1950 Model

Behind closed office doors and in conference rooms, the Administration's carpenters sawed and hammered away at the big beams of the Fair Deal platform for 1950. In the White House, departing Presidential Counsel Clark Clifford polished up the State of the Union message. Across the street, in the rococo old building that once housed the State Department, Economic Adviser Leon Keyserling scribbled on stacks of yellow foolscap, drafting the President's economic report. Down another hall, Budget Director Frank Pace Jr. roughed out paragraphs and charts for a draft of next year's budget.

Back from three weeks' vacation in Key West, Fla., Harry Truman, bronzed and healthy, plunged into a busy three days of conferring, met for nearly two hours one morning with the Cabinet. At his first full-dress press conference in a month, the President quickly brushed aside any specific questions on the Administration's plans and policies. But the main lines were already well known: don't rock the boat; propose no bold, new experiments., but insist on putting through the controversial Fair Deal measures (civil rights, health plan, etc.) already proposed.

The one big argument still to be resolved was the size of the budget for fiscal 1951. As it stood last week, Harry Truman was expected to approve a budget of about $42 billion (compared with 1950's $43.5 billion). The Government would take in no more than $38 billion, thus adding another $4 billion to the deficit., The question was whether to increase taxes so as to make up at least part of the deficit (as Treasury Secretary John Snyder recommended) or to risk another badly unbalanced budget and gamble on increased returns from reviving business (as Adviser Keyserling urged).

When he left for Independence, Mo. and Christmas at home, the President had not indicated which side he took. If he should ask Congress for higher taxes, he was apt to get a flat turndown. The President was about ready to give in to congressional appeals for a reduction of wartime excise taxes, would probably agree to removal of federal taxes on such items as transportation, fur coats and jewelry.* But in return he would insist that Congress make up the loss by raising taxes elsewhere--say on corporations, which, as every Congressman knows, have no vote.

*Rumors that excise taxes would soon be pared put a last-minute crimp in Christmas sales of taxed luxury goods. Moaned one Detroit jeweler: "I wish they'd either repeal that tax or stop talking about it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.