New Twist

Once--sometimes twice--a year, according to the public demand, a solemn little farce is played in Washington. There are always the same actors in the same roles, always the same finale.

Out of the White House comes either Mississippi's Senator Pat Harrison or North Carolina's Bob Doughton, fresh from a lunch with Franklin Roosevelt. (Sometimes they come out together, but this is usually considered bad stagecraft.)

Pausing thoughtfully on the steps, Mr. Harrison sucks heavily on his frankfurter-sized cigar--or Mr. Doughton fiddles with his broad-brimmed sombrero--and says in effect: Revenues are pouring into the Treasury in a way that gladdens our hearts. No tax increases will be necessary.

Act II takes place on Capitol Hill, in two scenes: 1) in Mr. Doughton's Ways & Means Committee, where a new tax bill is drafted; 2) in Mr. Harrison's Finance Committee, where it is polished up. Act III takes place at the nearest Internal Revenue Bureau office, with citizens waiting in long lines to pay increased taxes.

Last week came time for the annual first act. But Playwright Roosevelt added a curtain-raiser to Act I, in which he himself appeared in a new role--that of a penny-squeezing pinchfist. Scrimper Roosevelt let it be known he was wearing blue pencils to the stub, slashing $1,000,000,000 of proposed expenditures from the budget he will present in January.

Then Mr. Roosevelt went south to Warm Springs, Ga., for Thanksgiving I. No sooner had he carved the turkey than he gathered the press, told them that he would pass the tax buck to Congress. Those sterling fellows, he intimated, must decide for themselves and the U. S. whether: 1) to pass a new tax bill, which in an election year is similar to harakiri; or 2) simply to go on borrowing money, thereby creating a larger deficit and running the public debt beyond the statutory $45,000,000,000 limit.

Only four days before, faithful Pat Harrison had given one of his best performances. Out of the White House he had stepped, dragged lustily on a banana-sized cigar, said: "Government receipts are making such a showing as to gladden our hearts. ... It may be that we can get along without a tax bill."

With the cynical suspicions yet tireless hopes of veteran drama critics, the U. S. waited for Act II.

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