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This week, as the budget was presented to the public, some Congressmen warned that taxes heavy enough to cover the full cost of security would strangle the country's economy. Cried New York's Daniel Reed: "I think the President has gone hysterical." Some recalled the observation of North Carolina's Congressman "Muley" Doughton, when President Roosevelt in 1943 proposed a $10.5 billion increase in wartime taxes: "You can shear a sheep once a year; you can skin him only once."
Other Congressmen figured that the U.S. could still grow a lot of wool, even though there would be some bleats, and that it was better for the U.S. even to lose some skin than to lose its head.
* To meet the full tax bill for fiscal 1952 the U.S. would have to raise more than $70 billionmore than it had ever raised before in a single year (previous record: $46.4 in fiscal 1945) and more than the Government had collected during the 138 years between 1789 and 1927.