THE BUDGET: Less Red Ahead

The Administration is thankfully paring down its gloomy forecasts of a $12.2 billion budget deficit for fiscal 1959. ending next June 30. Reason: budget experts figure that the economy's bounceback toward robust health will raise the 1959 federal-tax take at least $2 billion above September estimates, will thereby hold the red-ink splash to $10 billion or less.

But even with the economy in good health, a high Administration official wanly predicted last week, a deficit looms for fiscal 1960. With the costs of national defense, welfare programs and farm subsidies edging ever higher, budget makers will find it tough to hold...