OCR Text |
Show Friday, February 27, .1959 THE UTAH STATESMAN Page 2 NATION: Congressman In Washington With a continuing shortage of 140,000 classrooms throughout the nation, Senate and House education committees are once again faced with the decision of what role the federal government should play in school financing- - By Henry Aldous Dixon A new legislator was once advised lhat the way to be was to support every spending meas-- ure and to oppose every tax increase. Some politicians choose this course failing to realize that the national debt is itself a great burden on citizens. For example, interest on the national debt alone costs the average taxpaying family head $275 a yearl Total interest charge are estimated at $9.8 billion for this coming fiscal year. calculates that at this Rep. Jim Wright rate ou rinterest payments will equal the total amount of the debt in 28 years and suggests that we start paying off the debt at the rate of $1 billion a year. Under this systematic debt retirement in 29 years the annual payment on the debt and the interest payment would be smaller than the current interest payment alone. Although Congressman Wright's plan to pay off the national debt would help counteract the inflationary spiral and ultimately lower taxes, his suggestion isn't likely to receive much attention by Congress. However, spenders should keep in mind that we may even lose our capacity to borrow. The deficit of $12 million over last year and the outlook for the current year have so frightened investors that they are wary of buying government bonds which may force the Treasury to raise the interest rate. re-elect- Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare Arthur Flemming last week in his testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee left no doubt as to his position and that of the Administration in this area. While endorsing federal participation for emergency situations, such as school construction, the Secretary himself a former educator was most adamant in his conviction that the primary financial responsibility for the nation's schools should remain at local levels. Otherwise, he believed there would be federal control and local initiative would be stifled. In addition to assistance with federal funds in emergencies he also supported the federal government taking a leadership role in publicizing the high accomplishments of state and local school districts, such as in Illinois where exceptional high school teachers are paid as much as $10,000 a year. (D-Te- x.) . Under the Administration's school construction bill, the federal government would help pay off school bonds for local districts which need more buildings than they can afford. Thus, $2.5 billion in federal aid would be spread over a 20 to period, and the states would have to match all U. S. contributions. -- 30-ye- ar COMPETITION FOR FOREIGN MARKETS by Henry A. Dixon for There are several other bills which provide the most gengreater federal financing of education, bill which erous of which is the Murray-Metcawould provide $11 billion in direct grants to the period and would include states over a four-yea-r funds for teachers' salaries. lf GOOD RECORD FOR UTAH FARMERS' LOANS Clarence Anderson, Utah director, Farmers Home Administration, and Henry Peterson, chief of program this week with a operations, were in Washington good report on loans to Utah farmers. Last year the FHA loaned a record $4,271,333 to help Utah farmers who were unable to obtain commercial credit In terms of dollars the Utah farmers are 4.9 percent behind in repaying operating loans, whereas the national delinquency average is 6.5 percent. Similarly in farm ownership loans six percent of the Utah borrowers are behind schedule, with the national average at eight perecnt. Utah's losses on real estate loans are only 710 of one per. cent. In virtually every index farmers' loan operations in the Beehive State are well above the national average which is a tribute to the character of our farmers and to the officials who administer the program in Utah. Mr. Anderson, who has been shifted temporarily to be acting director of the California office of the FHA, reports that California farms are rapidly growing in size and are becoming almost completely automated. The President in his recent economic report to Congress joined many other government leaders and businessmen who are waring that our competitors abroad are underselling us. Partly, it's a matter of price. U. S. inflation is shoving up our costs so that overseas nations undersell us, labor and overhead costs are preponderantly lower and the technological improvements which began in this country are now in use abroad. Evidence of this is especially visible in the swarms of foreign cars on American streets. For instance in the first half of 1958 foreign car imports were five times U. S. auto exports. , A study by the National Industrial Conference Board has revealed that in Western Europe unit pro- duct costs were lower than U. S. costs in 55 of 85 in- stances analyzed. I was made particularly aware of our foreign com. petti ion on my recent trip to the Far East, where textile workers slave 12 hours a day including Sundays ior less money for a whole week than our workers receive in a single day. our businessmen have been meeting ?ne,way 13 petltlon by constructing factories aW.d'wM in many cases hits hard at our own 1946 alone- - U. S. firms their direct foreign investments $20 have billion 3 mUCh 43 11107 tove8,ed ta the pre- in-leas- ed waTy3 eans that American businessmen and labor are going to be challenged as never before stoce they are faced too with the from 11118 whidlTfL.6 tariff t!d -- " Jw f competition Common Market ,European to member nations. UTAH STATESMAN V. WRIGHT, Editor matter at the Port Office at Salt City, Utah, under the Act of March 3, 1879 Iption rate 1.00 per year Published weekly at 421 Church Street Salt Lake City, Utah Vol. 13, No. 7 February 27, 1959 Mrs. Madge H. Fairbanks Mrs. LaVerl Neilsen Mrs. Janet Schoenhals Lori Ryttfag . Associate Miter ZZZ rkSS ..State Central Committee Member of Utah State Press Member of National Editorial Association ADVERTISER AT WORK! , Whether St's to aid distraught mothers, busy retailers or fASfflifafctur-ersadvertising is ready with a helping hand. On the pages of this paper, right on through the classified,' youll see ads that are working hard to help advertisers sell their products or services. and Advertising helps by spreading the word throughout the length breadth of the land. As more people are informed, more products are sold. The demand snowballs and causes greater production, resulting in constantly improved products at lower cost Nowhere else in the world is advertising used so effectively and extend nowhere else is there such a high standard of living. Adversively-a- nd tising helped to bring on this high standard of living. Thgft ygtt Wthl one who benefits from advertising :. ihmVtihgkgferymiB |