Evening star. [volume], April 15, 1956, Page A-33, Image 33

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
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dONEY STACKS in foreground indicate taxes a middle-income family foces in area communities. Background stacks show last year's figures.
ONWARD AND UPWARD
Area Tax Bills All Climb,
District's Going Highest
By PHIL YEAGER and
JOHN STARK
Are you a middle-income family
living in the greater Washington
area? Has your annual income in
creased by SI,OOO in the past 18
months? If not. your income—rel
atively speaking—is lagging behind
the rate of tax Increase for the
District and nearby Maryland and
Virginia.
Or to put it another way—
The cumulative total of taxes
levied by the various jurisdictions
of the Washington area is now, or
shortly will be, between 12 and 14
per cent greater for middle-income
residents than it was on January
1, 1955. So if you were earning
$7,500 a year in 1955, theoretically
you should make about $8,500 in
1956 to stay abreast of the tax rate
rise.
In addition, the District, which
has generally been a lower tax area
than Maryland at low and middle
income levels, or Virginia at high
Income levels, is about to become
generally the highest tax jurisdic
tion of the three.
Here’s a thumbnail sketch of
scheduled area tax increases as
they apply to middle-income, home
owning families:
The District—up 27.6 per cent.
Montgomery—up 16.8 per cent.
Fairfax—up 13.4 per cent.
Arlington—up 9.5 per cent.
Falls Church—up 8 per cent.
Alexandria—up 7.8 per cent.
Prince Georges—up 4.1 per cent.
These percentages are based on
a comparison with a survey of rela
tive taxes made by the Sunday
Star in January, 1955. The taxes
considered include most of the big
State and local taxes which hit the
individual directly. Income, real
property, personal property, sales,
automobile and gasoline.
The comparison shows that:
• Whereas a $7,500-a-year wage
earner with two children paid taxes
averaging $346 in the Washington
area last year, he will be averaging
$389 this year.
• A $7,500-a-year married wage
earner, without children, paid an
average $356 in the area last year,
but will be paying $4lO this year.
• The same wage-earner, unmar
ried and renting an apartment, paid
an average $216 last year and will
pay $241 this year.
• At a $15,000-a-year pay scale,
the average taxes paid in the first
case have increased from $835 to
$899: in the second case from SB4O
to $920; in the third case from $507
to $527. This works out to an in
crease for married couples of be
tween 7.5 and 9.6 per cent, and
for single taxpayers of about 4 per
eent.
Differential Grows
The survey also shows that there
is now a fair-sized tax differential
between the highest tax jurisdiction
(the Districti and the lowest tax
jurisdictions (Prince Georges and
Alexandria) for middle-income
families.
That difference amounts to $Bl a
year—or 22.5 per cent—for the
first assumed $7,500 situation (Case
I on the table). Sixteen months
ago there was only a $32 —or 9.5
per cent —difference between the
highest tax area (Montgomery
Comparative Tax Bills
$7,500 Income
CASE I: MARRIED COUPLE, 2 CHILDREN, buying new $15,000 home. $3,(00
o yeor spent on retoil goods, $1,200 on food. Cor weighs 3,400 pounds, uses
650 gallons of gasoline annually. Personal property valuation, SI,OOO.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Geo. Arlington Alex. Falls Ch. Fairfax
Income $94 s7l s7l slOl slOl slOl slOl
Real Property .. 224 252 185 166 175 190 195
Personal Property 46 30 28 39
Sales 64 52 52
Auto 22 15 15 15 17 10 15
Gas 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $443 $429 $362 $367 $362 $368 $389
CASE 2: MARRIED COUPLE, NO CHILDREN Income is earned jointly, S9OO
spent on food. Other factors some as in Cose 1.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Geo. Arlington Ales. Falls Ch. Fairfax
Income ... sll9 $lO3 $lO3 sll3 sll3 sll3 sll3
Real Property .. 224 252 185 166 175 190 195
Personal Prop. . 46 30 28 39
Sales 67 58 58
Auto 22 15 15 15 17 10 15
Gas 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $471 $467 S4OO $379 $374 S3BO $4Ol
CASE 3: SINGLE PERSON, rents apartment. Spends $3,200 on retail goods, in
cluding SSOO for food. Personal property valuation, S7OO. Other factors as
in Case 1.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Gee. Arlington Alex. Falls Ch. Fairfax
Income .. $l4B sll9 sll9 $l5B $l5B SISS $l5B
Real Property
Personal Prop. . 32 21 19 27
Sales 59 54 54
Auto 22 15 15 15 17 10 15
Got 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $268 $227 $227 $244 $235 $226 $239
County) and the lowest tax area
(Arlington).
At the $15,000 level. Case I, there
is now a tax differential of $222 a
year or 30 per cent between the
highest tax jurisdiction (Fairfax)
and the lowest (Prince Georges).
Sixteen months ago there was a
$202 —or 28 per cent difference
between these same two areas. So
the change at the higher income
levels appears to be less marked.
The important changes are due.
of course, to amended Income and
property tax rates. Sales, auto and
gasoline tax rates have not changed
in any significant aspect considered
here.
It should be emphasized that the
figures used are estimated and were
derived from hypothetical situa
tions. In other words, it was neces
sary to postulate an abitrary tax
payer situation and carry it
through unchanged in each of the
seven tax jurisdictions of the
Washington area. The conditions
assumed for this purpose are shown
in the accompanying charts. They
are practically identical with the
hypothetical conditions assumed in
The Sunday Star's survey of Janu
ary. 1955.
It must further be emphasized
that the property tax figures repre
sent only educated guesses. They
are based in most instances not on
the going rate, but on the rate
which officials believe is likely to be
adopted in the weeks or months di
rectly ahead. Usually these rates
are changed each spring as county
budgets are determined.
District figures are based on the
new income tax law, as well as the
anticipated property tax rate.
The Income Tax
Biggest change has been in the
District. Under the old law a family
head received a $4,000 exemption,
plus SSOO for each dependent. If
separate returns were filed, both
husband and wife were allowed a
$4,000 exemption. Under the new
law the exemption is SI,OOO each
for husband and wife and SSOO for
dependents. Tax rates remain at
2.5 per cent on the first $5,000 of
taxable income. 3 per cent on the
next $5,000, 3.5 per cent on the
third $5,000. But where the did law
taxed all income over $15,000 at 4
per cent, the new’ law taxes the
fourth $5,000 at 4 per cent, the
fifth $5,000 at 4.5 per cent and all
over $25,000 at 6 per cent.
Maryland has changed her ex
emptions from SI,OOO each for hus
band and wife and S6OO per de
pendent, to SBOO each for husband,
wife and dependents. It has a flat
2 per cent tax on earned incoma
Virginia’s structure is unchanged.
It allows a sl,ooo-each exemption
for husband and wife and S2OO per
dependent. It taxes at 2 per cent on
the first $3,000 of taxable income.
3 per cent on the next $2,000 and 5
per cent on all over $5,000.
A standard 10 per cent deduction
was used in all sample cases shown,
and legal domicile was assumed for
each Jurisdiction.
Real Property Tax
In the District residential prop
erty is now taxed at the rate of
$2.20 per SIOO of assessed valuation.
It is slated to go to $2.30 soon. As
sessments run between 50-55 per
cent of market value on old prop
erty. but at 65 per cent on new
property.
In Montgomery County tax rates
vary from $2.14 to $3.08 per SIOO
of assessed valuation. The average
is about $2.60. Assessments vary
also, but average around 60 per cent
of market value in areas adjacent
to Washington. Increased rates,
perhaps $.25, are expected.
In Prince Georges County the
rate is $2.15 per SIOO or $2.25 where
the fire-protection tax is added.
These rates are not expected to
change. Assessments vary between
50 and 60 per cent of market value.
In Arlington the current rate is
$3.26, but $3.63 has been proposed
for the coming year with something
like $3.45 expected. Assessments
run between 30 and 33 per cent of
market value.
In Alexandria the rate is $2.75
and will remain so throughout 1956.
Assessments are made at 42.5 per
cent of market value.
In Falls Church the going rate is
$2.50 and assessments run at 50
per cent of market value. County
officials expect little change, if any,
in the near future.
In Fairfax the current rate is
$2.70 generally, $2.85 in the sanitary
districts, and in some areas there is
a refuse collection charge of $lB
per house per year which amounts
to another $.20 to $.25 on the tax
rate. This would make a maximum
rate of about $3.10. Assessments
run at 33 per cent of market value.
County officials are expecting a
’’substantial” Increase in Fairfax
rates, however, and the new budget
is based on a rate increase of be
tween S9O and sl.lO.
Jazz Fans the World Over Get a Chance
To Dig That Cool American Propaganda
By DAVID KOONCE
American jazz, with primitive
roots deep in African soil, is being
re-exported in a highly polished
form to the Dark Continent by the
Voice of America. Beginning today,
the two-hour jazz show of the
Voice. America’s propaganda radio,
will become world-wide as Its riffs
and hot licks are beamed to Africa,
the Near East and the Middle East.
The program, "Music—USA.” ha*
been going to European listeners
for about a year. For some years
jazz has found wider acceptance in
Europe than in its homeland, and
letters received from jazz fans from
Sicily to Sweden indicate that the
Voice’s show is the hottest thing to
hit the continent since Marie An
toinette. About 1,000 fan letters a
month are mailed from all over the
world, and all of them have been
enthusiastic.
One, from a youngster in Italy,
land of the opera, sums up the gen
eral feeling and at the same time
serves as testimony to any who
might have some qualms about the
wisdom of the show. Wrote this
fan: “Best propaganda I ever
tasted!”
'I Dig Them . .
A Norwegian medical student
studying in Switzerland writes:
"This is a kind of programme I have
wanted for years " From Stuttgart:
"Since months I dig nearly every
night your Jazz programs, which I
Comparative Tax Bills
$15,000 Income
CASE 1: MARRIED COUPLE, 2 CHILDREN, buying new $30,000 home $7,000 a
year spent on retail goods, including SI,BOO for food. Car weighs 3,750
pounds, uses 650 gallons of gasoline annually. Personal property value
tion, $2,500.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Geo. Arlington Alax. Foils Ch. Fairfax
Interne $293 $206 $206 $425 $425 $425 $425
Real Property .. 450 503 372 331 351 383 390
Personal Prop. . ... 115 75 69 97
Soles 122 104 104
Auto 32 23 23 15 17 10 15
Gat 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $936 $875 $744 $925 $907 $926 $966
CASE 2: MARRIED COUPLE, NO CHILDREN, income earned jointly. $6,000 a
year spent on retail goads, $1,200 of it for food. Other factors at in
Cose 1.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Gao. Arlington Alax. Falls Ch. Fairfax
Income $328 $238 $238 S44S $445 $445 $445
Real Property .. 450 503 372 331 351 383 390
Personal Prop. . .. 115 75 69 97
Sales 108 96 96
Auto 32 23 23 15 17 10 15
Gas 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $957 $899 $768 $945 $927 $946 $986
CASE 3: SINGLE PERSON. Rents apartment, spends $4,000 on retail goods,
including SSOO for food. Personal property valuation, $1,500. Other lactors
at in Cate 1.
D. C. MARYLAND VIRGINIA
TAXES Montg. Pr. Gao. Arlington Alex. Falls Ch. Fairfax
Income $363 $254 $254 $495 $495 $495 $495
Real Property ... ... . .
Personal Prop. ... . 69 45 42 58
Sales 75 70 70
Auto 32 23 23 15 17 10 15
Gas 39 39 39 39 39 39 39
Total $509 $386 $386 $6lB $596 $586 $607
Personal Property Tax
So far as the ordinary home
owner is concerned, neither the
District nor Maryland employs a
personal property tax. Virginia
does use this tax and the rate
varies by county and/or city. The
current Arlington rate is $4.47 per
SIOO valuation and may increase
by 10 or 15 cents. The Alexandria
rate is $3 and will stay the same.
The Falls Church rate is $2.75 and
will not change much. The Fairfax
rate is $2.70 and will likely go up
with the real property rate. The
accepted practice in regard to this
tax involves relatively low declara
tion of value, w’ith the option of
using a standard declaration which
is 10 per cent of the assessed real
property value.
The Sales Tax
Virginia has no sales tax. The
District taxes general sales at 2
per cent ana groceries at 1 per
cents. Maryland's tax is 2 per cent
with food exempt. Figures in the
tables are based on the assumption
that the taxpayer buys where he
lives.
The Auto Tax
Tag rates in the District are $22
for cars lighter than 3,500 pounds,
$32 for those heavier. Maryland
rates are sls and $23 with 3,700
pounds the dividing line. Virginia
has a flat $lO tag rate, but Arling
ton and Fairfax impose a $5 addi
tional fee and Alexandria a $7 one.
The Gasoline Tax
The tax on gasoline is the same
for the District, Maryland and Vir
ginia, 6 cents per gallon.
think is the best I ever heard. . . .
In your programs you sometimes
announcing autographed pictures of
Louis Armstrong. Please send me
one." From a suburb of Copenhagen,
a father wrote that his son. Preben.
age 9. turned the dial accidentally
to the Voice show, and hearing
Louis Armstrong, asked his father
what it was. Dad answered: “Pre
ben, this is Armstrong playing; you
know, the black man with the silver
trumpet. This is America.”
It’s the same with every mail—
From New Delhi, a request for a
picture of Duke Ellington; a plea
from a British merchant seaman
who tunes in from off Auckland that
he’d like to hear more of Count
Basie; from India a chatty letter
reporting that it has been raining
for three days ("some rain, huh
kid?").
Only recently, the Voice started
beaming the show to Southeast
Asia, South Asia and Latin America.
This new schedule was offered by
popular demand. Thousands from
these areas wrote in to say that
they were tuning in the European
broadcasts at 3 and 4 am., and
couldn't the Voice give them some
jazz at more reasonable hours?
John Wiggins, deputy program
manager, whose background in
cludes NBC radio, where he worked
with many jazz greats, says that
many letters express appreciation
for the absence of politics on the
show. And many, says Mr. Wiggins,
District Plan
For Schools
Languishes
By JAMES G. DEANE
When the Nation got a 50.000-
word blueprint for better schools
from the White House education
conference committee the other day,
some people were reminded that
Washington got a school blueprint
of its own five months ago.
Last November a committee of
civic leaders and educators wrapped
up a year-long study of the Capi
tal’s schools and sent it to the Com
missioners. The report went on to
the national conference.
Like the national conference re
port, it focused largely on lacks.
The local study found staff and
classroom shortages, a need for
more attention to retarded, gifted
and emotionally upset pupils, and
I inadequate teacher pay. It found
many classes overloaded, school
buildings in bad repair and the
school administration inefficiently
housed in many scattered buildings.
It found the city’s teacher college
also physically inadequate and
needing new quarters.
And like the national committee,
the local group pointed out a solu
tion to most of the problems—more
money. Specifically, it urged that
the city’s school financing methods
be overhauled and that more Fed
eral help be sought.
The committee said the city is en
titled both to a bigger Federal pay
ment and to the school-construction
aid that has given millions to other
‘ Federally impacted" areas, includ
ing Washington’s suburbs.
When Robert V. Fleming, head of
the Riggs National Bank and com
mittee chairman, sent the 99-page
report to the Commissioners, he
urged that a new committee be cre
ated to follow it up—a recommen
dation underscored by the national
conference, which urged more citi
zen and governmental action on all
levels. So far, though, here in the
District there has been no follow
up.
Support Is Gratifying
Washington educators were sur
prised and gratified —by the
strong support the national White
House conference report gave, by
implication, to their basic position:
that District school ills are trace
able mainly to poverty. The na
tional group—headed by the presi
dent of a soap company and includ
ing a number of other businessmen
—blamed most school inadequacies
everywhere on the same reason:
pennypinching. They said the Na
tion could afford better.
The national report also backed
up one of the chief current goals of
| the Washington school system.
express in one form or another ftiis
syllogism: "I like jazz. Jazz is
American. Therefore, I like Ameri
ca.”
Popular to Esoteric
The two-hour, seven-day-a-week
program comes in two sections.
One hour is devoted to the best in
American standard popular music,
and includes such records as “Star
Dust," played by Artie Shaw. "I’ve
Got My Love to Keep Me Warm,"
by Les Brown's band, or a Jerome
Kern tune by the Glenn Miller or
chestra. The other hour is devoted
to the purest jazz—from Dixieland
to swing to contemporary selec
tions. Louis Armstrong's "Struttin’
With Some Barbecue" might follow
a suave and sophisticated rendi
tion of a polytonal piece full of
flatted fifth chords by the popular
young band of Gerry Mulligan.
It's all authentic jazz—no
schmaltz, no current hits, no rock
'n' roll.
The emcee of the show is Willis
Conover, a Washington disc Jockey
and widely-known jazz authority.
Mr. Conover occasionally gives his
listeners short lectures on jazz de
velopment. and he often interviews
such greats as Duke Ellington,
Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and
Stan Getz. Mr. Conover, whose
microphone enunciation is slow and
clear, is enthusiastic. He feels that
by selling jazz, he is selling Ameri
ca via a medium that can reach any
man on earth. This seems to im
press him more than does the
realization that no other disc jock
ey ever had an audience that could
even approach his in size.
The Touring Jazzmen
The idea seems to be catching on
in other quarters. The State De
partment's International Educa
tion and Exchange Service is cur
rently underwriting an Asian-
Europran tour by the 17-piece band
of Dizzy Gillespie. Later this year,
Louis Armstrong's orchestra will
tour Latin America with the help
of a grant from the State Depart
ment. The Gillespie band, which
has played Karachi and Dacca, in
Pakistan, will continue on to Beirut,
Damascus, Aleppo, Ankara, Istan
bul, Belgrade and Athens. Tickets
for the Karachi date were sold out
in two hours, and the band had to
play a second show to a full house.
Os considerable propaganda value
is the fact that these bands are
"mixed"—that is, composed of both
white and Negro musicians. This
serves to counteract propaganda
that plays on America's race
troubles
Surprising to Voice officials is
the fact that the jazz programs
have not been subject to Russian
Jamming. They don't know whether
this is because Ivan digs the Duke,
or whether it can be relnted to
the desanctiflcatlon of Stalin. To
Stalin, Jazz came from Wall Street,
not Basin Street. Since his death,
however. Voice officials report, there
has been an about-face. Jazz bands
now play in cabarets in Moscow
and Warsaw, and Prague has a
band that plays Artie Shaw record
copies.
“Jazz has come a long way since
its days in New Orleans bawdy
houses," commented one Voice offi
cial. as he read a letter from a
fan in Formosa who said he'd like
to hear "more of the greats like
Armstrong, Sidney Becket "
THE SUNDAY STAR, Washington, D. C.
SUNDAY. APRIL 15, 1055
■MWtepugpap || 1 fIMMK
§§§|U MrW Mi
CLASSROOM SQUEEZE —Mrs Roberta H lent, or Adams School hos a
problem shared by many other Washington teachers—too many pupils.
which is to reduce class sizes. Dis
trict educators want to establish in
place of 36 an average of 30 for
elementary classes the standard
already in Maryland, Virginia and
many other places. The White
House report went even farther,
mentioning favorably a standard of
25.
Big Classes—Poor Schooling
The national group gave the
same reason as District educators
for this stand—a conviction that it
is the only way to assure every child
a fair deal and the country proper
ly educated citizens. This reason
ing is currently reinforced in the
District by tests that have proved
that many children in classes in
the 30s and 40s are not being edu
cated well.
The White House committee also
said it was convinced that this
standard—and better schools gen
erally are a demand of the
country’s citizens, and that they
will insist on having it met.
Signs of this demand have been
cropping up here at public hearings,
enough to persuade Congress to add
some teachers to the pending school
budget.
A few months ago, calloused city
budgeters were doubtless startled
when John B. Gilliland, president
of the District Congress of Parents
and Teachers, said he would be
willing to have his taxes upped if
the proceeds went to the schools.
Even a Congressman’s wife
whose offspring get their educa
tion without benefit of District
taxes—urged a loosening of the
Federal purse.
Last week, at a public meeting
here, parents stood up and de
manded that the constituted
authorities do something to ease
the school pinch. One mother com
mented that highways might wait
but growing children would not.
The budget, though, hasn't yet
felt very much of the impact. For
one reason, the city is poor. For
another, it is voteless and citizens
can't enforce their will. For a third,
the District Commissioners have
only lately come to recognize, ap
parently, that the city schools have
any very serious problems—one be
ing to live up to President Eisen
hower's wish that they serve as
a national model on integration.
Moreover, one commissioner
Brig. Gen Thomas A. Lane, an
Army engineer—has taken the view,
apparently, that the local problems
can be solved by re-organization,
and he has proposed meeting the
main one—serious achievement lags
—by retesting the city's 106.000
pupils and demoting or promoting
them to indicated grade levels. He
also has questioned the need for
smaller classes, suggested that
gyms, auditoriums and cafeterias
are "desirable but not essential.'
and plumped strongly for a 50-
teacher cutback in high schools.
No Follow-Up in Sight
Commissioner Robert E. Mc-
Laughlin, who just became head of
the Board of Commissioners, re
cently indicated that the Commis
sioners have no intention of ap
pointing any committee to follow up
on the District’s White House re
port. He explained that it was felt
such a group might come into con
flict with the Board of Education,
although there is some suspicion
that the Commissioners are really
more wary of possible conflict in
volving themselves.
The dormant status of the report
recalls another Washington school
blueprint—the report of the Strnyer
survey made eight years ago. A
committee headed by Dr. George
D. Strayer of Columbia University
spent a year going over the school
system and came up with much
the same conclusions as the Fleming
group. But in eight years basic con
ditions have hardly changed, and
the report is still gathering dust.
Gen. Lane, who recently said he
hasn't read the Strayer report,
would solve everything by shuffling
teachers and pupils and apparently
pulling the financial strings even
tighter. But school officials seem to
think the situation might require
somewhat different measures.
To some, it seems slightly strange
that Washington should be looking
in one direction when the rest of
the country, on the basis of the re
port to the White House, seems to
be looking in the other.
pP Blh
V • * A S -.8 f /*$
lfe A My W • m . / I
JAZZ COMES OF AGE—Washingtonian Willis Conover interviews Wash
ingtonian Duke Ellington for loven of American jazx around the worl<£
A Frenchman
Finds Fault
With U. S. Aid
By EARL H. VOSS
A high-ranking French diplomat
in Southeast Asia who prefers, for
reasons that will be obvious, to re
main unidentified, passed through
Washington recently and unbur
dened himself of some advice for
America’s foreign aid administra
tors in the Orient.
Now that foreign aid is before
Congress again, his thoughts are
worth listening to:
• “Americans send too many ex
perts to administer their foreign
aid programs.’’ These men, he says,
annoy the local folk and remind
them of their inability to take care
of themselves. Americans insist on
bringing too much of their high
standard of living with them.
• “Americans are too much con
cerned about corruption." Certainly
there is graft in Asia and in most
underdeveloped countries, he says.
But this is inevitable, as all the
"older" hands in Asia are well
aware. We ought to learn to over
look most of this graft, he believes,
instead of constantly complaining
to the Prime Minister.
• “Americans spread their aid too
thin—too scientifically.” United
States aid administrators try so
hard to help all the people of the
country’, to prevent a privileged
few from monopolizing the bene
fits, that they go to the other ex
treme, this Frenchman believes.
As a consequence, the benefits of
American aid are often not notice
able.
• Americans try to take too much
credit for their work. They should
stay more in the background and
stop trying so hard to identify
themselves with every dollar of aid
they send into a country. After all,
the main purpose of the aid is to
prove to free countries that their
own systems of government—not
the Americans'—are better than
the Communists,."
• "India should be helped to build
locomotive factories." One of In
dia's most pressing needs is a bigger
transportation system. Locomotive*
will be spectacular monuments to
Indian progress. But it is important
that the Indians be allowed to build
their own locomotives. They want to
say that they can build their own
locomotives—and point to the evi
dence on the tracks.
• “Americans would do better to
concentrate their foreign aid ef
forts on one spectacular project per
country. After all, the effect Amer
icans seek is more political than
economic." He gave an example in
Cambodia, a nation with a seacoast
but no port. France, he said, has ar
ranged to buiid a port for the Cam
bodians. The United States la
building access roads, also expen
sive, but France will get most of
the credit.
• "Americans publicize their food
surpluses too much." The United
States’ rice surplus is one of its
most unfortunate disadvantages in
the Orient, the French diplomat
believes. Whenever any country in
Asia is unable to sell its rice—or
almost any other agricultural com
modity—it can always blame
America's "dumping" of its sur
pluses, whether we are guilty or not.
• "Americans try too hard to maka
others over into their own demo
cratic image." There ought to be
more study of Oriental techniques
of government and less preaching
about how good the American sys
tem is.
• “Americans are shortsighted In
insisting on bilateral economic aid.
They should try multilateral aid
arrangements.” It is easier for three
or more countries to arrange trade
and aid pacts than it is for any two
—especially when one of the two is
the richest country in the world.
Multilateral pacts would give par
ticipating countries more oppor
tunity to contribute as well aa
receive. They would feel more of
the dignity in the partnership, be
less sensitive about the handouts.
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