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Show ' j JVo Comment Jl J , By James W. Douthat WASHINGTON "Cut government spending and lower taxes." This is the goal set by the nation's chief fiscal ofl'icer Secretary of the Treasury George M. Humphrey for the next 18 months. The forthright declarations of Mr. Humphrey against ruinous government spending and taxation have created a sensation in Washington political circles. He says all the people interested in sound public finance fi-nance can helo thev can demand less soendine and urge lower taxes; the White House can't uu uie juu uy iUnrli, nor ran Congress do the whole Jrb, but "we all can." . Congressional advocates of economy and lower taxes hope thai businessmen and others will take Mr. Humphrey's advice. ad-vice. They want demands to come "from back home" directed di-rected both at the White House and Congress. Nevertheless, the situation Is confusing even to veteran members mem-bers of Congress. Mr. Humphrey denies that he has broken with the President in fact, he says, "I have never seen anyone work harder" to cut the budget than the President. And the President said that It Is the duty of Congress if it can to cut the budget. But the White House is being subjected to criticism by some Democratic advocates of economy. econo-my. They say that Congress won't cut the budget by billions unless the White House takes the lead an I the White House made its record when it submitted sub-mitted the budget. Further, some members of Congress say that the proposal of Mr. Humphrey cut expenditures expendi-tures and cut taxes should be reversed. They argue that Congress will spend a surplus if it exists; thus if taxes are rut and a mirnlua is wiped out, Congress will have to economize. While some political leaders argue that the people want a big-spending administration, Mr. Humphrey suggests a "selling" program for economy. He says that If government continues to take as much money mon-ey out of our economy In the future fu-ture as It is taking now. there will not be enough capital to provide the industrial expansion needed to provide jobs. He adds that nearly 1.5 million young people are being added to the Job force each year. BIG SCHOOL SPENDING PLANS An early test of congressional con-gressional attitude on spending will come In legislation for federal fed-eral aid to education. A three-way fight is anticipated, anticipat-ed, especially In the House. A sizable group opposes any legislation leg-islation a general bill providing pro-viding federal grants for school construction, they say, opens a vast new area for federal spending. spend-ing. The Eisenhower Admlnlstra-tlon Admlnlstra-tlon also differs sharply from the Democratic House leadership. The White House proposes a $2.2 billion four-year plan of federal grants to build class-rooms class-rooms but on a needs formula. Democratic House leaders propose pro-pose a general grant, divided among states, without regard to need a total of $3.6 billion over a six-year period. It Is evident that If Congress votes huge grants for construe tlon of schools, other demands for federal aid will follow. Already Al-ready legislation Is proposed to grant federal scholarships, to build Junior colleges, to aid higher education In many ways. married until I'm thirty. I have lost all confidence in those who write letters to the editor. ShirlM Graf! |