| Show il Experts Needed to Set Impartial Budget Figure By BAUKHAGE News Analyst and Commentator Service Eye Street N. N W. W Washington D. D C. C W WASHINGTON As As the wrangle over the budget and national debt deb t continues about the only comfort I can of of- t fer Mr Ta Taxpayer payer of 1 19 17 17 if he 1 should risk me for forit r it is a heart hearty better luck next year And that is no vain hope either Inhere is a very good chance that government will cost less next year ear This will not be due to any widely heralded swing the axe or called so-called economy economy econ omy drives which congress often promises and seldom delivers If U Uthe the budget is proportionally smaller next year it will be because figures prepared by the Bureau of the Ule Budget Bud get will have been checked by congressional con gressional fiscal experts who get their jobs on merit and wh who are obligated gated to no political party These men now are being selected by a professional personnel expert i loaned from the business world At this writing the house and senate sen ate are struggling to find a compromise compromise compro compro- mise cut in the budget Until they determine the size of the budget they cant can't be sure of what they ought to do about taxes or reducing reduce ing the national debt If It weren't that the budget were compiled b by one party and authorized by another we wouldn't have as much wran- wran Now there is nothing wrong with having plenty of debate debate de de- bate on a subject like this provIded provided pro pro- vided one or both sides are arc voting voting vot vot- ing on the basis of actual facts which are set forth by a disinterested disinterested authority whom the public will accept Such an authority au will wUl be provided we hope by the staff stafI of fiscal experts ex ex- next year Without such experts what happens happens hap hap- pens The house bouse goes on record asto as asto to the budget cut it thinks it wants to make The appropriations committee com cuts down the various items A bill is submitted again to the house and the fight begins each congressman con gressman to restore as much of the appropriation for his pet projects as possible rolling Log gets under way and the total is raised The same thing happens in the senate where an individual senators senator's demands are accorded even more weight Eventually the ante is raised a little more And if it doesn't get back up to the Presidents President's original estimate which may lave ave been too high itself there willbe will willoe oe be a supplemental bill passed later will absorb any extra dollars that are lying around When Sena Senator tor Taft was asked by Democratic Senator McMahon who vas attacking the Republican cut f Taft wanted the senate to pass passIn n In the question without having nuch information as to what we ire doing Taft frankly replied We can only make make an intelligent Intelligent intel Intel- guess We have no Information mation before us as to the particular par items of th the 37 budget in justification of the figure fixed by the budget bureau bu- bu reau we only know what is requested That is the keynote We only now what is requested Why should th the opposition party ake on faith the administrations administration's gure We have two parties to check n each other Taft admits the Re Re- haven't the facts now but bute e adds that in ordinary years we will have a staff working dur duro durong ng the recess supposedly recess supposedly com com- of or these neutral experts who V o ow are being hired which hired which can canive canive ive us more intelligent informal I Iban ban we now have Theres There's the hope Basis for Va rid Understanding Few Russians heard beard the early tate department broadcasts rated last month and those who id were critical of the musical sections se see objecting to hillbilly mes like Turkey in the Str Straw w. w hey complained too about Ding Bing rosbys rosby's singing of Stephen Stepnen Foster t This is only one instance where lusic has segued into World news nee nce he I war I remember visiting the Opera House In when German musicians were first permitted permitted per per- to assemble there The house had four walls intact and part of the roof but only part of it The rest as covered with canvas which kept out most of the falling snow but didn't keep out the cold No was made of heating the auditorium and the place wa freezing cold Yet it was packed The program I however could not be completed This was not due to the fact that the audience walked out they out they stood or or I sat with the snow seeping in on them The musicians musicians' fingers simply sim sim- ply got too cold to function That was a year ago last November Today with the cooperation of the American military government orchestras orchestras or or- have sprung up in every town in the American zone and a large p part rt of the broadcast programs pro grams are musical Reeducating the thc German in inthe inthe the field of music will be a less Herculean task than It Is in other other oth oth- er fields for music has always been part of oC the home bome training of the German child not child not merely something for or which the music teacher was alone responsible I remember a German home I used to visit before before- World War I in which the short period after the evening meal and the time the youngest went to bed and the eldest went to his other studies was largely a musical hour The most interested interest interest- ed and active member of the group was the father Here In America we leave too much of the childs child's musical training to the schools As Aj the Hungarian composer Zoltan who is visiting visiting vis vis- this country remarked Our ears must be trained to perceive perceive per per- the simpler musical phenomena ena before being heing able to follow themore the themore more complicated forms and it is obviously the duty of public schools to give this first training to every every- body Germany of C course has another great advantage that America lacks has been removed Americas America's Americas Amer ica's musical dictator has not His organization has a standing resolution resolution reso reso- I lution which reads The federation urges its locals to use their political and econ economic mic strength to combat the encroachment of high school bands and orchestras I The dictator I refer reCer to is of course one Petrillo of the thc American American Amer Amer- ican Federation of Musicians the resolution is from Crom their constitution constitution con con- which in conferring authority authority au au- on him uses phrases like this It shall be his duty and prerogative to to make decisions in cases where in his opinion an emergency exists to to issue executive ex ex- orders which shall be bc conclusive and binding upon all members members etc Such a resolution and such absolute lute authority runs directly counter to tactile the advice of and to the thinking of anyone interested in the cultural development of America orin or orin in democracy itself for that matter This is one of the many facets of our musical life which touch politics polio poli tics as music touches many of the nations nation's other activities past and present present For For example during the war cynicism was expressed in songs like Lillie Belle with its Jingle Jangle Oh Aint You Glad Youre You're Youe Single ingle Tt There rc were songs songs created out oui 01 Of a r emotional emotion l level too like God Bless America Amer Amer- ica Therell Always Be an England Eng land The White Cliffs of Dover I and what was perhaps an escape escape- song from all the sordidness of war I Oh Ob What a Beautiful Morning No the Russians didn't like the tho hillbilly American music And I I doubt if the average American could absorb much of the somber and mournful Russian folk dirges although although al al- though they contain beauty enough to the ear accustomed to hearing them and the mind trained to interpret in them That must be remembered in considering considering con con- all cultural relationships to world peace We must be informed not only about the world as a whole I but specifically about each other I Mature interpersonal understanding implies a knowledge of each others other's environment and also the habits I tastes and thinking produced by that environment Music is a part of everyone's lire life an expression as aswell aswell well as an impression We cannot live peacefully with each other in our homes or on the globe without the establishment of understanding intercommunication Music understood understood under under- stood will be he part of that necessary intercommunication |
