Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1922-05-02
Federal Tax Bureau is
Disrupted by Politics;
Gust Experienced Men
Federal Income Suffers When
Employees Who Earned
Way to Top Are Dropped
Suddenly

Similar conditions in the West vir-
ginia government politics Is being
played with the Federal Tax Bureau.
Recognition by the Harding administra-
ton of the insistent demands for
political pie" has disrupted. the eff
cheney of the internal revenue bureau
at Washington at a time when the
country is in need of the best service
it could render.
Political changes and impending re-
assignments have interfered serious
ly with the normal functioning of
Uncle Sans tax collecting agency and
have temporarily halted some of the
most important work of the treasury
department.
That is the situation, according to
eliable reports, which is giving Andrew
Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury,
more genuine concern than the soldier
bonus problem or the task of collecting
Americas foreign debts. The audit
of tax returns for 1917 and 1918 is not
yet completed, while similar audits for
the last three years have hardly been
touched. This delay alone is held
to have cost the Government millions
of dollars in potential revenue, be-
cause many concerns, once prosperous
and able to pay, have since struck tile
rocks of business and financial de
preston and are not in less fortunate
position.
1t is now an open secret that
monkey wrench has been thrown into
the complicated fax collection ma
chinery. through unexpected changes
in all important divisions, suddenly
affected within the last few weeks
The result is that little is being ac-
complished while clerks and hlghher
officials discuss the possibilities that
they also may be transferred or else
dismissed from the service at any
time.
Three of the most important changes
that have taken place are:
/. Transfer of George S. Paul, ap,
pointment clerk, to tie prohibition
unit, and the appointment of Carl
Graybill, Michigan, to succeed him.
2. appointment of G. c. Childs, Ohio,
to succeed F. E. Frazier. as super.
visor of internal revenue collectors.
3. Transfer of Willard F. West. Ken.
lucky, from deputy commissioner.
ship in charge of the important divi.
sion of accounts, to the prohibition
unit as assistant commissioner Of that
branch, and the Appointment Of A. d.
Sumner, Iowa, TO succeed the Ken
| tuckiaD as deputy commissioner of in
ternal revenue, in charge of accounts.
/ Subordinates also have been shifted
| around, the rule seeming to be that any
official efficient and experienced in one
branch of work should be transferred
| to another
| This sudden "spring cleaning" came
as complete surprise because it dis
| regarded the fact that the men dis
: placed were all Republicans of maay
years service and had reached their
high assignments under the Demo
cratic administration solely through
| the records they established for eff.
cheney.
The first wind of the impending up
heaval came several months ago. when
a number of Republicans in Congress
charged that Secretary Mellon was re
tanning Wilson appointees in all the
important treasury berths. Follow.
+, ing this original lament If the at.
ronage hunters, 1t is understood that
Representative Joseph W. Fordney
Michigan. went to the White House
and warned President Harding that
elections could only be carried By
giving jobs to the workers" Short
thereafter the President issued an ex.
ecutiye order removing the deputy
commissioners of internal revenue from
the civil service list, where they had
been for many years.