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Show DESPITE the high Interest rates it is now offering the Federal Treasury is having difficulty in funding its securities as they become be-come due without having to pay out billions in cash. Hera is an example. Last month the Treasury did a refinancing job on about $4.2 billions of October 1954 Securities which had been issued is-sued at 1H interest. Upon maturity matur-ity the Treasury exchanged $2.34 billion of the old securities for new 11-month certificates at 3V4 Interest, Inter-est, twice as high as the old interest; inter-est; it exchanged $647 million for 58-month notes paying Interest at 3H. but holders of $1.18 billion of the old notes refused to accept new securities in exchange even at the high interest rates and demanded de-manded to be paid off in cash. Within the next several months the Treasury will have some $75 billions bil-lions in maturing securities to fund. If the ratio of cash to exchange ex-change in securities runs about the same as in the $4 billion deal, it would mean the Treasury would have to come up with something like $18 billions in cash, which would take some doing. Tha McClelland Senate Investigating Investi-gating Committee plans to take up soon, a study of what is happening to Labor Welfare funds. The estimate esti-mate there is more than $25 billions in these welfare funds. The labor unions alone, however control con-trol only about 2 of them About 8 ara controlled by Joint union-management union-management trustees, with 90 controlled entirely by management manage-ment In addition. Senator Paul Douglas Doug-las (D-W.) has introduced a bill which calls for full disclosure of fund operations by management alone, and to this management, through the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber Cham-ber of Commerce, is strenuously objecting. To which Senator Douglas Doug-las asks, "What do you have to hide?" These labor welfare funds are not private funds. They are trustee funds held for the benefit of workers work-ers and their families. The manner In which they are invested, the safety of the fund?, whether private pri-vate gain is being derived from them, are of public interest. They are also of interest to the beneficiaries, benefi-ciaries, even though management pays in a percentage of the funds, and thus members of unions Individually Indi-vidually have a right to know how they are being used, for $25 billions bil-lions can have quite an Impact upon the economy of the nation. The NAM maintains that in the funds solely operated by management, manage-ment, neither the Federal Government Govern-ment nor the Unions have a right to look at them. However the McClelland Mc-Clelland Committee, if it carries through, will want to take a good look, and Senator Douglas declares: de-clares: "Congress has stated and the courts have held that employer contributions toward welfare and pension benefits are in the nature of compensation to employees. Whether the funds for such programs pro-grams are contributed by the employers, em-ployers, the employees or both, the employees have a right to know the financial details of such plans as well as to have their Interest in such plans protected." If pension and welfare funds represent rep-resent deferred payments or wages for workers, as the couttr have held, then of vital Interest particularly partic-ularly to the Union members is what is done or should be done with the Income from the funds. |