PAGE 6-A
HERALD AND NEWS, Klamath Falls. Or.
Wednesday, April S, 196
EDSON IN WASHINGTON . . .
- McNamara Seeks To
There's Still a Little Snow in Washington
SW J 4
Unify. Armed Forces
i
A lot more howling probably will arise
over proposed regulations on what's allow
able in the way of business expenses for trav
el, entertainment and gifts as income tax
deductions.
If so, this is something of an anticlimax.
General content of the new regulations just
issued by Internal Revenue Service has been
known for some time.
Public hearings will be held for 30 days
or more, during which anyone who doesn't
like the new rules can protest. Some further
modifications may be made.
The regulations in final form, will be is
sued by Internal Revenue Commissioner Mor
timer M. Caplin sometime in May. And that
will be that. The regulations will apply to all
business expense deductions claimed for the
full calendar year 1963 and reported on in
come tax returns filed before April 15, 1964.
Prospects are slim for revision of the In
ternal Revenue Act of 1962, approved by Con
gress last October. It was intended to end
some of the worst abuses of "expense account
living" which Congress had been trying to
correct for 10 years.
Hotel, restaurant, night club, vacation
resort, credit card and gift shoppe represen
tatives have been claiming this law cut their
business way down in January and February.
Even the waiters' unions claim that tips have
been reduced.
They all blame in particular the regula
tions issued by IRS last Dec. 28, specifying
what accounting records must be kept tq sup
port claims for business expense tax deduc
tions. Sen. George A. Smathers, D-FIa., and a
few other congressmen have introduced bills
to put the law back the way it was and allow
more generous deductions. Smathers, a mem
ber of the Senate Finance Committee which
approved the 1962 revisions, now admits he
doesn't know how the changes got into the
new law.
But members of Congress now are being
rudely exposed for putting their wives, chil
dren and other relatives on government pay
rolls and taking junkets abroad at (he tax
payers' expense. They don't set too good an
example for business types who pad their ex-
IN WASHINGTON .
By RALPH dc TOLEDANO
Every item of information filter
ing out of the Soviet Union Indi
cates that Nikila Khrushchev is up
to his boady little eyes in trou
ble at home and that a policy of
continued toughness by the United
States would have tumbled him
nit of power during the Cuba
Crisis. This would have set off
chain reaction within the Krem
lin as competing groups and in
dividuals attempted to seize the
reins of power.
Those most expert in Soviet af
fairs are convinced that America's
tolerance of large Soviet troop
deployments In Cuba and t h e
forthcoming removal of U.S. mis
sile bases in Turkey and Italy
havo given Comrade Khrushchev
a new lease on lite and permitted
him to come to terms with the
6oviet military a fate far worse
t than death, the State Department
told us in explaining its policy o(
''patience" in Cuba, and one
which lack of American aggres
siveness would presumably lore
stall. It is known today that Khrush
chev's Cuban adventure was not
only designed to flank U S. de
fenses but also to demonstrate
to his worried generals that he
could outmaneuver the West mili
tarily even though he held none
of l lie high cards.
i From Soviet military docu
ments now in the U.S., we know
ili.it the Red high command be
lieves that it will take at leal a
decade of intensive cltoit for it
td catch up to the U.S. in arms,
and that the Soviet economy must
b$ geared for this Immediately.!
president Kennedy's ultimatum
tq the Soviets on tlie removal of
IK MM and MRBM bases in Cuba
shook the Kremlin. Tlw generals
told Comrade Khrushchev that it
would lie suicide to light. His
planners told him that tlie Sovi
et Union's economy could not sus
tain any kind of w ar, conventional
or nuclear.
For 48 hours. It was touch-and-go
for Nikita Khrushchev. Then
the. U.S. began moderating its
toughness. Privately, representa
tives of the President let the
fHii know that the U.S. was
w oner some Kina ot quia-
Closing The Loopholes
pense accounts
Khrushchev In Trouble
pro-quo for a Soviet missile with
drawal in Cuba. From the eag
erness of the White House to come
to some agreement, it seemed to
the Communists that Amrica's
show of force had frightened the
President far more than it had
them. i
There were some losses to mark
up, among them a slightly bat
tored prestige. But the gains for
the Kremlin wero there, and ev
ery day's news seemed to bring
some evidence of a policy of
"creeping disarmament" by the
United Slates. This saved Khru
shchev's neck, but the Soviet mili
tary moved into the ascendant.
The signs of this new Kremlin
balance of power are both major
and minor.
Of tremendous importance whs
the appointment of Dmitri F. Us
tinov to a newly created post of
"economic czar." Comrade Usti
nov is tlie military's man. and
his thinking Is geared not to eco
nomic measures but to tlie in
crease in Soviet military power.
Under Ustinov. Soviet military
spending, which had been slowly
declining, wilt be sharply in
creased. Also of great importance is
Khrushchev's abandonment of his
policy ot "decentralization" in the
control ot production. Tlie reason
advanced is 'that it was incfli
cient and bred corruption. But
corruption and embezzlement have
been rampant in (Ik- Soviet Un
ion for decades. It goes with the
system. Decentralization of t h e .
economy, however, favors t h c
consumer industries. Delense in
dustries require a high degree ot
central control.
Preliminary ligmcs on project
ed Soviet production indicate that
since tlw Cuban adventure, the
consumer goods field has lieen
cut back, and heavy industry,
which has alwajs held the lion's
share, tipped even fuillier. At tho
same time, tlie Kremlin has be
gun a re-examination of lis for
eign aid program. Though Soviet
aid has been tiny compared with
the $100 billion spent by tlie U.S.
since ltm, It is a drain on the
Communist bloc. It has, more
over, been opposed by the milita
ry, which feels that little is gained
because it has been-
-up to
now deductible.
Treasury and Internal Revenue Service
are standing pat. Only about 10 per cent of
the taxpayers, mostly corporations, can report
entertainment costs as business expense de
ductions. The other 90 per cent of the taxpayers
are glad to see the loopholes closed, shutting
off a tax revenue loss estimated at $100 mil
lion a year. The loss came largely from charg
ing off as business expenses what were really
personal pleasures.
Internal Revenue Service thinks it is
being reasonable and practical in its regula
tions interpreting the law and the intent of
Congress. IRS recognizes that entertainment
to promote sales is a legitimate practice of the
free enterprise system. It is here to stay. But
there are limits.
Gifts of any value still may be given to
customers or prospects, but only $25 of the
cost is deductible for tax purposes.
Where travel away from home is for long
er than a week and the nonbusiness part of
the trip is more than 25 per cent of the time,
only expenses allocated to business can be
deducted.
Expenses for a secretary taken to a busi
ness convention might be deductible. But ex
penses for a wife taken on such a trip would
not be deductible unless it can be shown that
she works at being more than a social decora
tion. The president of a corporation, working
on big shot prospects, would be allowed high
er entertainment expenses than his salesmen.
It is not anticipated there will be many
court cases to test provisions of the new law
and related IRS regulations. After the con
fusion of familiarization with the new routines
is over, it may all settle into an accepted rou
tine. In the meantime, few people are shedding
tears over high-priced eating places losing a
little business and being forced to cut rates.
Also, it's pretty hard to make a case
that the night spots and resort centers should
be subsidized by expense account living.
abroad and much lost in pos
sible capital outlays at home by
lied foreign aid.
Systematic demobilization of the
vast Soviet military establish
ment, which the Khrushchevian
economic planners urged, has
been halted. And on the minor
side, the Soviet propaganda ma
chine has suddenly rehabilitate!
the late Marshal Tukhachcvsky.
one of the great military minds
ot the 20th Century, who was exe
cuted by Stalin as a pro-Nazi
and a traitor. His death, and the
purging of thousands of Soviet
officers, has never been forgot
ten by the Ucd army. Now we
are being told that the charges
against Tukhachcvsky were based
on forged Nazi documents which
Stalin, of course, was too stupid
lo nee through.
Al
manac
By United Press International
Today is Wednesday. April 3.
the 93rd day of IW with 272 to
follow.
The moon is approaching full
phase.
The morning stars are Venus
ami Saturn.
The evening star is Mars.
Those born today include the
creator of the immortal Rip Van
Winkle, Washington Irving, in
1783.
On this day in history:
In I77ti. Harvard gave an honor
ary degree of doctor ot laws to
lien. George Washington.
In IRiUi, the Pony Express Post
al Service began when riders lelt
St. Joseph. Mo , and Sacramento.
Calit., at the same time.
In IBIQ, the famed outlaw Jesse
James was shot and killed by a
member ot Ins gang. Robert Ford.
In 1936, Bruno H.uiptinann was
elect rocutod ill Trenton, N J , for
tlie kidnaping and murder of the
son of Charles Lindbergh.
A thought for the day English
novelist Samuel Butler said: "The
man who lets himself be bored is
even more contempt ible than the
boor."
. ' mkr& A - & .
By SYDNEY J. HARRIS
When Chesterton was once
asked that tircsomely familiar
question, "What book would you
choose' to have with you on a
desert island?", he quite sensibly
replied, "James' volume on 'Prac
tical Shipbuilding." "
He was doing more than giv
ing a flip dismissal to this trite
question. He was pointing out the
absurdity of taking a situation
out of context. Most of us would
answer, with spiritual solemnity,
tlie Bible or Shakespeare; but
Chesterton, who was both a deep
ly religious and a widely culti
vated man, saw through these
pretensions.
On a desert island, of course.
we would want a book that would
help us survive and escape, if
possible. For a man alone is no
good to himself, even with the
Bible and Shakespeare for com
pany. Robinson Crusoe was going
crazy until he came upon Friday.
' Books of a spiritual or cultural
quality must be a supplement to
life; they cannot be a substitute
for it. If the average man makes
the disastrous mistake of substi
tuting action for thought (which
always ends in violence, t h c
thoughtful man often makes the
contrary mistake of substituting
books for life (which always ends
in sterility).
Indeed, perhaps the central task
of any human life consists in
achieving the proper balance, the
correct tension, between the con
templative and the practical as
pects. For both the man who
thinks too much and the man w ho
thinks too little tends lo take
the wrong action in a crisis.
The consideration of subtle mor
al, psychological and social val
Medley
ACROSS
1 Canine animal
4 Masculine
fl Young heep
12 Poem
13 Wolfhound
14 Tropical plant
15 Fastener
lit Saviors
18 Srotfrrl
'JO Paoses
l!l Klasmobrincli
fish
'2"2 Unci ot love
'24 Roast
26 Hundredth o( i
rij:M anglo
uiuth I
27 Pollack
30 t'anarv
.12 Infirm
M Affirm
.1.-. Redacted
36 Napoleonic
marshal
17 Kilo, I, s
;i! Nunilwr ipl I
40 Creek letter
41 Hrtlionie
sea Rod
42 Masts
4.t tiucssinfi name
411 Residence and
grounds
SI Pasture
!i2 Charles ltmh
S3 llaelic
M Permit
S.i Act
SK Viper
57 Perunls of
tunc lab i
IHIWV
1 Piainond.
culler s cups
C Norse cod
.1 1 siully
4 W V.I
f Nautical term
f riimhint: device
7 Marinei s
direction
o Cnpples
FF1 I4 I5 I6 P I F I9 I10 111
12 13 Ti
15 Fe 17
18 Id lilli "
51 Jl r32 J3
52 -53 4,
Sii: W-r';'4XCll5SSSltov' "
STRICTLY
PERSONAL
ues can immobilize a man from
taking action with courage and
dispatch; and, contrariwise, the
ignoring ol such considerations
can plunge us into deeds whose
consequences are quite the oppo
site of what we intended. Life is
so hard to anticipate precisely
liccause each event is an equa
tion in which one term is hidden
from us the mysterious "x" that
lies so deep within our own na
ture that we cannot sec it.
What expert bridge players
call "the feel of the table"
knowing intuitively when to pass
and when to bid is as important
in living as in playing. The reflec
tive man will nearly always pass,
and the impulsive man will near
ly always bid; but true expertise
consists in cutting across t h e
grain of one's nature when the
situation seems to call for it.
It might almost be said that
only if we learn how and when
to violate the natural bent of our
temperament can we cope with
the unpredictability and perver
sity of human affairs.
QUESTIONS
AND
ANSWERS
Q What docs the Jewish festi
val of Hanukkah comnienorate?
A It is an eight-day festival
commemorating the great battle
for religious liberty in IBS B.C.,
resulting in the restoration of the
Jerusalem Temple to the worship
of the true God. The festival is
also known as the Feast of Lights.
Q Which was the first cent
issued under the authority of the
United States?
A The "Fugio" cent in 1787.
Answer to Previous Puizle
1 Brews
lOThinlycar
s.i I mon
1 1 Mrs Truman
17 Kalen way
Hi Hint of proy
,VlHollhPS
Son of I.Iyr
Jr Prarna part
'JH Mighty
17 Word by w ord
Jtt lied tffMT
Ji Ctitu-hi'S
.11 Kil
3:t Chemical
MiMame
.Tft Horses of a kind
40 Baker's product
tl Bails
4- harm
e-utlmtMing
43 Measure
44 French girl
friend
4fi kein of yarn
47 Forest erealurt
48 Consumes
Mi Beverage
ISlAig A ISiHLEI IP. I lE.DI
1 IflHET TEtrsjl IeIOSIeI
Irja jsjmJAiUsLiATC' tiai
iafe N HejRjTtilts l Sek"
LETTERS
TO THE
EDITOR
Music
It seems strange indeed that
in this day and age, with music
so much a part of our daily
lives, that there are those who
consider it a non-essential and
look upon our school music and
oilier art courses as some kind
ot "fringe" subjects.
Now aside from developing an
ability which enables him to give
enjoyment to others, thereby en
riching his own life, does the pro
ficient music student and partici
pant derive any other benefits?
Dr. Charles Eliot, former presi
dent of Harvard University, said,
"Music is the best mind trainer
on our list."
Now if anyone doubts that the
musician must develop quickness
of mind, coordinated with instant
action and split second timing,
consider the violinist who plays,
for example, the Paganini "Per
petual Motion" at a rate of 12
notes per second with detached
bow strokes and shifts from one
position to another with nothing
to guide the placement of the
fingers. This and many other
examples would prove to anyone
that the coordination necessary
to play any instrument well and
a rapid tempo would make the
coordination necessary in any
other line of endeavor mere
child's play.
Now are there any other bene
fits resulting from the study of
music'.'
The National Child Welfare As
sociation has this to say:
"Through music, a child enters
into a world of beauty; expresses
his innermost self; tastes the
joys of creating; widens his sym
pathies; develops his m i n d;
soothes and retines his spirit and
adds grace to his body."
Calvin Coolidge writes, "Music
is the art directly representative
of democracy." And to those who
would belittle the study of music,
tins from Woodrow Wilson,. "The
man who disparages music as a
luxury and non-essential is doing
tlie nation an injury. Music now
more than ever is a national
need."
Although music is in itself an
exact science, existing as a def
inite reality in the realm of the
real in distinction to those things
which are purely man conceived,
we can sec from the following its
close relationship to another sci
ence. In an article which appeared in
tlie Kotarian. Donald H. Andrews.
prolcsMir of chemistry at Johns
Hopkins University, wrote in sub
stance, ithat' if we could blow up
an atom to the size of a football
held and could stand inside, one
would hear the most beautiful
music like the rolling chords of an
organ. In other words, the atom
snip. Thus, the "music of the
spheres" is no mere poetic fancy
but an established scientific fact.
Are we Uien to consider as a
non-essential a thing ot which our
universe is made?
"Into the dreary rounds of ma
teria! living, the arts come as a
brcalh from heaven."
Sam On Request
Thoughts
The American colonics of Con
necticut. Massachusetts, and Vir
ginia held land grants extending
their territories to the Pacitic
Ocean.
By PETER EDSON'
Washington Correspondent
Newspaper Enterprise Assn.
WASHINGTON (NEAi-Deiense
Secretary Robert Strange McNa
mara today occupies one of the
strangest positions in tlie capital.
A Republican who was for
Kennedy in 1U60 he is regarded
by many administration lead
ers as the ablest man in the cabi
net, enjoying the President's
complete coniidence.
Nevertheless, he has been men
tioned as a dark horse possibility
for the GOP presidential nomina
tion in 14 or '68.
By other Republicans and some
Democrats he is regarded as a
civilian chief of stalf, a man on
horseback, a ruthless administra
tor, a spendthrift with a budget
that is far too big, a potential
dictator, a man to be watched
and feared.
To other Democrats, McNamara
is simply doing a job that has
needed to be done for a long
time, cracking together the heads
of admirals and generals to make
them support real unification in
stead of fighting their old service
rivalries.
No one man can be all these
things at once, yet McNa
mara seems to be. That is the
paradox of his position.
His hassle with Congress over
award of the $6.5 billion TFX
tactical fighter contract to Gen
eral Dynamics, instead of to Boe
ing, is expected to simmer down
after his testimony before Sen.
John L. McClellan's Government
Operations subcommittee.
But it could boil up into some
thing hotter if the Congress
should move to create a joint,
by-partisan group lo watchdog
defense contracts.
McNamara takes full and sole
responsibility for the decision to
build only one fighter for both
Air Force and Navy use, in
stead of the two tlie services
wanted. The justification is that
this saves the government $1 bil
lion. While McNamara has raised
defense expenditures from $41 bil
lion in l'Jfil to an estimated $31
billion for 1964, the latter figure
is a $16 billion cut from what
the services wanted.
The secretary's goal, after
modernizing conventional forces,
is to level off the defense budg
et. He is said to consider this
By FULTON LEWIS JR.
It is nowhere to be found in
the 1.3-14 pages of the latest Sears
Roebuck catalogue, but the
American farmer may soon wear
an economic straitjacket three
buttoned, natural shoulder cut, of
course.
It is the solution advocated by
many to the ever-present, ever
vexing "farm problem." It is the
solution put forward by Secre
tary of Agriculture Orville Free
man, who last year proposed
jail sentences for those farmers
who violate federal orders and
"plant too much."
If Secretary Freeman and (he
Harvard economists who help
shape his policies would take a
figurative look 90 miles off the
Florida coast, they would see file
latest example of what happens
when government steps in and
tries to run agriculture.
This is a point now made by
the articulate Robert Liebenow,
40-ycar-old president of the
world's largest commodities ex
change, the Chicago Board of
Trade. He refers, of course, lo
Cuba.
Speaking in Topeka. Kan.. Lie
benow pointed out that Cuban
farm production, before Fidel
Castro came to power, amounted
to more than a third of the is
land's national income.
The Cuh.m people were among
the world's best fed. On a per
capita basis. Cuba produced more
meat than any other country in
the hemisphere, the U.S. not ex
cluded. Soon after Castro rode trium
phantly into Havana, the Cuban
farmer found his hands securely
tied by bureaucratic red tape.
The National Agia.ian Reform
Institute began to "plan" to im
plement tlie directiies of Com
rade Castro, and said:
"It is first necessary for the
larmer lo learn w hat we want him
lo learn. He must be taught the
spirit of cooperation. He must
lose what individualism he has
and also his stupid passion for
private property. Hunger will be
the midwite attending the birth of
a socialist stale in Cuba."
Says l.icbennw: "One of the
first things Castro did alter win
ning power was to start nation
alizing farm properties. Initial
ly he organized them as produc
tion 'cooperatives' owned and op
erated by the go eminent. In
he began setting them up
as 'people's farms.' which in
many respects are simply Cu
necessary in the face of demands
for tax cuts.
Kennedy's budget message
even plugged McNamara as an
economizer, pointing to his pro
gram for reducing logistic or
ation costs by $3 billion in five
years.
This, however, isn't enough to
offset the $5 billion defense budg
et increase during his first two
years in Washington.
Tlie real explanation given for
McNamara's present predicament
is that the job of being secre
, tary of defense is far different
from what it started out to be.
When the (irst secretary of de
fense, the late James V. For
restal, fathered the National Se
curity Act of 1947 which "uni
fied" tlie armed services, the
plan was to -keep his operation
small. He was to be a mere
civilian overseer, referee and
budget cutter.
The act gave him one under
secretary and only three assist
ant secretaries. His staff and of
fice space were small. The real
concern in unification was over
. creation of a Joint Chiefs of Staff
with a single chairman who, it
was feared, might become too
powerful and a military despot. .
The late Secretary of Defense
Charles K. Wilson changed all
that by installing a General Mo
tors organization with over 20
"vice presidents" as. assistant
secretaries.
Then came the Defense Re
organization Act amendments of
1958, which gave the secretary
of defense broad new powers.
But nobody ever used them all
until McNamara came along. In
the light of nuclear, missile and
space developments, the evolution
of his job is considered essen
tial by the Pentagon bureaucra
cy. His office now has 1,800 em
ployes. The three service secretaries
have been down-graded to such
an extent that most people have
to think twice to remember who
they are Vance of Army, Korth
of Navy and Zuckert of Air Force.
There are now only seven assist
ant secretaries of defense, who
are equally hard to name. And
the Chairman of the Joint Chiels
of Staff, General Maxwell Taylor,
seems to offer no threat of mili
tary domination of the republic.
It's "Sec. Def." who raises the
suspicions now.
WASHINGTON REPORT . . .
Agrarian 'Reforms'
Cut Cuba Potential
ban version of collectivized farms
in Russia and China.
"Today 'food is critically short
in Cuba and all the important
types of food once in abundant
supply are rationed. And the ra
tions are so small as to cause
substantial discomfort and discon
tent." Castro "planners" slaughtered
prize breeding animals, snipping
their frozen carcasses to Russia.
Now the herds are gone and
agricultural production is one-fifth
of what it was. Sugar produc
tion, which reached 7.5 million
tons during 1959, has fallen under
4 million tons.
Liebenow speaks frequently
before farm and business groups
throughout the country as a good
will ambassador to explain the
functions and objectives of the
Chicago Board of Trade. More
importantly, he view's every
speech as an opportunity to tell
ol the amazing development ot
American agriculture, and to em
phasize thai this progress is di
rectly traceable to free enterprise
and the personal profit incentive.
"Our greatest industry," says
Liebenuw of American agricul
ture. To a recent Michigan (arm
management banquet at Michigan
State University, lor example,
he conceded that we do have a
farm problem in this country, but
said: "Ours is a problem of over
abundance, of such amazing
technological improvements and
efficiency that our American
farmer can produce far, (ar
mure than we can consume."
"It's the kind of problem."
he added, "the Communist world
probably would give away Khru
shchev, or Mao. or both, to have.
"It's a problem which arises
from the fact that today an
American farmer produces in one
hour what it took a farmer a
little more than two' hours to pro
duce as recently as the late
1940's.
The American Farm Bureau
Federation, the nation's largest
farm group, proposes that prob
lems of over-production be eased
through a massive land retire
ment program.
Undoubtedly such program
would be costly and would raise
other serious objections, but on
balance, large-scale land retire
ment in some form or other ap
peals to many to be the only
logical solution to our problems
of over-abundance if fte are to
have the free enterprise, (roe
market agriculture we need.