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American Coke and Chemical Institute, White Sulphur Springs, WV, October 23, 1967
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American Coke and Chemical Institute, White Sulphur Springs, WV, October 23, 1967
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The original documents are located in Box D22, folder "American Coke and Chemical
Institute, White Sulphur Springs, WV, October 23, 1967" of the Ford Congressional
Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
full Distribution
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
October 23, 1967
Excerpts from an Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, House Republican Leader,
at the annual meeting of the American Coke and Coal Chemical Institute,
Monday evening, Oct. 23, 1967, at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
You have enjoyed a trip into the past here with your "Roaring Twenties"
party, and the theme of your annual meeting is a look into the future. Let me
join you on both excursions.
The popular view of the Twenties is that it was a gay time. Certainly
those were prosperous years until economic over-exuberance and lack of restraint
plunged this country into the greatest depression in our history.
I want to make this point at the outset. It just isn't true that prosperity
in America depends on deficit spending by the federal government. We had
prosperity in the Twenties without federal deficits. We had surpluses in the
Treasury then. And we had a continued slump in the Thirties despite big deficit
spending.
In the years 1960 through 1967 we have experienced eight consecutive
federal deficits, and in 1966 we suffered through bouts with inflation, tight
money and the highest interest rates in 40 years.
Now we are climbing out of a near-recession but we are faced with Adminis-
tration forecasts of a $28 billion deficit for fiscal 1968, a new upsurge of
inflationary pressures, and another round of sky-high interest rates.
The President and his advisers demand that Congress approve a 10 per cent
income tax surcharge on individuals and corporations on the ground the tax
increase is badly needed to dampen the economy.
I submit that a far wiser course is to review all federal spending planned
for this and future years, to throttle down those plans and to begin pruning
the federal bureaucracy of offices and programs which have outlived their use-
fulness or have not produced expected results.
The action by the U.S. House of Representatives last Wednesday aimed at
cutting back Administration spending plans for this fiscal year by $7 billion or
more was a necessary first step. Whether or not the U.S. Senate joins the House
in that economy effort, we must look beyond it.
Your industry is looking to the future. Let me look down the road with you--
at the state of the economy, the possible impact of the proposed income tax on
(more)
Digitized from Box D22 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
the economy, and a look into the distance at federal spending.
How "buoyant" is the economy that the President's economic advisers say is
just crying out for a tax increase? The growth rate in real terms fell to 2.3
per cent per year from mid-1966 to mid-1967 after reaching a high of 6.1 per cent
in 1965. While it's true that real growth increased by 1 per cent for the quarter
during the last three months, I believe an income tax increase might well abort
this movement toward recovery.
Inflation? We are encountering a new upward push on prices which demands
action by the federal government. But we should remember that a dollar cutback
in spending has nearly twice as much anti-inflationary impact as a dollar increase
in taxes.
Our first goal, then, should be to scale down the Administration's spending
plans for this fiscal year. Then we can take a look at the proposed tax
increase--if the Administration still is asking for it--and examine it in the
light of what is happening to the economy.
I say we should pull back on federal spending plans first because if we do
not we will face the threat of additional income tax increases beyond the pro-
posed 10 per cent surtax.
The reason is that in the Soaring Sixties federal spending has run wild--
and in just eight years. While the population grew 10 per cent, the civilian
bureaucracy of the government grew 25 per cent, federal civilian payrolls grew
75 per cent, government spending went up 80 per cent.
Is this because of the Vietnam War? While defense spending rose by 68 per
cent, nondefense spending went up 97 per cent and welfare and health spending
jumped an incredible 210 per cent. There now are 42 million people in this
country who receive a regular monthly check from the federal government.
We can expect that by the time this decade ends the federal budget will
have doubled to $160 billion and the deficits for the Soaring Sixties will have
towered to nearly $100 billion. In consequence, the National Debt--on which we
now must pay annual interest charges of $14.2 billion--will have climbed to about
$400 billion.
This sharp upward trend in federal spending and federal debt will change only
if there is a drastic change in national attitudes. I believe there is a
definite shift in that attitude now--a taxpayer revolt.
I pray that the taxpayer revolt continues as we seek better and less costly
solutions to the Nation's problems. We must bring realism into the lives of
Americans misled by slick political slogans and gulled into believing in
extravagant political promises.
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR RELEASE AT 6:30 P.M. MONDAY--
October 23, 1967
Excerpts from an Address by Rep. Gerald R. Ford, House Republican Leader,
at the annual meeting of the American Coke and Coal Chemical Institute,
Monday evening, Oct. 23, 1967, at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W. Va.
You have enjoyed a trip into the past here with your "Roaring Twenties"
party, and the theme of your annual meeting is a look into the future. Let me
join you on both excursions.
The popular view of the Twenties is that it was a gay time. Certainly
those were prosperous years until economic over-exuberance and lack of restraint
plunged this country into the greatest depression in our history.
I want to make this point at the outset. It just isn't true that prosperity
in America depends on deficit spending by the federal government. We had
prosperity in the Twenties without federal deficits. We had surpluses in the
Treasury then. And we had a continued slump in the Thirties despite big deficit
spending.
In the years 1960 through 1967 we have experienced eight consecutive
federal deficits, and in 1966 we suffered through bouts with inflation, tight
money and the highest interest rates in 40 years.
Now we are climbing out of a near-recession but we are faced with Adminis-
tration forecasts of a $28 billion deficit for fiscal 1968, a new upsurge of
inflationary pressures, and another round of sky-high interest rates.
The President and his advisers demand that Congress approve a 10 per cent
income tax surcharge on individuals and corporations on the ground the tax
increase is badly needed to dampen the economy.
I submit that a far wiser course is to review all federal spending planned
for this and future years, to throttle down those plans and to begin pruning
the federal bureaucracy of offices and programs which have outlived their use-
fulness or have not produced expected results.
The action by the U.S. House of Representatives last Wednesday aimed at
cutting back Administration spending plans for this fiscal year by $7 billion or
more was a necessary first step. Whether or not the U.S. Senate joins the House
in that economy effort, we must look beyond it.
Your industry is looking to the future. Let me look down the road with you--
at the state of the economy, the possible impact of the proposed income tax on
(more)
-2-
the economy, and a look into the distance at federal spending.
How "buoyant" is the economy that the President's economic advisers say is
just crying out for a tax increase? The growth rate in real terms fell to 2.3
per cent per year from mid-1966 to mid-1967 after reaching a high of 6.1 per cent
in 1965. While it's true that real growth increased by 1 per cent for the quarter
during the last three months, I believe an income tax increase might well abort
this movement toward recovery.
Inflation? We are encountering a new upward push on prices which demands
action by the federal government. But we should remember that a dollar cutback
in spending has nearly twice as much anti-inflationary impact as a dollar increase
in taxes.
Our first goal, then, should be to scale down the Administration's spending
plans for this fiscal year. Then we can take a look at the proposed tax
increase--if the Administration still is asking for it--and examine it in the
light of what is happening to the economy.
I say we should pull back on federal spending plans first because if we do
not we will face the threat of additional income tax increases beyond the pro-
posed 10 per cent surtax.
The reason is that in the Soaring Sixties federal spending has run wild--
and in just eight years. While the population grew 10 per cent, the civilian
bureaucracy of the government grew 25 per cent, federal civilian payrolls grew
75 per cent, government spending went up 80 per cent.
Is this because of the Vietnam War? While defense spending rose by 68 per
cent, nondefense spending went up 97 per cent and welfare and health spending
jumped an incredible 210 per cent. There now are 42 million people in this
country who receive a regular monthly check from the federal government.
We can expect that by the time this decade ends the federal budget will
have doubled to $160 billion and the deficits for the Soaring Sixties will have
towered to nearly $100 billion. In consequence, the National Debt--on which we
now must pay annual interest charges of $14.2 billion--will have climbed to about
$400 billion.
This sharp upward trend in federal spending and federal debt will change only
if there is a drastic change in national attitudes. I believe there is a
definite shift in that attitude now--a taxpayer revolt.
I pray that the taxpayer revolt continues as we seek better and less costly
solutions to the Nation's problems. We must bring realism into the lives of
Americans misled by slick political slogans and gulled into believing in
extravagant political promises.
###