Show tax bill Is s abbit stew slew L to r 0 congressman com essman u doughton V dy by news antwi Api analyst alyss mil and commentator washington D C another rabbit stow stew hns has been served up to rep robert L doughton of north carolina and lies hes all ready for it Be representative doughton I 1 might suggest if you dont know it is not on onay y tho the oldest member of the house of representatives 85 but likewise the oldest hand at handling tax measures he le had to step down from the Ithe chairmanship of the ways waya and means committee for the brief republican interlude now hes heb back at the old stand sharpening the butcher knue knife again dut but to get back to rabbit stew last season when president truman vetoed the second knutson tax cutting bill and j 1 and fired it back at 1 ft con congress ress a reporter asked doughton how ho he felt about it ile he 0 leaned back and I 1 told a story for hes fond of answering in 4 r parables A tarheel housewife it seems eem served her husband rabbit stew every night for 4 a week 1 when the second t afi saturday night cami came around a end n d the tame some old dish with it the lius husband band bowed his head ns as usual but instead of saying grice grace he was heard to mutter I tabbits rough rabbits tough oh lord ive had bad rab bit enough that opined opened mr doughton was the way he h felt about the tax bills but he has haa to help meet the big gest cesi peacetime budget ever submitted to toa a congress consi esa end and hes ready lor for it in the tha 38 years that he has represented the tote af t north borth carolina in the congress the habits of the dean of the octogenarians club n the lower house have changed very little since tho the last time I 1 explored them in some detail more than a score of yearly denra ago ile he has hag earned a tremendous respect from the men who work on fiscal matters in the house of representatives where the money bills have to originate and because he ha has a theory of his 0 own about out collecting bild spending ng in the th peoples money no bil bill arps cacs out ut of his is 2 T oil loril lord ivi ive had bint rabbit though committee looking very different thon than he wants it to look though it may not always suit all the other members doughton go so far as aks to say that fiscal legislation should be nonpartisan non partisan but he does doe say ay it ought to be ba as non provincial end and as pro national as possible ills hla experience in collecting money that ought to be collected goes back a long way one story involves a man he went to see about a hors etwo two horses to be exact this man had bought a team from doughton the congressman is still a farmer in his own right though he hosto has to spend more time away avay from home than he used 0 to later on the man wrote thit he think the span was worth the he had agreed agriesto to pay and pay it the deal had been negotiated at a distance and the principals had never met so one day doughton dropped in at the lie form farm end and sold said he wanted to look over a good team tiam the man showed several but none seemed to suit MF M doughton all right said the man ill show you yon the best pair you ever saw in you life lie iio brought out the horses re cendy acquired fro from in sir air doughton but still unpaid for and what night they be worth well lvell considerably over air doughton introduced him self elf and have much trou brou ble in collecting i there ts to another reason why doughton Is a good man to have on the collecting end of a bargain if U you arent the debtor iles hes a farmer true tnie but he Is also a banker and he works at both when he in washington ile he keep ba bankers fi hours burs however lie he goes oes to his office at amt am works throughout the day ond and hes often back in the office after dinner he lives right across the plaza rom th capital for r thi the first firk 43 years or br so go of his life mr doughton held tio no elective office but he be managed to find time r for on an active interest in his community which is deep in the carolina hills laurel spring N C Is still his home ho meIle ahe was born on his parents farm near there ills his father wounded in the war between the states died when he be was a grown boy ills mother was keenly active bolher to her last hours interested in the tha days mall mail and the dally daily newspaper to the last inheriting some land from his lather father the tha boy started off for him self gradually acquiring more until he became a livestock ralser raiser and former farmer then lie ho entered business finally becoming becom lne president of a bank ile he has described himself as ai a horse trader there are many toles tales that have grown up about his astuteness that if embellished by repetition are rot not doubted those who have watched his hia steady advancement in congress ile he entered under a republican regime president tafts accepted minor committee appointments but rose rapidly to the position he h holds today chairman of the powerful ways and means committee one of the horse trader stories lie he tells ells Is this after disposing of some animals he had ad meant to sell abe he was made it a very attractive offer for the horse lie he was riding his own saddle horse done he took the money turned over the ilia bridle puttee put ho saddle under his arni and walked back bach home 70 alles mlles says tradition under hi hla Is own power there seem to have been any deep laid plan for a political careering care career erIn in the former farmer boy boyi mind when he began life ilfe among the ox carts and lond looms ot of those early days in the south following the war sya sy en 0 hii c h tad ada red his j r NJ ml ir i own acres and na entena entered mib the business life of the community ile he was chosen a member odthe of the state board of agriculture and served on the prison board then one ona day it ft waa decided to run him forche forthe state senate ile he was elected and served for or a term congress was next but there was at a sort of unwritten low law in his district that one term was all a man could expect for republicans and democrats had always swapped terms but doughton changed till sil that hat or at least his cc con did when he had served his term in the gand con tress cress instead of retiring lil him ma ai as biad been the custom the voters sent him ham tight right back again and they have been doing it ever since there any question that robert L doughton likes his job in washington dut but its equally truo true that when the session Is over he likes to hie himself back to his carolina hills and enjoy life there around the capital he tins has the reputation as being as good a judge of m men len as lie he Is of horses this ahls year president Tr request for six billion dollars more in taxes including some social security withholding levies will get very careful scrutiny before it becomes law meanwhile dough tons toils committee has to take care of the bill to extend reciprocal trade treaties also studies will begin on tho the subject of extending social security benefits there li Is in addition the matter of certain revisions in the basic tax code but representative doughton is used to rabbit stew 5 0 a the biggest peacetime budget ever submitted to a cori congress gress has hai its appon bents too rep charles li alleck JR it ind andl former GOP majority leader ind and rep john taper 11 II N Y T former chairman of the he house appropriations committee look grimly al a the voluminous budget promise a fierce tight fight to slash all ln proposals |