Show r ri It i f BY er GEORGE GEORGES S. S BENSON I 1 r J College 4 How Much Government Its It's 2272 miles from New York to Salt Lake City Utah Yet if all the civilian employees in the executive executive tive branch of our federal government govern govern- government ment were six feet tall they're not and you placed them head to toe on onU U TJ S. S Highway 30 they'd reach the distance easily with 14 miles to spare This comparison is conser conser- va tive It was ba based d on an estimate estima te teof of 2 million government workers in inthe the tm executive branch alone Perhaps nobody can ever know just how many there are During the first four months Of this year they increased at a rate of more than a day day- Use another com com- parison There is one executive worker in the federal government for tor every 21 income taxpayers In other words these 21 taxpayers are paying the salary of the man And that's just in the executive arm of the federal government Paying the Piper Each and every American citizen must not fail to be interested in this problem of mushrooming govern govern- ment As long as we fool ourselves into the habit of asking for more government well we'll see more and more added to the payrolls and well we'll pay higher and higher taxes We need to decide how much government govern ment we want Certainly the more of it we set up the more we have to pay for At the rate we have been going in the last decade most of us will be working for the government in hi a few years That would be one of the simplest ways to take the country into so Let most of us be drawing paychecks from the government government- lt in salaries and various benefits benefit and we would have socialism right here heie without voting for it What we ve need constantly to remember is that tha t the government has not a cent to spend except what it collects from you and me and from our neighbors Its It's Up to Congress Our next Congress will have a areal areal areal real test and a real opportunity Last year the Congress provided provided pro pro- vided this tins historic opportunity by establishing a commission to study the reorganization of the executive side of our government Membership Membership Membership Member Member- ship of the Commission includes some somo of our most public spirited citizens These experts are giving the structure and functions of many manya a government agency a thorough thoroughgoing thoroughgoing going over They are also studying expenditures with the idea of proposing proposing proposing pro pro- posing changes that will bring both economy and efficiency Must lust Say Noy No UNo The Congress will have the Job of acting upon whatever recommendations recommendations the Commission may present It is not an easy task Any executive finds it hard to lop off oft an office here and an office there When the government starts a service service serve ice it is hard to find a stopping place Moreover each and every department will well fight to the finish for increased personnel and more money May the coming Congress find enough gizzard and gristle to stand standup up and say no We must end waste and extravagance in fn government When nearly thirty cents out of every dollar you earn goes directly or indirectly toward support of federal fed eral government that is too much We cannot continue to be the strong and financially stable nation we must be unless something is done to curtail the spread of government |