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Show GRASSROOTS Congress As Prodigal With Tax Money As Truman By Wright A. Patterson FOLLOWING the close of four years, of civil war our national debt amounted to two billion, two hundred million. That had been reduced re-duced to one billion at the start of World War I. At the close of World War I, our debt was 25 billion, 200 million. We had reduced that to 19 billion, 600 million by 1929. That total of 1929 represented $571 for each American family. By 1939, with no war, but the New Deal to finance, our national debt had increased in-creased to where it represented $1,165 for each family. In 1950, our national debt amounted to 257 billion, bil-lion, 400 million, a total for each family of $6,786. With such a financial condition condi-tion facing us, with a debt burden bur-den and taxes higher than at any time in our national history, congress continues to spend money "like a drunken sailor." Only recently, the senate voted an authorization for an Arizona irrigation project, the total cost of which will amount to considerably consid-erably more than two billion dollars. That irrigation will benefit less than 30,000 farmers, farm-ers, for which all the people of all states will be taxed to an extent of nearly $3,000, to be added to the $6,786 each family is now slated to pay. That is not the kind of economy candidates for both the senate and house promised the voters before the last election, when economy was an issue in the campaign, but it represents the kind we are get ting. The senators who voted for authorization for such a project should not be allowed to go back to Washington. A two-billion-dollar project that would benefit 30,000 Arizona farmers, but would seriously serious-ly endanger the water eupply of close to 5,000,000 people in southern California', who have at tremendous expense to themselves carried the water of the Colorado river through the mountains and over the deserts that they might live, should be voted down. Now the senate proposes to give away that water to 30,000 Arizona Ari-zona farmers at a cost to the families fami-lies of all states of $3,000 per family. That is spending on a scale that neither the New Deal or the Fair Deal have suggested, and it came directly from the senate sen-ate without a recommendation from the President. It was not a partisan measure. It was voted for by both Democrats and Republicans. Fortunately that was only an authorization. au-thorization. The Senate cannot inaugurate in-augurate appropriation legislation as that must start in the house. And it is not believed that such an appropriation has any chance of passage in the house. Such an incident, in-cident, futile though it may be, demonstrates dem-onstrates that the spending proclivities pro-clivities cannot all be laid to the President. Some of it must be attributed at-tributed to congress, and there both parties must assume a portion of the blame. That would-be Arizona expenditure expendi-ture is but a large sized sample of the utterly unexplainable and needless need-less expenditures made by Washington. Wash-ington. A careful check of the voting in both senate and house will demonstrate dem-onstrate that those who are loudest in their demands for economy will, at times, be found supporting appropriations appro-priations for things we could get along without. Among such things is the central California Valley reclamation project of no value to any one other than the people of California, but being paid for by the tax payers of all states. Senator Knowland's denunciation of that Arizona project was but a case of "the pot calling the kettle black." Can we not have an end to all such needless federal government spend-ings? spend-ings? While under the set-up of the legislative legis-lative branch of the government, it is not possible for the senate to inaugurate either tax or appropriation appropria-tion legislation, the senate can, when it will, stop such legislation, when passed by the house. Senator George (D., Georgia), as chairman of the tax committee of the senate, has refused consideration of the house tax bill, until the house has cut from its appropriation not less than six billions of peace time expenditures. ex-penditures. At the end of a year the "little" war in Korea had resulted in more casualties, than the first year of the "big war" with Japan. The "war wolf" cry no longer gives us the shivers. |