to the vast majority of us, is a tiny
drop in a huge bucket when it comes to
government spending. 1t would. for in
stance, meet the interest costs on the ma
tional debt for just one hour and three min
utes-or pay the salaries of federal civilian
employees for mere hour and 27 minutes.
Sop the question becomes: "Where is a
million dollars chicken feed?" Answer: "In
Washington, d. c."
DO YOU WANT A BIG "BROTHER"?
The Portland, Oregon, Journal, has
something worthwhile to say about the Pres
idents proposal for the most sweeping kind
of federal laws to protect the consumer.
These would cover lengthy list of pro-
ducts in virtually universal use, including
foods, drugs, cosmetics, and so on.
with such matters as proper labelling, safety,
and honest claims. But, as the Journal puts
it, the question now ''is whether we are
ready for the federal government to go
beyond its traditional policeman's role OF
enforcing thou oshalt nots' on manufacture
ers and merchandisers in competitive fields
and to begin telling them that they must
make specified products to specified stand
ards
Moreover, some of the proposals in the
Presidential message seem to present prac-
tical impossibilities. Take, for instance, the
provision applying to drugs. 1t would re-
quire manufacturers not only to prove that
a drug is safe, which is certainly reason
able, but that it will also be effective. In
asmuch as On drug administration, as in so
many other things, one mans meat may
prove to be another mans poison, this
would severely limit drug development and
marketing, at an unknown but potentially
great cost in health and. human welfare.
Beyond that, the proposals, if accepted
in toto, would substitute decisions of bur-
eaucracy for the decisions made, as of now,
by the consumer, the producer, and the
retailer. Big Brother would tell us what is
good for us, and what we can and cannot
have-whether the item in question is a
medicine, a box of cereal. or a TV set. It's
hard to believe the American public-or the
American Congress-is ready for that.
%~>01S~<
WHY?
At one time a bill introduced in Con-
gress proposed that the Tennessee Valley
Authority pay taxes equal to those of COM
parable investor-owned electric utilities
During the debate, this remark was made
eff we go to that extreme, Senators can see
that the IVA would be out of business in
three months"
That astute observation did not come
from an opponent of public power. Quite
the opposite-it was said by the late Sena-
tor George Norris, who has been described
and accurately, as the 'afather of IVA"
And you don't have to look to the oppo-
nents of public power to learn that, by any
reasonable standard of business practice
the IVA is pampered stepchild of all the
nations taxpayers. For instance, in 1856
Chairman Herbert ID. Vogel of the Tennes
see Valley Authority said: 81 cannot ignore
the very real advantage accruing to any sys
tenn which operates for minimum earning
rather than a normal profit and which Is
not reoslired 6y law to pay interest on It's
obligations or income taxes to the Federa
government In all fairness, it must be ad
mitted that these result in consumer ad
vantages not enjoyed by the customers o.
private power companies. Any talk abou
establishing q measure for the cost of pow
er without reference to these factors is
of course, absurd"
This very frank statement demonstrates
that the claim that the IVA establishes
"vardstick" by which the propriety of pow
er rates in general can be accurately meas
ured is as phony as three-dollar bill.
Finally, another authority has said
"Since the Federal government uses inves
tor-owned Companies as a means of collect
ing taxes from people, why does it not ais
use IVA for this purpose? Why should tn
people of Tennessee be deprived of the priv
iege of paying Federal income taxes Il
their electricity bill as do other citizens?"