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Show do we have fhe guts? As election time approaches, those letters from Congressmen to constituents at home are beginning to flood the mails. And if the letter from a Senator of a Western state is typical, their theme helps to explain why we have inflation, why prices keep rising and why the average family can expect to have an ever-tougher time of making ends meet. That theme is simply to get as much as possible from the federal treasury for hometown projects. The Senator's letter listed the appropriations he'd helped to obtain for his state. They included grants for water and sewer projects, rural environmental environ-mental assistance, research on stuuble field burning, funding for 4-H programs, special milk programs, rural housing for domestic farm labor to name but a few. Each program or appropriation is directed toward a certain group of voters. Nothing is said about the stern need for economy in government spending or the danger of inflation to the savings and earnings of every citizen in the country. Apparently, the Senator was deaf to the remark of Mr. George P. Shultz, U.S. Treasury Secretary, who recently commented, "Do we have the guts in this country to exercise discipline over how much we spend so that we won't have to raise taxes or endure further inflation? That is the battle, the struggle that is going on right now." |