National Affairs: Spending Heads Higher

Out of conferences, man-to-man chats and scratchings on the backs of envelopes last week, three facts about federal spending came clear. They were: 1) the Administration no longer intends to hold defense spending below a $38 billion ceiling; 2) the U.S. will be hard put to hold overall spending this year below the budgeted $72 billion; 3) the burgeoning budget for fiscal 1959, due for presentation to Congress next January, will exceed the Administration's earlier $70 billion forecast. The compelling reasons: Sputnik I and Sputnik II.

"When the $38 billion figure was hit upon, it was not by any manner or means...