THE WEEK

It is regrettable that the House Committee on Foreign Affairs reversed itself by approving a long term (three year) Foreign Aid bill. The appeal to Congress of not having to go through the Foreign Aid fight year after year must be well-nigh compulsive. If they can just do it once, and get it out of the way for a while, they can answer their importuners in 1958 and 1959 by saying simply: “The matter is out of our hands. It’s this way for the next three years.” The burdens of responsibility are great, but Congressmen should bear in mind that they asked for the job; and if they don’t want it there are others who will take it, and the responsibilities that inhere in it.

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which infused some $50 billion into the American economy in the thirties, has finally shut up shop and taken its nameplate from the door. Let it be known that there was at least one heavy-spending government agency which did not move in accordance with Parkinson’s Law. Just to give credit where credit is due, it was Mr. Herbert Hoover, the last U.S. President to believe in providing “terminal facilities” for questionable grants of power, who signed the original bill creating the RFC. True, the RFC has left its off-spring—the Small Business Administration is still dealing out the taxpayers’ money to help private industry. But there is some consolation in remembering that small business is small, and that it cannot grow big without disqualifying itself as a recipient of Parkinsonian largesse.

Featured Tags

It is regrettable that the House Committee on Foreign Affairs reversed itself by approving a long term (three year) Foreign Aid bill. The appeal to Congress of not having to go through the Foreign Aid fight year after year must be well-nigh compulsive. If they can just do it once, and get it out of the way for a while, they can answer their importuners in 1958 and 1959 by saying simply: “The matter is out of our hands. It’s this way for the next three years.” The burdens of responsibility are great, but Congressmen should bear in mind that they asked for the job; and if they don’t want it there are others who will take it, and the responsibilities that inhere in it.

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which infused some $50 billion into the American economy in the thirties, has finally shut up shop and taken its nameplate from the door. Let it be known that there was at least one heavy-spending government agency which did not move in accordance with Parkinson’s Law. Just to give credit where credit is due, it was Mr. Herbert Hoover, the last U.S. President to believe in providing “terminal facilities” for questionable grants of power, who signed the original bill creating the RFC. True, the RFC has left its off-spring—the Small Business Administration is still dealing out the taxpayers’ money to help private industry. But there is some consolation in remembering that small business is small, and that it cannot grow big without disqualifying itself as a recipient of Parkinsonian largesse.