THE NATION: Black Ink Ahead?

In keeping with the nation’s mood, Administration officials are talking behind the scenes about the heady possibility of a big surplus in the President’s next budget, perhaps $6 billion or even more —in contrast with the $12.6 billion deficit piled up in just-ended fiscal 1959 and the skimpy $100 million surplus estimated in the fiscal-1960 budget. As Administration economists and budgetmakers see it, spending in fiscal 1961 will creep up to about $80 billion from the current year’s $77.5 billion, but the soaring economy may produce revenues as high as $86 billion. If so, President Eisenhower, when he unveils his new budget in January of election year 1960, will be able to point to a hefty surplus to use for denting the national debt or nicking taxes, or both.