More Power to States

On the home front last week President Eisenhower quietly pushed a pet project that, despite the early skepticism of veteran politicians, may mark one of the radical contributions of his Administration. He wrote to House Speaker Sam Rayburn outlining the first firm steps he wants to take in returning to the 48 states some functions now handled by the Federal Government -along with the revenue sources to pay for them.*

His offer: in return for giving up $100 million worth of federal grants-in-aid they now get for vocational-education work and water-purification plants, the states should get the chance to collect $150 million of the revenue that the U.S. now takes in from its 10% tax on local telephone calls.

Aware that some G.O.P. Governors are among the reluctant -specifically those whose states happen to be among the net losers in such a swap -Eisenhower sent a message to the Governors' Conference in Miami Beach. "If a healthy functioning of all our political parts is to be maintained," he wrote, just about every citizen has to fight the "centripetal force" that accumulates power in Washington.

* Since World War II, the total tax take of state and local governments has risen 3 1/2 times as fast as the federal take.

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