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Show flo Comment HI By James W. Douthat WASHINGTON Congress and the Administration now are plagued with demands for resort to anti-recession remedies which have failed in the past. These include various "pump-priming" schemes, interference in-terference with price-wage relationships, and abandonment abandon-ment of sound government finance. The proposals spring in part from the inevitable desire of some party members out of power, in this case the Democrats, to seek political ad-, vantage. But they also reflect the readiness of New-Fair Deal groups to seize any business disturbance dis-turbance to promote their "Big Government" philosophy. And assorted left-wing groups are at- tempting to arouse their forces In an effort to discredit American Ameri-can business and the free enterprise enter-prise system. WHAT WILL CONGRESS DO? Whether Congress yields to the pressures now being exerted will depend, it appears, largely up-1 on the fortitude of the Elsen-, hower Administration and the congressional champions of free enterprise both Democrats and Republicans. The Eisenhower Administra-j tion position continues to be that the present recession will be short-lived that there will be. an upturn during the year j that the tn-onomy will spiral up-j ward to new heights. The Administration position is! that the budget can and should remain In balance and that there should not be a resort to a new era of deficit financing. SOME REMEDIES PROPOSED The New-FairDeal groups how. ever are now gathering forces for' an extension of federal controls and spending In many directioas. These Include: i Demands that federal public works be stepped up Including the building of federal hydro-1 electric plans, accelerated road building, more public assistance, higher social security benefits, and the like. A concerted drive has opened to enact legislation to force the states to increase unemployment! Insurance benefits to 39 weeks and to a level equal to two-thirds of the state's average weekly wage. Others redoubled efforts to persuade Congress to embark upon up-on huge school building programs, pro-grams, and to enlarge housing subsidies. RADICAL METHODS FEARED Some members of Congress and economic advisors are fearful that a resort to radical methods to unlimited deiicit spending, to "pump priming" schemes, to encouragement of higher wages and labor monopoly! mono-poly! will make recovery more difficult i I Two questions have arisen whether the Elsenhower Admin- i lstratlon Itself will fall prey to I radical spending schemes, and whether Congress will inaugurate inaugur-ate them even in the face of administration ad-ministration opposition. TAX REDUCTION SENTIMENT CAINS One big change In congressional con-gressional sentiment Is the increasing in-creasing demand for tax reduc- tion. I This sharp change In attitude has taken place in a six-week period. Whether the demand will snowball and force congressional congres-sional action before adjournment , is at this time uncertain. ' A possibility was forseen of an all-out battle between advocates advo-cates of the principles of the Sadlak-Herlong tax reduction bill, and the proposals of self-styled self-styled ultra-liberals. I The Sadlak-Herlong bill calls for tax reduction for both corporate cor-porate and individual Income tax payers. It would reduce the high and, discriminatory rate and thus free funds for investment in business expansion. I But the ultra-liberal proposals call chiefly for a reduction either in the lowest brackets of the Income In-come tax, or a raise In the ex lemption, with the intention of aiding only the small taxpayers. |