‘Economic Compassion’

Providing continued support and in some cases increased spending on key social programs may represent a very smart investment of our overburdened government budget. As you pointed out in your editorial, the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families has identified eight federal programs that can improve the lives of vulnerable children while reducing the need for later more costly expenditures.

Providing adequate funding for prenatal care, infant nutrition and health care and immunization programs will reduce the need for hospital care, assistance to the crippled and retarded, and will, as the studies show, reduce the need for employment training and crime prevention programs.

JOHN H. FAWCETT

Santa Monica