Show bruckart s washington digest unusual coincidence attends visit of governor of nebraska executive Exe cutiNe of state without debt appears at moment treasury announce huge federal debt spend less when income drops Corn busker formula by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press klug washington D C gov R L coch ran of nebraska visited washington recently governors of states get around to washington visits every how and then but in the case of governor cochran s visit there was a very unusual coincidence on the day of his arrival the treasury de apartment part ment happened to make public its routine monthly statement of the national debt and expenditures it was late in december so the treas ury statement served to mark half of the federal government governments s fiscal year there was of course nothing spectacular about the fact that the treasury issued a debt statement the government has lots of debt but it was spectacular even sensa dional that the treasury statement of that day should reveal a new high record for the national debt on the day of arrival of one of the state governors the chief executive of a state that has no state debt not a penny does the state of nebraska owe it bound itself by its cons titu tion never to accumulate a state debt and further it restricted its counties and cities in the amount of debt they can create some may disagree with me but I 1 was very much impressed with the facts in the case of these two political jurisdictions our national government now is in debt to the staggering amount of 39 in direct obligations and if one adds the outstanding bonds and notes of agencies and government owned corporations which aich amount to about 5 your uncle samuel some way some how must pay nearly 45 and this at a time when one of its states ne braska does not owe a thin dime b explains how his state kept out of debt I 1 had quite a conversation governor cochran who was for the third successive term last november being one of democratic governors in states to be re elected about the state had bad come through the de with taxes low and no state debt I 1 reminded him that most every other state had added to its debt that taxes were higher and new taxes were added in every diorec tion and yet nebraska with many of the same problems had kept its record clear so exactly what is the answer the answer is very simple the governor replied it is so simple that there is hardly a news story in it it has been the policy of my administration to cut the cloth to fit cut it to what we could pay for if our state income was due to be less I 1 insisted that we spend less after all I 1 gues guess that is your an awer spend less when you have less income how about those well it s much the same story mr cochran went on we feel that agriculture and manufacturing retailing and service every kind of industry has a right to survive 1 I believe those engaged in it have a right to a reasonable profit a reward for their work and efficiency in that work every time a new tax is added it comes out of the whole hole people this statement that taxes can be shifted around is all the bunk the whole people is going to pay and it is unfair for a state government to take everything the state exists for the people not the people for a state shows results of minority pressure from many angles I 1 called the governor governors s attention that in the current fiscal year the national government is scheduled to spend something like 9 whereas its income at the most will hardly exceed five billions the observation struck fire that s what you get for letting government go into fields where it does not belong he shot back there you have the results of mi in nonty pressure from many angles in my campaign last fall I 1 told every audience that I 1 had been taught it was wrong for a candidate to buy votes with his own money and I 1 think it is worse to buy votes with other people s money or tax payers money and here is something for you to think about as long as you plan on pensions or aids or security or whatever name the thing is if you plan on fixed amounts to pay peo pie however deserving they may be you are going to have pressure for more and more what must be done is the nation must face the facts L call this stuff what it is call it charity and make it unpopular unless you do the thing that faces this country is a huge population of panhandlers within a few days after governor cochran s visit word was given out at the white house that president roosevelt will send a special mes ines sage to congress early in the new session asking that the social se carity act be broadened to cover more people the act as it stands was described as having many in equities many injustices and it might have been added safely that it contains many impossibilities senator michigan re publican long has complained about ab out some of these and he has urgently called for amendment of the law s provision that would set up a re serve fund this reserve fund cal to reach the fantastic figure of 47 eventually is sup posed to be invested and the interest from that investment is supposed to be enough to pay the old age pensions etc social security money goes into treasury general fund the michigan senator repeatedly has sought information from the so called experts as to how this money could be invested in government se curi canties ties and has had no answer the truth is that there has been no cash reserve set up at all the money paid in for social security tax has gone into the treasury treas s general funds to be appropriated and spent like any other dollars and the further truth is that it if there had to be full payment now congress would have to appropriate other money to pay it there is no way to forecast what is going to come out of the congress on the president presidents s projected propos al in some quarters one hears declarations that congressional in vesti gation of the whole cobwebby situation is the only way to arrive at a firm foundation other places are sources for observations to the effect that the federal can not handle charity or pensions or assistance matters of any kind without stinking fumes coming besides all of these the experts in the field held of social science and the inner circle of radicals who conceived the gigantic so cial security program will tell you in a most convincing way that t the he federal government can not shirk its duty to the destitute from their standpoint getting the money to make the payments is the easiest part of the whole job ob adverting again to what may come from the all of the discussion concerning social security one can not ignore the possibility of a whole sale revision of the law so that a fixed monthly sum surn will be paid to persons attaining some stated ad danced age there were too many members of the house and too man many y members of the senate elected last november after having hinted they were favorable to such a c course 0 u r se when they were hunting for votes As a matter of fact there are ably about house members who pledged themselves outright to vote some type of townsend plan or who said they would support a tion of the present law to provide early and large cash payments and loans to european countries remain unpaid As I 1 hear these various plans dis cussed and as I 1 hear other ways of spending money projected I 1 am more and more impressed with the sound thinking of nebraska s gov arnor cochran where is all of this money coming from I 1 have neither the money nor the answer in the midst of all of this what should be catapulted upon the scene but a proposal to loan money to the central and south americans the idea is to loan them money and help them buy products of the unit ed states and thus keep the euro out of our neighbor countries I 1 do not know enough about the pro gram to analyze it because it is a farfetched far fetched and intricate scheme probably we ought to do something to keep the americas for the amer leans but it was only december 15 that we were reminded again that the united states loaned something like 11 to a flock of eu nations to help make the world safe for democracy on december 15 according to the treasury figures there was a little over 2 of that money due and unpaid the original debts were refunded that is to say the debtor nations idere given a period of years over which to repay the loans they started out to meet the payments but first one and then another found a reason for not mak ing the semi annual payments that were ere due in june and december until now only little but very re spectacle spec table finland is making the payments as they are due the nations in default are great britain france italy belgium czechoslovakia hungary poland estonia latvia lithuania rumania and yugoslavia in addition to all of these the russian empire which is no more obtained several hun dred millions and the soviet of this day knows nothing of the obliga tion 1 0 western 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