GOVERNMENT: Turntable

For years Government officials have lectured the railroads on the subject of debt, have rarely missed a chance to prod them toward faster bond retirement. Last week came the long-suffering railroads’ turn. In a tax-plan letter to Congressman Daniel A. Reed (R., N.Y.), the Association of American Railroads politely proposed that Government retire 1% of its debt per year. In this way, suggested the association—whose members have cut their debt $1.4 billion in four years—the expected $300 billion postwar debt canbe liquidated in 100 years.