Report Outline
Transportation Policy and Government Economy
Public Aid in Development of Transportation
Transport Subsidies and the Public Interest
Special Focus
Transportation Policy and Government Economy
Federal aids to transportation through subsidies and provision of facilities are attracting increased attention in connection with current efforts to cut government outlays and reduce prospective deficits. President Truman estimated in his budget message, Jan. 9, that $1.7 billion would be spent on aids to transportation and communication in the fiscal year 1951 and urged, in the interest of both taxpayers and users, “the development of a balanced transportation system, substantially independent of government support.”
The President expressed concern over (he increasing burden of subsidies to the maritime industry for construction and operation of ships, and he asked immediate legislation to separate subsidies from mail payments to commercial airlines as a means of enforcing “the normal business incentives for economy.”
At the same time, the budget message asked increased appropriations for federal aid to highway construction and for navigation improvements, and the President repeated “most emphatically” his earlier recommendations for approval of the St. Lawrence seaway project. The seaway would benefit shipping, and was also “a matter of urgency for our peacetime industry and our national security.” |
