History Makers in Hershey

The briefcase brigade that converged on restful Hershey, Pa. (pop. 5,300) one day last week looked like anything but a band of radicals. From six state capitals came six governors and their staffs --Illinois' Republican William Stratton; Pennsylvania's Democrat George Leader, Texas' Democrat Price Daniel, New Hampshire's Republican Lane Dwinell, Kansas' Democrat George Docking, Nebraska's Republican Victor Anderson. From Washington came a high-powered delegation headed by new Treasury Secretary Robert Anderson, Labor's Jim Mitchell, Health, Education and Welfare's Marion Folsom, and Budget Director Percival Brundage. Together they formed a serious action committee, and before the session broke up two days later, they had plotted one of the 20th century's most revolutionary programs: a pilot plan to return some important federal powers and responsibilities to the states.

The idea of decentralizing government had been broached by President Eisenhower in a speech last month to the 49th annual conference of governors. Many of the governors yawned and thought they would hear no more of it. But Ike put his best team to work in Washington, peppered the governors' committee with plans and suggestions aimed at reaching a workable if not dramatic program of action. Last week Anderson & Co. were ready with facts and figures, and Anderson quickly ticked off six simple obligations that the U.S. is willing to turn over to the states next year:

>School lunch and milk programs, to which the U.S. contributes 5 1/2-c- to the price of each lunch for a total cost of $160 million a year. The Federal Government would continue to supply surplus foods.

> Federal grants to the states for vocational training, a program that cost $41 million in fiscal 1957.

> Natural disaster relief (except in instances of major disaster), which cost the U.S. $16 million last year.

> Water-treatment programs; the U.S. contributes some $57 million yearly.

>Supplemental old-age assistance programs; the U.S. antes up from 40% to 75% of the payments made each year to half a million citizens to supplement their social security and state retirement funds.

> A minor series of "stimulative grants" to the states to encourage medical research, public welfare programs, etc.

Along with the offer to surrender these functions went a healthy quid pro quo: to finance them at the state level, the U.S. was prepared to relinquish to the states roughly a half share of federal inheritance and gift taxes ($1.3 billion this year), and about $542 million in excise taxes collected on such items as telephone calls and theater tickets.

Visibly cool at first, the governors, chaired by New Hampshire's Dwinell, offered suggestions of their own, e.g., surrender to the Federal Government of the entire civil defense program, a federal-state agreement limiting federal aid to schools in "impacted areas." Bob Anderson heard them out politely, led them away from such side issues and from their desire to remain only a study group. Said he: "Let's aim for some solid accomplishment." As the conference adjourned to let federal-state staffs work out details of its decisions, so much had been accomplished that federal representatives were already looking ahead to bigger programs that could be surrendered in coming years (e.g., urban redevelopment and an end to federal grants in aid).

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