L . T. - P&G. WEDNESDA Y, JANUARY 2, 1952 TRUMAN-INTERNAL REVENU E · (The White House announces a crack-down on the Bureau of Internal Revenue -- the first measure taken by President Truman to fulfill his promise of all-out action o clean up the income tax corruption in his administration. e announces "a sweeping reorganization." In this, the offices of the sixty-four income ta collectors are abolished. Of the sixty-four, seven have resigned or been fired in recent months, two of them indict d for corruption. tax collectors plums.) Now, there will be no more of those regio 1 • - politically appointed, their jobs poltt1cJ1 Instead, the regional operations of the Tax Bureau will be handled by not more than twenty-five district offices, each headed by a commissioner, who will be selected through . civil service.(other political jobs will be abolished - and the entire income tax bureau will be put under civil service 88 long ago r 6 commended by the Hoover ~omm sston. TRUMAN-INTERNAL REVENUE - 2 --------------------------- Except for the top off ~cia l, th e Internal Revenue - ~ommissioner in W as hin g ton. He wi ll remain a p olitic al appointee, the only one. Today's cra c kdo~n is in line with recom en d ations m a de hy the H~over Committ9e - which under the supervision of former President Herbert Hoover, drew up a program for government reorganization. They stressed civil service as the best way to clean up income tax abuses. r , / ., I t e e idden )Ax a~ency ~, o'ut o! po aftd .. . . tect •influence ped~lars.w · ., ,' .. , ~ct on - ly the ~•ginning. There w· further ~ / / / .. ~ - admi9!st~ativ~ ch a ngeE, all in on~ large prograa - ~ t / <' 1 l \e submitted to o t ngl'~ss. ' Simultaneously, the Chief of the Tax Collection Agency stat es that fifty - three more employees have been fir e d or forces to re . ign. W hich brings the total of those ous te d to o ne hundred and sixty-six -- that many out of jobs in the scan1al ridden tax agency. We hear of the resignation of an attorney in the Department of Justice, Howard G. Campbell. ~ He i+r at the same time, a member of a law firm which ~ A provided ao ■ e of those f a mous ■ inks. The iesti ■ ony was that the law firm, of which the Department of Justice Attorney was a ■ e ■ ber, supplied free fur coats to the daupbter of the ousted Assistant Attorney Gener a l, la Lamar Caudle and the wife of an aide to Caudle. Well, that small animal, the mink, sure does looa large in Washington politics - almost as large as the l ■ erican Eagle. We have a statement - that President Truman will de~re himsel:., in a month, by February Sixth. This - from Democratic repre s entative Hayes of ~io after a conference at the White House today. Be says the President wants to announce his political plans by the dea1line for filing in the Ohio pri ■ ary. Which primary requires the written consent of candidat ~ s entered for presi ential nominations. If President Truman int@nds to run again, and wants his name in the Ohio pri ■ ary, he'll have to speak out by filing tiae - February Sixth. ( rhe sta1.e . ■ent ■ade by tlfi'e Ohio CongteaM&n o the White ,Jfouse - where it go . a .• , , > condA'tion I conti ~m ation. Presidential Secretary ' ;, ,. expl~tned th a t it does not represent any _,. . d commitment, but that the Pre~ide~~ does , reveal ~ is intentions early next month. I T R UMAJ-POLITI CS - 2 ----------------- Con g ressman Hhyes is a s tron g sup~orter of Tennessee / l ■ •t ■ akJ~Sen a tor tefauver for the Democratic nominati:Jl if President Truman doe~£t run again. He went t'o the White House as a tefauver supp~rter, and says the President may have a meeting with the Tenne see Senator for political di s cussion. Should be an interesting confab -- the President and the Senator with a pre s idential boom building up. ~UPR M E COURT ~ ... ----------- The Su p r E> me Court .. n ~a do n an inter s ting decisio n today - in r e versin ~ the California conviction for possession of narcotics. The prisoner ha 1 two morphine capsules in his possession - and, when arrested, he !wallowed them. The cops took him to the hospital, where the • octors put an emetic ·nto his stomach - and up caae the two capsule of morphine. The S upreme Court condeans this as •illegallJ breaking ·nto the privacy of the petitioner.• lell, you would think his stomach should be private. The court reason s that the police are not permitted to use force in making a prisoner talk - extr a cting what is in his min d . So, by that ame token, they a re not allow e d to extract what is in his stomach. Toni ht, o n l h e bor de r of ol orad o a n Ne w Mexic o , two fr e i g ht trains ar e sn o wboun d , ~ ith f if ty- ~ five men aboard. Th e y ~re t r apped near.-.. Cuabres ~ A Pa s s at an altitude of ten thousand feet. Cau g ht by great s lor ■ s and blizzards in the West, tb1 two fr e ight trains have been st~lled there for four days. Today snowploughs were boring throu g h giant snowdrifts to rele a se the fifty-five railroad ■ en. Food packages were d ropped to them by ~ p l a n e , the pilot reporting that the fnow w a s so deep - the railroaders, in going after the food pack a ges, step p ed out ■■ x* ■ * onto the snow from the window, of their caboose. V Another wild Atlantic storm, n d there w a s a crackling of distress si g nals today. The renewal of the tempest makes i t look bad for the half-capsized frei g hter, •Flying Enterprize• •~ with its determined skipper. Ca p tain Carlsen still remains aboard his ship, which is now listing at a seventy degree angle -- and in danger of turning O ' er all together, as high w~vea break over the derelect. (The Government of Finland announces that th Northern I ■~ Republic has paid ninety-five per cent f its reparations bill to Soviet Russia) When the Second World War ended, with the Finns on the losin side, Moscow banded them a huge bill--huge, that ia, tor the small population of t h e l ~ ~ ~ Arctic. 11th concessions, the reparations c~•• finallJ to an equivalent of two-hundred-and-twentyp1ix- ■ illioa• a.Di five-hundred-thousand dollars. Of this, Finland has paid two-hundred-and-sixteen aillion, and will heve the rest on the line by next September--all pai4 up. ( well, the Finns are that •ay about honoring their debts. We reaeaber how, after the First lor War, Finland was the on l y country that kept up the payments on its debt to the Onited Statee. ) Dispatches from Russia tell of stately funeral honors for M a xim Litvinov who, for so long, wa s the Number One Moscow Diplomat. The amount of elaborate ceremony is rather surprising, since Litvinov had been out of Soviet tavor and in obaeurity for years. Today Pravda, official newspaper of the Ruesla■ Com ■ unist Party, published a flatterin1 •01a Bolshevik and Pro ■ inent ~iploaat•. Which, ifl itself, has a turn of oddity. Litinov was an old !olahevit, all r i ght--one of the tew left after Stalin_. ~~c..-,""4cb« &l ■ ost txter■ inatedAU.- ... -,,.DI~ of Lenin, the veterans of the Bolshevik Revolution. Litvinov, ettll alive, was like a reainder of the 1reat Purge Trial• in which the old Bolshevik• were doomed. He was a personification of th a t former Soviet policy of coll6boration with Liberal lationa of the re s t. ~i-•e" IIN ■H~■l!>aeeallllt"-,a Ute ttnttell- N,e1'1" LITVIIOV - ... 2 ~-------------..__. te reo,ogn ,, , the ~¢ e ts ✓ i n 1i3 3}" - apd, y ro• in eJ) t /. / , ~ , ,,,,. hJt' L e or ~a, , t / ionJi { ' whe tu t ! •t " lo ., e e da9-t"erou . 8ermaltj' 1'e~a ■ e, / / / West - and ~1tvi)fbV w I / rei~ini,-ter~D · charge ot tbtt policy ,,., nae, • Then, when the Soviets joined the lazie in the ~ Bitl•r-Stalin Pact--Litvinov dropped out ot sight. Later when Bitler attacked Soviet Russia, Litvinov was dust,4 ott a~d brought forward again--sent as an l ■ i11ary to the United States. But, once Hitler bad been craahe4, out went Litvinov again--dieappearin1 into oblivion whea Soviet Russia turned bitterly against the lest. Dytn1 at seventy-five, nothing had been heard or hi ■ in the last half-dozen years. But no• he gets a State funeral, with sole ■n honorsr-"'1d it make s you wonder, e'ould this have any ■ eaning in terms of Soviet Policy? Another of those lloscow puzzles. IOREA-TRUC! -------------- In the Korean truce t alk s, the U N delegation today, s e t forth a c 1 mpromise proposal for prisoner exchange. This i s about as com p licated as you can the two contradicto~y principles ot -- • ■ an for ■ an• and •all tor all•. To explain how these opposites are put together, with a long strin1 ot clauses and provisions, would require half an hour. Ac+ually, the key to the whole thing••••• to be the ia question of prisoners who don't want to go ho ■ e -- which would apply to captured 1oldier1 1<£1 ~ , the Oe■■n-t.-47 Ar■ y who ha•e been treated well an4 J'- ,< have turned agair : t the Reola. It would b 0 tough to make the ■ go back to their Co ■ munist overlords, and one clau e in today' s progra ■ reads: •Delegates &t the international coamittee of the Red Cross shall interview all prisoners and all civilians affected to make sure that none is repatriated against his will.• This was not likely to please the Co ■ muniats, and the first reaction ot the Red representatives today w a s - u nfavorable. They said they'd consi4er the U I sug1e s tion but their tone was reluctant and grudging. FOLLOW KO R EA -TRUCE On the battlefroni-- no news at all, as a new day comes to Korea. Tonight'• bulletin read ■: •& hu1h like a quiet descended on the Korean baitlet1 14 and the llghth Ar ■y reported that the war was a, a siatul Ylrlual atan d 1t111. The United •a11on1~ the 411patch goea on,• ■ ent oul palrol• during lhe ~ n11hl, 1u,A~o-un11t1 apparenllY ••w ~urled 4eep la llt.11r bunker••• wllh v.a. plane• boablng enemy tlylna field•. A turn of strange mystery appear• la the tilling of the foraer big leaau• pitcher, Ber••• litborn - 1hot b7 a police officer in lexlco. The police■an aeclarea that he tire4 the 1hot onl1 •h•• be waa attacte4 by wbat 1eeaed to be a aanlao. ■• 4eclar•• that the toraer ball player.•• be la7 woua4e4 1a14s•I a■ a •••b•r of• coa■ uaiat cell oa aa laportut alaaion.• Tbi1 ■ ate ■ no 1eaae t.o ••1••- wbo baa laY.eatt1ate4 tbe caae - tbe eo ■aaai1t aa1l• ••i•I a ,1aat a,1ter7. There is an old Army sayirig -- •You never had i t so good.• Which pleasant remark has been uttered aany e tiae over in occupied Germany. Officers and G. 1.•1 living the life of Reilly--only Reilly •never had it ao good.• But a change is announced--an econo ■ y pPogra■ • Recently Senator lllender of Louia~ana raised an uproar, 1ayin1 the Ir••• in Germany wae living in Princely aplendor. w Sof Army takes the hint. The G. I. 1 1 will retain ordinary Ar■ y coaforta, but the luxury bar1 for Officer• will be eliminated, and eoae of the lllitar1 golf courees will have to go. Hollywood 1wi ■■ in1 poola in Ger ■ any will be aboliehed, and the Brae, will no longer dwell in castle• on the Rhine. Another feature on ite way out is -- free maid eervice. Today, di1patch 0 state• that in all the Allied Occupation rorcea, the Aaerican, British and French, maid service has been provided--at a cost of one million and five-hundred- thousand-dollars per year. In thie country, too, there'& an eeonoay deaan --hitting G. I. •suspender buttons.• We don't think ofi a aoldier wearing galluaes, but each pair ot G.I. pan\• ~ 1 t h the ,,£at<&. ,!•inter uniform, has half a dozen buttons ro1A tw■ • This draw! the wrath of Congressman lorblatt-wb aaya that, while sewing on the suspender buttona, tbe Ar■ y forbids the G.I. to wear 1uspender1. S••N• • IM ' ~ t Cd i c ..... .i. ~ i:he A 1 co ■ es , ~tck by _ • iha\ ,· he itWd to •••"' gallu••• , required .✓, , J keep 1Jfem C 0 . 11 C e a 19 cl jacke , / or • / , ' Congreslµl'an reto , ,ts that local Coa■ anc!er · have their own rule1--and G.t.•s thipf that belts are per ■ itted. The Legislator declares that he made a personal \ investigation, and found that soldiers didn't even know they had suspender buttons on their pants--until he showed them. There are two aillion men in the Aray, an4 the 1u1pender buttons coae to a total · of twelYe aillio■• So, if anybody 1hould walk up and a1k you--•1utton, button--who'a got the button?• the correct •n•••r l••• . the t.I.'1 h••• the• on their pant,, for 1uapender1 \~• doa•t wear. Ull!ll At Waltham, Mas s achusetts, the Police charge that a lady celebrated the lew Year too well +o be driving a car. She pulled up at the Police ~tation and aaid to a cop; •rill her up.• The cop failed to do, and 1he deaanded 1corntully; •what kind of 1tation 11 tbi1, anyway•! They told her, and escorted her in1ide- wlere they booked her on the charge ot dri•in1 an autoaobile, wben ahe didn't ~d~, know the difference-'Abetfeen a Pol!ce Station aa4 a Qaielin• Station.